Amy Winehouse (9 page)

A ‘Stand By Your Man’ for the twenty-first century, ‘Some Unholy War’ is rarely commented on, which is a shame, because, despite a comparatively uninspiring musical performance, the lyric is inspired and decidedly Amy-esque. She’ll stand beside her man whatever fight he is fighting, with her drunken pride and battered guitar case. Her Billie Holiday-style vocals complement the organ and tambourine background neatly. At two minutes and twenty-two seconds, it is the album’s shortest tune.

Fans of the Four Tops will have been delighted by ‘He Can Only Hold Her’. With nods to James Brown and modern hip hop in its beat, it is a happy tune, certainly when compared with much of the rest of the album. The guitar flows
effortlessly and Amy croons over it about the complexities of a particularly tricky relationship. A classic Motown tune, it again deserves a better reputation than it has.

‘Addicted’ is a wonderfully happy, carefree conclusion to an often dark album. A happy, summery song, it features Amy mischievously singing about a friend’s boyfriend who keeps smoking all her weed. Here Amy is sassy, defiant and witty, and the listener can hear the smile on her face as she warns her friend that she won’t let her boyfriend back into the house unless he has his own supplies, and that she will be stricter than an airport security team. In the final twist of the album, Amy reveals that weed has done more for her than any dick ever has. Perhaps her happiest ever song, Amy often uses ‘Addicted’ to kick off her live sets, those familiar opening bass lines setting up many an evening of music and joy.

The response to
Back to Black
was, almost universally, not just positive but absolutely joyously admiring. Indeed, the album surely rates as one of the most consensus-forming releases of recent times. Where the reviews of
Frank
had been largely complimentary, the response to
Back to Black
was almost orgasmic. Helen Brown, writing in the
Daily Telegraph
, said,

The
Guardian
’s Dorian Lynskey called it ‘a 21st-century soul classic’.

Describing Amy as ‘a heavily tattooed, 23-year-old north Londoner with fluctuating weight, a penchant for drink and a vivid sexuality, and a voice that clearly owes a debt to the childhood she spent listening to her daddy’s jazz records’, the
New Statesman
magazine concluded, ‘
Back to Black
reveals a darkness that would surely make Winehouse’s daddy proud.’

Staying in the liberal press arena, the
Observer
made the track ‘Back to Black’ its single of the week and, even though reviewer Kitty Empire concluded that the second half of the album is weaker than the first, this matters not, because ‘Winehouse could release albums of knuckles cracking from here on in: her reputation is already assured.’

On the BBC website, Matt Harvey covered similar territory: ‘The second half of the album isn’t quite as good as the first, but that’s a minor gripe. One of the best UK albums of the year, with the added advantage that you’ll be able to pick it up at the local supermarket checkout…’

Rolling Stone
magazine praised Ronson and Remi’s assured production, noting that it turns ‘classic soul sounds into something big, bright and punchy. The tunes don’t always hold up. But the best ones are impossible to dislike.’ In
the Evening Standard
, Chris Elwell-Sutton was also praising of the production, gushing, ‘To inject so much of her own mixed-up character into such hallowed musical formats was an extraordinary challenge. Luckily, Winehouse has the production, voice and strength of character to pull it off.’

John Lewis, in
Time Out
, said,

In
Attitude
, Jamie Hakim wrote,

The
Sunday Herald
had this to say: ‘Where the original swayed, this one jitters, like a tetchy, frustrated Motown stomper, its urgent drums the perfect backing to the pleading, brash tones of Winehouse, with whom Ronson can seem to do no wrong.’

The Times
said, ‘This one is tight, packed full of real
old-fashioned
songs in the manner of soul greats such as Dinah Washington’; and the
Independent
declared, ‘For her follow-up to
Frank
, Winehouse has shifted her emphasis from jazz to soulful R&B. It’s a measure of her talents that the shift should be so effective.’

Hadley Freeman of the
Guardian
said,

So, had Amy reinvented herself deliberately? Music critic Garry Mulholland rejects the notion that the
Back to Black
-era Amy is a wholesale reinvention of the
Frank
-era Amy. ‘I accept that she’s lost weight,’ he says. ‘But I don’t see it personally as she sat down one day and thought, “I’m going to be thinner and do faux Motown.” I see the second album as a continuation and development of the first album. I see her current look as a continuation and development of the look she had a few years ago. She’s a proper artist in the way that Bowie and Madonna are. I think every album she makes will have a different sound, and a different look to accompany it. That’s what you do, if you’re halfway decent. It’s just that nowadays we’re so unused to halfway decent that people think of it as an extraordinary thing.’

Amy has been compared to many artists, and Jennifer Nine managed an original and novel comparison in her review of the album on
Yahoo Music
. She said the album’s

On the webzine
PopMatters
, the reviewer said, ‘
Back to Black
finds a fearless artist saying whatever she damn well pleases. And we best listen up.’ Even the posh old
Financial Times
chimed in, asking in a quiz, ‘Which colour does Amy Winehouse return to, according to her current bestselling CD?’

Amy has discussed the inspiration behind the album’s songs. ‘So, “Rehab” is the first single from the album. It’s all about my revolving door rehab experience. I said no! “You Know I’m No Good” is about how I couldn’t be faithful, and the title comes from my defensiveness when I got found out. Which leads us to “Back to Black”, the title track. I split up with my boyfriend and had a few black months. Say no more!

“Me & Mr Jones”? Well… I didn’t mind when my ex didn’t get me into the Slick Rick show, but Nas? Nobody stands in between me and my man! “Tears Dry on Their Own” comes from when I was in a relationship that I knew was doomed, but that I wouldn’t be too devastated when it ended… Sometimes you just need to find time in the day to have fun, not sex. That’s what “Just Friends” is about.

‘But you know when you’re in a failing relationship and you’re trying to make it work? Well that’s “Love is a Losing Game” – how hopeless and desolate you can feel. Finally,
there’s “Addicted”. Now, my best friend can smoke however much of mine she likes, but her boyfriend? That shit don’t fly!’

Paolo Hewitt is a renowned music writer and is the author of respected works on everyone from Steve Marriott of the Small Faces to Oasis and Paul Weller. In an interview with the author, he expanded on why Amy had such a success with
Back to Black
. ‘She does what all the greats do,’ he said. ‘She takes from various sources and then makes it her own. People are very lazy when it comes to black music. They would never ever call the Smiths a prog-rock band but they feel like they can write about “the Amy Winehouse-influenced Motown album”. There’s so much more than just Motown going on there. For me, when I heard “Rehab”, I just heard fifties and sixties New Orleans music. There’s so much there: jazz, R&B and more.

‘When I hear one of her tunes that I’ve not heard before on the radio, I always think, “Wow, what is this?” It’s always her that makes me sit up and take notice. She always brings something new to the table, twists it round and makes it her own. Part of that is to do with her voice but she’s also a very creative artist. She really knows what makes music work and makes her own music work the same way.

‘The only problem with her is she’s far too much into the Billie Holiday, broken woman in the bar at two in the morning with a bottle of whisky, singing about her man leaving her. I think she’s too in love with that. It gets a bit samey, but that’s a minor quibble.’

Some have wondered whether the great form that Amy found herself in whenever she worked with producer Mark
Ronson might have been motivated by some romantic sparks between the pair. ‘It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,’ he laughed. ‘She calls me the big sister she never had! Amy makes a really nice meatball dinner. She’s good at making Jewish-mother food.’ Amy always says, “Don’t ask me about anything new” because she just likes what she likes,’ he says, ‘so I just let her find a song. As soon as she started singing “Valerie” I knew she’d sung it in the shower a few times.’

Nonetheless, Ronson was clearly an influential man in her success. As was Raye Cosbert. According to EMI’s Guy Moot, ‘There are two pivotal moments in Amy’s career: the introduction of Mark Ronson and of Raye.’ Raye Cosbert had promoted her concerts since 2003, and, when she left Brilliant 19, it was to him she turned. ‘We had a chance meeting one day in Camden,’ Cosbert recalls. ‘She told me about her situation, said she’d heard that I was doing the odd thing
management-wise
and we just hit it off from there really.’

Cosbert had previously worked with the likes of Blur, Robbie Williams, Lily Allen, Massive Attack, Björk and Public Enemy. Guy Moot says of Cosbert, ‘He is incredibly calm and, by remaining calm, he focuses on what the goals are and at the same time harnesses the more erratic artistic moments that Amy has.’

Moot is particularly positive about the effect that Cosbert’s full management has had on Amy’s live performances. ‘He is incredibly experienced in the live arena, so the production and the presentation has improved dramatically,’ says Moot. ‘It was incredibly hit-and-miss before: you really didn’t know
whether it was going to be a good show or not. She is an incredible live performer now.’

On the success of
Back to Black
, Cosbert is hugely positive and proud. Asked how many copies the album can go on to sell, he replied, ‘How long is a piece of string? Let me put it this way, all the predictions we had initially are now out the window because of the success of the record. We all had different views of what we thought the album would achieve commercially and we’ve exceeded them all.’

I
n October 2006, Amy Winehouse was booked to appear on
The Charlotte Church
Show
. It proved to be a memorable performance. Church’s show had begun broadcasting the previous month and was a huge step forward for the Welsh singer, who had already appeared as both a guest and as a guest-host on
Have I Got News For You
. Her new show was a mixture of studio guests, comedy sketches and musical performances. It was here that Amy came in, of course.

Amy and Church had agreed to perform a duet of ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson at the end of the show. However, it soon became clear that Amy was not in an ideal state to perform. Rumours have it that, on the day, Amy had downed champagne for breakfast and killer cocktails for lunch. ‘When
she turned up for rehearsal she was drunk, she kept forgetting her words,’ remembers Church. ‘Come the show, we had to do a few takes.’ One wonders what the rejected takes sounded like because the one that was broadcast was fairly chaotic itself.

Amy leads in with the first line but her performance is slurred and she seems to be struggling to remember the words. Church then sings her line but is clearly watching Amy like a hawk, with an expression somewhere between concern and distaste. Each time she handed back to Amy, Church had a secret signal. ‘Amy kept forgetting the words. I told her when I squeeze you it’s your turn to sing,’ she says. ‘We did it with me poking her in the back.’

As they join together to sing the first chorus, Amy’s body language is somewhat sheepish. The start of the second verse sees Amy seeming more energetic and focused, but then, as Church takes over, she pointedly sings the line ‘You’re playing with your life’ directly at Amy. As if in response, Amy makes a mess of the second verse’s final line. The rest of the song passes without incident but any rapport between the two singers has long since passed. They do, however, manage to embrace each other at the end of the performance. Amy looks little short of relieved that the ordeal is over.

Church’s decision to take the moral high ground over Amy after the show was somewhat hypocritical. She has long spoken of her own partying ways, boasting, ‘I can sink ’em.’ She adds, ‘If I’m home, I’ll start with a Cheeky Vimto – double port and a bottle of WKD Blue in the same glass. It tastes just like Vimto or Ribena. They’re lethal. Once I’m out, I’ll have
about ten double vodkas. Then I’m pretty much KO’d.’

She celebrated her nineteenth birthday in February with a seventy-two-hour bender and has been photographed looking the worse for wear. To be fair to Church, she did later say, ‘From the last series I enjoyed everyone that came on, really. Amy Winehouse was wild, very different and really nice. She was lovely, a little sweetheart.’

Furthermore, given Amy’s reputation at this point in her career, to invite her onto a chat show, sit her in a green room when such places are famed for having free wine on tap, and then make her wait until the end of the show to perform would seem to be a recipe for trouble. Equally, the song ‘Beat It’ seemed a peculiar choice for Amy to sing in any state, since it didn’t play to many of her plentiful qualities. Could it be that this was a deliberate attempt to stir up controversy and therefore add to the 1.9 million viewers who were watching the show?

If so, it worked. The
Mirror
ran the story big, under the headline A
MY WINO! EXCLUSIVE:
S
INGER DRUNK FOR
C
HARLOTTE
C
HURCH
TV
CHAT
. The
Daily
Telegraph
added that Amy was ‘outrageous, but out of this world’, and millions more have by now watched the footage of her performance on the Internet, where it has become a hit. Many chat and light-entertainment shows have benefited from having a controversial or drunken appearance. From Oliver Reed to George Best and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, it’s a well-trodden path. Indeed, such is the competition in today’s television world that it could be argued that such shows have no hope of succeeding without such an incident.

As well as criticising Amy’s performance on the night, Church also got stuck into her about her cancellation of her US tour. She said, ‘It’s rude if you ask me. I always turned up and did my duties.’ When confronted with these remarks, Amy snapped, ‘Church is an arrogant cow. And Bono isn’t much better. He thinks he’s God.’ Of her appearance on the show, she said, ‘I was drunk. Charlotte invited me on the show, so she must know I’m a bit of a liability.’

Amy was not the only person to put in a tipsy and controversial appearance on
The Charlotte Church Show
. In the same series, comedian Johnny Vegas sank bitter and cocktails, leched over female guests and turned the interview into an absurdity. An audience member said, ‘It was like watching a car crash. Johnny was off his face and took every opportunity to wind her up – she didn’t have the experience to keep him under control.’ At one point, Church reminded Vegas that they had performed karaoke at her mother’s hotel the previous year and Vegas replied, ‘Yes, and I shagged your grandma too.’ He also had a pop at his host’s music, saying, ‘I listened to your album and it was shit.’ Losing her patience, Church snapped and shouted, ‘Shut the fuck up,’ and slapped the comic.

Not that all this controversy did Church much harm. She was soon picking up awards, including Best Female Comedy Newcomer at the British Comedy Awards and Funniest TV Personality at the
Loaded
magazine LAFTA awards. She also got the series recommissioned by Channel 4. Andrew Newman, head of entertainment and comedy at Channel 4,
said, ‘Charlotte has proved herself to be a hugely talented star and has got better and better each week.’ Maybe Charlotte owes Amy one.

While Amy had made many laugh with her performance on
The Charlotte Church Show
, she had people in stitches of laughter on BBC panel show
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
. Her first appearance on the show came in March 2004. Memorable moments included when Phill Jupitus recounted some rumours about Lou Reed and Amy let out a rising whistle, which prompted general laughter. ‘It’s my
Jewish-mother
cluck noise,’ she explained. The show’s then host, Mark Lamarr, quipped that she sounded like a cheap firework. During the intros round – which was adapted for this edition so the contestants hummed the instrumental break, rather than the intro, for each song – she was described by Jupitus as sounding like an angry kitten. ‘It’s because I’m small,’ she protested. ‘I can’t manipulate my voice like a big man like you can.’

Having been compared to a firework and kitten, she was then asked if she was ‘a cockney rabbi’. Then there was just time for her song ‘Stronger Than Me’ to form a part of the final lyrics round, for Lamarr to mention her childhood band Sweet ’n’ Sour and then the show was over. A fairly typical
Buzzcocks
edition, but one that scarcely hinted at the entertainment to come during her second appearance on the show, which came in November 2006.

Lining up alongside GMTV presenter Penny Smith, Alex Pennie and Andrew Maxwell, Amy put in an absolutely
majestic performance, utterly outwitting the show’s new sharp host Simon Amstell and turning regular guest Bill Bailey into an irrelevance. When Amstell introduced Amy, he quipped, ‘Amy’s likes include Kelly Osbourne and the smell of petrol. I quite like matches, let’s do lunch.’ He also said to her, ‘It’s lovely to have you here. Part of the BBC’s new remit: more Jews, less carbon emissions.’

GMTV presenter Smith – who, incidentally, was wearing a top that looked like a plate of hummus with cumin and paprika sprinkled over it – asked, ‘Amy, is that hair yours, and is anything living in it?’ Amstell interrupted to gasp, ‘That’s not the GMTV way!’ then Amy answered, ‘Oh, yeah it’s all mine, ’cos I bought it.’ Soon after this, Amy revealed that later that evening she was due to meet Pete Doherty to record a song. Amstell shrieked, ‘Don’t go near him! Do something with Katie Melua. There you are.’ Amy sank back in her seat and said, ‘I’d rather have cat-AIDS, thank you.’

Amy’s Melua quip grabbed the loudest laugh of the night so far but host Amstell soon regained the upper hand when Amy told him that her ‘new thing’ was making a noise that sounded like ‘psht, psht’. ‘Is it?’ Amstell responded. ‘I thought it was crack.’ Amy turned to him and asked scornfully, ‘Do I look like Russell Brand?’ Amstell jumped straight in and said, ‘Uh, yes.’ (Incidentally, Brand once wrote, ‘Amy Winehouse had bigger hair than me. She says she uses polystyrene cement. Must get some.’)

Other classic one-liners from Amy on the night included (on Ben Elton), ‘I don’t think there’s such a thing as integrity or
being a sell-out, I just think he’s a wanker.’ When Amstell said how much he preferred the younger Amy, who had appeared on his Channel 4
Popworld
show, she said, ‘We were close,’ and then, running her palm down his face, added, ‘Now she’s dead.’

She then turned and spat over her shoulder. ‘I will wipe it up,’ she pleaded. ‘I just didn’t want to gurgle.’ Amstell said, ‘This is not a football match. You come here, full of… crack… spitting all over things.’ Amy sighed, ‘Let it die, please. Let it die.’ Amstell responded, ‘The addiction I’d like to die… this isn’t even a pop quiz any more: it’s an intervention, Amy.’ During the closing round, Amstell asked where the following lyric came from: ‘They tried to make me go to rehab…’ Amy jumped in with, ‘I said no, no, no.’ Amstell told her, ‘Correct. In hindsight… I think maybe “yes”, maybe…’ Amy – who said on her
I Told You I Was Trouble
DVD that she loves Amstell – took it in good spirit.

Amy’s performance was much discussed that week and has since become a huge hit on YouTube. One user of that website, called Stuart, even filmed his own video in response to it. ‘I saw her the other day on
Buzzcocks
’, he says. ‘What happened? She looks like a train wreck!’

Before long,
Buzzcocks
would become mired in controversy when Ordinary Boys singer Preston stormed out in disgust after Amstell made some disparaging remarks about his wife Chantelle. Donny Tourette attempted to replicate Amy’s wit when he appeared on the show but was eaten alive by Amstell’s and Bailey’s wit.

Looking back on her entertaining television spots, Amy is
characteristically unrepentant. ‘No, it doesn’t really bother me,’ she sneers. ‘There have been times when I’ve done stuff on telly and I’ve been drunk because I was bored. Why not be drunk? The thing is I’m not trying to protect “Winehouse, the Brand”, know what I mean? I don’t look at things in a
long-term
way. I’ve got a long time between sound check and the actual show so fuck it, I’ll get drunk.

‘Apparently, the other night at a gig, some girl came up to me afterwards and she goes “Hello” and gave me a kiss on the cheek, and as she went away she goes to my boyfriend, “God, she’s fucked, isn’t she?” and I just saw red and smacked her. I don’t remember this at all. Then I took my boyfriend home and started beating him up.’

At a concert in Brighton, between songs, Amy once asked the audience where the best venue for a post-gig game of pool could be found in the seaside town. She had previously rated a concert at Glasgow’s King Tut’s club as one of her best, purely for the availability of a pool table, which almost got her into trouble.

‘That was a great gig for me… It was brilliant. I really, really like that place. There aren’t that many venues that have a pool table downstairs, you know. I put money on the side of the table and came back for my game, and these guys were playing. I was like, “Oi, I put my coin down,” and they were like, “No, you didn’t.” I took off before someone hit me with a pool cue.’

On 6 January 2007, Amy was booked to perform at G-A-Y, the gay night at London’s Astoria venue at 157 Charing Cross Road. There is a companion bar a mere mince away on the
famous Old Compton Street. The club, hosted by Jeremy Joseph, is perhaps the UK’s leading gay night. Attracting a poppy, youthful crowd, it has been the venue for numerous big-name musicians down the years. Kylie Minogue has performed there, as have Westlife, Donna Summer, the Spice Girls and Boyzone. Such appearances often capture the imagination of the media, whether it is reports of teenage girls who are heartbroken to learn that their pin-ups are playing to a gay crowd, or McFly’s always memorable performances there, which have seen them both strip and set their own pubic hair alight. Indeed, if you want to get a gay following and create a stir in the press, you could do a lot worse than book yourself in at G-A-Y.

For weeks, the venue had been trumpeting Amy’s forthcoming appearance with the slogan, T
RY TO MAKE ME GO TO REHAB
/I
SAY NO, NO, NO… TRY TO MAKE ME GO TO
G-A-Y/I
SAY YES, YES, YES
. Given Amy’s huge popularity in the gay community, the night seemed set to become an absolute triumph and tickets for the night were quickly snapped up by excited fans. This disproved the whispers in some circles that Amy either was – or was perceived by some gay men to be – homophobic. The rumour sprang from the line in ‘Stronger Than Me’ when Amy asks her weakling boyfriend if he is gay. The truth, as we have seen, is that Amy meant no offence to any gay man with this line and none was taken in any serious quarter. In the event, while Amy did not in fairness set light to her pubic hair, nor strip naked, she managed to capture the following day’s headlines in her own way.

One person present described Amy as looking ‘a little unsteady on her feet’ and ‘smelling of booze’ when she arrived at the venue at around midnight. At 1.30 a.m., club host Jeremy Joseph strode onto the stage and warmly introduced Amy to the cheering masses. After a brief delay, she took to the stage and was greeted by a deafening welcome. The band launched into ‘Back to Black’ and all seemed well for a while.

Then Amy started repeatedly holding her stomach and grimacing with discomfort. She also appeared to belch or heave a couple of times, holding her hand to her mouth and looking a little wobbly. By the time it came to the final chorus of the opening track, she was interrupting her own vocals and seemed extremely disoriented. Before the song even finished, she rushed from the stage holding her stomach. Joseph quickly replaced her on the stage and told the confused audience that Amy was vomiting and asked them to bear with her. ‘But she never came back. Everyone was booing,’ said one audience member. Eventually, news came through that she was not returning to the stage and heckles joined in with the boos. Some audience members stamped their feet.