Amy Jade Winehouse was born in Southgate, north London, on 14 September 1983 and was the younger of two children of Mitchell, a taxi driver, and Janis, a pharmacist. Mitchell often sang Frank Sinatra songs to young Amy, who later found herself so fond of singing, she constantly disrupted school lessons.
Winehouse got her first guitar when she was 13, and throughout her teens she worked on the fringes of the music industry before signing to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002, where she was groomed for stardom.
By the time Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003, she was just 20. She had yet to develope her image by this time. A big fan of 1960s girl groups, Winehouse would eventually borrow her distinctive hairdo and makeup style from The Ronettes.
But it was her husky, soulful voice that always stood out, as her jazzy debut received positive reviews, impressive sales, various awards and comparisons to the likes of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray.
Even more success followed when her second album, Back to Black, was released in October 2006. It went straight to number one in Britain, and managed to break the top ten in the USA. It was the best-selling album in the UK in 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the year. The album included a number of hit singles, the standout track being Rehab, the song that would ultimately define her.
Her sound at this stage had moved away from jazz and was more 60s’pop-influenced, which can’t have hurt her ascent to stardom - but already her self-destructive lifestyle was creating problems.
Winehouse married on-off boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil , a former video production assistant, on 18 May 2007. Three months later they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted.
Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns about the couple, citing fears that the two might commit suicide. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced her to crack cocaine and heroin. The couple later divorced after Fielder-Civil served time in jail.
Moving to St Lucia in 2009 to try and kick her drug habit, Winehouse returned claiming success, while admitting she was drinking to compensate. She also began working on her third album and launched her own label, but trouble was never far away. She was regularly photographed looking the worst for wear, was arrested several times for public order offences, hospitalised for emphysema and treated for an infection caused by silicone breast implants. Last month she behaved erratically on stage while performing in Belgrade, and the rest of her summer tour was subsequently cancelled.
Her final public appearance came three days before her death, at a gig by her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, at the Roundhouse in London. Her last recording was a duet with legendary crooner Tony Bennett, for his album Duets II, which is due in September.
Fate finally caught up with Amy Winehouse on Saturday, July 23rd 2011, when she was found dead at her house in north London. One of the greatest singers of her generation, she was only 27.
