clashes turning into physical fights. Their
difficult relationship inspired many of
Amy's best selling songs. Amy married
Blake Fielder-Civil in a May 2007, in a
spontaneous ceremony in Miami, Florida.
when her management company
advised her to enter rehab for alcohol
abuse, she turned the experience into the
lead single for her second album, Back to
Black (2006). The song rehab became a
Top 10 hit in the UK and the album won
Amy a BrIT award for Best Female Solo
Artist and a BrIT nomination for Best British
Album in 2007. Back to Black debuted
higher on the Billboard music charts than
any other recording by a British woman.
author andy morris in Open Book:
the life and death of Amy Winehouse said
many of the songs Amy wrote on Back To
Black were about Blake Fielder-Civil. Andy
said theirs was a stormy romance and
despite divorcing, they would remain in
love with each other until she died. There
were always plenty of other men in Amy's
years after she split from Blake. They
divorced in 2009, citing adultery, his, as
the reason.
after admitting to illegal
US visa, preventing her from attending the
2008 Grammy Awards but she performed
live in London via satellite. Winehouse
won five Grammy Awards that night,
including best new artist, record of the
year and song of the year. She was the first
British singer to win five Grammy Awards.
amy's career floundered under
the influence of drugs, alcohol and
unhappiness yet out of her blues came
incredible albums. She was an engaging,
soulful performer with a wonderful
deep voice who sang her songs with
enormous passion and energy. Her last
album released after her death, in 2011,
Lioness Hidden Treasures, is a compilation
of recordings from before the release of
Winehouses's debut album, Frank in 2002,
up to music she was working on in 2011.
mementoes from great-grandfather
Ben Winehouse, an East End barber, and
her glamorous grandmother Cynthia.
The singer had a youthful image of her
beloved grandmother in red shirt and
hotpants - tattooed on her arm.
albums from winehouse's
Frank Sinatra, whose songs her father
crooned, to Thelonious Monk and other
artists she heard through her jazz-loving
brother, Alex.
among the most revealing items
is a list of favourite songs, written by
the young Amy that ranges from Ella
Fitzgerald, ray Charles and the Platters to
Pearl Jam and the Ben Folds Five.
born in london, on September 14,
1983, Amy Winehouse was just 16 when a
classmate passed on her demo tape to a
label searching for a jazz soloist. Her music
later transformed into a distinctive mix
Grammy Awards for her 2006 album Back
to Black and acclaim for songs Valerie,
rehab and the haunting Back to Black.
her father, JaZZ loving taxi
Janis, a pharmacist , encouraged their
daughter's musical talents. At 12,
Winehouse was accepted into the
prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School
although, at the age of 16, was expelled
for "not applying herself" and piercing
her nose. That same year she got a
record deal.
her debut album, Frank (2003)
named after the famous crooner who
inspired her, was nominated for the
Mercury Music Prize as well as two BrIT
awards for Best Female Solo Artist and
Best Urban Act.
not long after she started an
on-again-off-again relationship with
music video assistant, Blake Fielder-Civil.