Tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary of the death of Amy Winehouse. The iconic but troubled singer was found in her house dead on July 23rd, 2011 after a night of heavy drinking.
I remember when I first her single Rehab on the BBC radio show hosted by Zane Lowe. I knew instantaneously the song, along with the artist were going to huge. She did become huge in England where she already had a little bit of success with her first album Frank. It took another year for her to become known in North America. The result of her success led to many other British female R&B stars including Duffy, Estelle, Adele and Florence & the Machine.
Her 2006 album Back to Black won numerous accolades including making the 2007 Mercury Prize short list, and several Grammy awards. The production of the album by Mark Ronson was near flawless incorporating the back up band of soul singer Sharon Jones-The Dap-Kings.
The great production values are most prevalent on the second single from the album You Know I'm No Good. The infectious song features Amy's raspy voice infused with a R&B hip hop big beat and a jazzy Dap-King horn section. The song also makes reference to her favourite beer Stella. The song was later remixed and recorded with Wu Tang Clan rapper Ghostface Killah.
Sadly, Amy Winehouse never released another album before she died. In the years between the release of Back to Black and her untimely death last year she led a pained life of alcohol and drug abuse. Having friends like Blake Fielder-Civil and Pete Doherty didn't help and the song should have about them
Buy: Back to Black LP via Amazon
Download: Back to Black via iTunes
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