Amy Winehouse began her career in music when, at the age of 16, a classmate gave a record label her demo cassette. She signed her first record deal as a jazz vocalist, and her music evolved into a unique blend of jazz, pop, soul, and R&B.
Winehouse received five Grammy Awards for her 2006 album Back to Black, which included hits such as “Rehab” and “Love Is a Losing Game.” Winehouse died unexpectedly on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27 due to accidental alcohol poisoning.
Early Life
Amy Jade Winehouse was born on September 14, 1983, in Southgate, a London neighborhood. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, was a cab driver, while her mother, Janis, worked as a pharmacist. Winehouse grew up surrounded by music; many of her relatives on her mother’s side were renowned jazz musicians, and her father sang as a child with his family.
Winehouse’s paternal grandmother was previously romantically involved with British jazz icon Ronnie Scott. Winehouse grew up listening to a varied range of music, including James Taylor and Sarah Vaughan. At the age of ten, she became interested in American R&B and hip-hop bands such as TLC and Salt-N-Pepa, and she formed the short-lived amateur rap duo Sweet ‘n Sour.
Winehouse was accepted into the elite Sylvia Young Theatre School when she was 12 years old, and she acquired her first guitar a year after. However, at the age of 16, Winehouse was ejected for “not applying herself” and piercing her nose. That same year, she got her first big break when pop artist Tyler James, a classmate and close friend, sent her demo tape to his company, A&R, which was looking for a jazz voice. The opportunity landed her a record deal with Island/Universal.
Debut Album: ‘Frank’
Her debut album, Frank (2003), was a critically acclaimed blend of jazz, pop, soul, and hip-hop. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize as well as two BRIT Awards: Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Act. The initial single from the album, “Stronger Than Me,” garnered the new artist an Ivor Novello Award.Frank also achieved double platinum status.
During this time, Winehouse gained a reputation as an unpredictable party girl, frequently arriving at her club or TV performances too inebriated to perform a whole set. She also began a turbulent, on-again, off-again relationship with music video assistant Blake Fielder-Civil, who admitted to having introduced Winehouse to heavy narcotics. In public, the couples’ disputes frequently turned into fistfights and dramatic confrontations. In private, their relationship revolved around drugs, alcohol, and physical abuse.
‘Back to Black’
By 2006, Winehouse’s management organization had finally proposed that she seek rehab for alcohol consumption. Instead, she dumped the firm and transformed the experience into the lead track for her critically acclaimed second album, Back to Black (2006). The song “Rehab,” which addressed her refusal to pursue substance misuse treatment, peaked at number 10 in the United Kingdom and earned the artist another Ivor Novello award for best current song. The album was also a critical triumph, earning the artist a BRIT Award for Best Female Solo Artist and a nomination for Best British Album in 2007.
Less than a month after her BRIT win, Back to Black made its American debut. The album debuted at the top of the Billboard music charts, surpassing any other British female recording artist’s debut in history. The album remained in the Top 10 for several months, selling one million copies by the end of the summer, and “Rehab” also became a top ten hit in the United States.
Marriage
Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were engaged in April 2007. Winehouse confessed that her romance with the 23-year-old inspired several Back to Black compositions. The pair eloped and married on May 18, 2007, in Miami, Florida.
Winehouse, an admitted marijuana smoker, was plagued by allegations of ongoing drug use and bizarre conduct. On August 8, 2007, the singer overdosed on many narcotics and was hospitalized. Winehouse initially claimed tiredness, but later told the News of the World that she overdosed on heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine, whisky, and vodka during a London pub crawl. The episode put a planned North American tour on hiatus. According to the August 21, 2007 notice, Winehouse had been instructed to rest and was working with specialists to improve her health.
Controversies
Winehouse’s European tour, which began in the fall of 2007, was still set to continue. However, while visiting Norway in October 2007, an anonymous tip led authorities to the star’s hotel in Bergen, where she was arrested and kept in prison overnight for marijuana possession. Winehouse, her husband Fielder-Civil, and a third unidentified individual were imprisoned. The trio was released after they paid $715 in fines.
In November 2007, Winehouse’s spouse was arrested again for reportedly soliciting a $400,000 payment to a bartender he allegedly beat in June 2007. Following his incarceration, Winehouse appeared in mid-November at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena to perform, appearing drunk, to which members of the audience booed and walked out. Winehouse canceled all remaining concerts and public engagements in 2007, claiming “doctor’s orders.” A month later, Winehouse was arrested on allegations of interfering with her husband’s case. She voluntarily reported to the police station and was arrested before being questioned. She eventually blamed her husband’s legal issues for her inability to continue her tour.
Despite her erratic touring schedule, Winehouse’s album continued to sell well, going platinum nearly five times that year. It became the best-selling album of 2007 in the United Kingdom.
Rehab and Record-Setting Grammy Wins
In January 2008, a video supposedly showing Winehouse taking crack cocaine surfaced, prompting a brief stay in rehab. She was arrested in May 2008 for questioning, but she was not legally charged since authorities were unable to determine what the singer was smoking. Winehouse was denied a visa to the United States after publicly admitting to illicit substance misuse due to her “use and abuse of narcotics.” Her visa stopped her from performing live at the 2008 Grammy Awards. Instead, she performed in London via satellite.
Winehouse won five Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year, making her the first British singer to do so. She also tied Beyoncé for the most wins by a female artist in a single night. In 2010, Knowles set a record by winning six Grammys in a single night, which was later matched by Adele in 2012.
Despite her musical breakthrough, Winehouse’s health and personal life rapidly deteriorated. Her strange conduct continued in June 2008, when she appeared to hit a fan while performing at the Glastonbury Music Festival in England. According to James Gostelow, a 25-year-old Londoner, Winehouse elbowed him in the forehead after a hat was thrown at her from behind. In a widely distributed video of the incident, Winehouse was seen throwing punches at the crowd. Gostelow stated that he had no intention of filing a complaint with police, and Winehouse dodged criminal charges.
Following the show, Winehouse returned to a London clinic where she was being treated for “traces of emphysema” and an erratic heartbeat induced by crack cocaine and cigarettes. Winehouse’s father told reporters that his daughter was told she’d have to wear an oxygen mask if she didn’t stop doing narcotics. That following month, Fielder-Civil and three other defendants pled guilty to assault and obstruction counts. The courts released Fielder-Civil from jail on the condition that he remain in a drug rehabilitation institution for long-term treatment.
By the end of 2008, the singer’s marriage had ended. Winehouse had begun a prolonged vacation in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, where she reportedly found a new love interest. And tabloids had linked Fielder-Civil to German beauty Sophie Schandorff. In January 2009, Winehouse’s spokeswoman revealed that divorce proceedings between husband and wife had begun, with Fielder-Civil filing for divorce and citing adultery as the cause for the separation.
Attempted Comeback
Regardless her personal challenges, 2009 was another successful year for Winehouse. In 2008, her album Back to Black became the world’s second-best-selling album. In 2009, she entered the Guinness Book of World Records for “Most Grammy Awards Won by a British Female Act.”
Winehouse also announced the launch of her own record label, Lioness Records, and later signed her 13-year-old goddaughter Dionne Bromfield as the label’s first musician.
Death
Unfortunately, by the end of her life, Winehouse’s immense ability was overshadowed by her drug and alcohol abuse. On July 23, 2011, the 27-year-old singer passed away due to accidental alcohol poisoning.