ONTD Original: Remembering Amy Winehouse 7 years after her death
Click to viewAmy Jade Winehouse (1983 - 2011) died of alcohol poisoning 7 years ago today (a death that was exacerbated by a heart condition resulting from years of addiction and bulimia), making her another name on the list of the "27 Club" (I didn't want to write she was a 'member' of the club, it just sounded bad and weirdly encouraging of this sad phenomenon).
In 2003 Winehouse released her debut album, "Frank". It was a critical success, being praised for being different from popular music at the time. She co-wrote every song on the album, working closely with producer Salaam Remi. "Frank" was a jazzy, insightful and critical exploration of life.
Remi and Winehouse won an Ivor Novello (English/Irish award voted solely by the writing community with no input from publishers or record companies allowed) in the Best Contemporary Song category for "Stronger Than Me"
OP wants to note that she also released this tune and that they jam to on the regular:
At a time when it was all about the WAG lifestyle....this song was just the perfect antidote!
For her second album Winehouse moved away from jazz and focused on 1950s-60s girl groups, using their doo wop infused pop as inspiration. Back to Black (October 2006) received near universal acclaim (looking at you Pitchfork with a 6.4/10!), with Winehouse winning 5 Grammys. The most any British female has won in a single night (until Adele)
Winehouse worked mostly with Mark Ronson as producer and recruited the horns from Sharon Jones [rip] and the Dap Kings. The songs chronicle her early breakups with future husband Blake Fielder-Civil (aka the man who admits to introducing her to heroin, crack cocaine and self harm). Back to Black's lyricism was repeatedly praised by everyone, the combination of old school sounds with brutally honest lyrics about addiction, infidelity and toxic relationships made Back to Black an unforgettable accomplishment.
(op wants to note that they heard this album for the first time while walking around Limehouse on a rainy day (aged 22) and it changed their life)
She appeared on NMTB (Never Mind the Buzzcocks) in November 2006 to promote Back to Black. At the time most of us thought this was a hilarious series of interactions with the panel (and host Simon Amstell (<3)), unaware that Winehouse was using hard drugs and that she would end up dead 5 years later. For years we watched Amy Winehouse fall down, pick herself up...only to fall down again.
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Amy Jade Winehouse: b. 14 September 1983 - d. 23 July 2011
RIP to our beehive eyeliner queen
Mods - anything not cited is either from my own knowledge or written in more than 5 publications; so it seemed silly to cite them all instead of just accepting these things are verifiable and widely known
ONTD did you love Amy? Do you remember how much we would post about her and track her every move? Does it bother you that Blake managed to turn his life around and Amy died? Do you have a favourite Amy song? (also plz don't turn this into a blue eyed soul wank)