Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse grew up in north London in a house full of jazz. Her father, a taxi driver, sang Frank Sinatra around the house, and her grandmother had been a singer. As a teenager she played in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Her debut, Frank (2003), leaned on jazz. For the follow-up she turned to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. She hired the Dap-Kings, Sharon Jones’s band, and worked with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. Back to Black came out in October 2006 and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. On 10 February 2008 she won five Grammys in one night, including Record and Song of the Year for Rehab, the first British woman to win five.

Addiction and the tabloids took over the rest of the story. She died in London on 23 July 2011, aged 27, of alcohol poisoning. Her last recording was a duet with Tony Bennett, Body and Soul, released on 14 September 2011, which would have been her 28th birthday.

Start with Back to Black from start to finish and listen to the Dap-Kings’ drums and horns behind her. Then go back to Frank to hear the jazz singer she was at the start. The documentary Amy (2015) covers the rest.