In association with

Welcome to Linn Lounge presents… Amy Winehouse

Tonight we’ll be celebrating the legendary career of one of Britain’s most fearless stars. With life cut short at only 27, Amy Winehouse had already achieved more ups and downs than most can expect in a lifetime. Let us take you on a musical journey, uncovering the life, loves and motivations beneath the beehive

We’ll be listening to Amy’s posthumous album ‘Lioness: Hidden Treasures’, featuring previously unreleased tracks, alternate versions of existing classics as well as a couple of brand new Amy compositions.

Enjoy listening to this iconic artist at her very best – on a Linn system in Studio Master - the highest quality download available. You’ll discover the true sound of the music, exactly as it was recorded.

A Studio Master download is the highest quality music file available anywhere. It allows you the listener to hear a recording exactly the way the original artist and producer intended it to sound, before it was altered to fit on a CD or squashed down to MP3 size.

So sit back, relax and enjoy!

Page 1 of 10

In association with Music via Spotify – Frank Sinatra – New York, New York

She was difficult to keep quiet!

Her Father, Mitch often sang Frank Sinatra songs to young Amy, who developed a habit of constantly singing to the point that her teachers found it difficult keeping her quiet in class.

Amy Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of north London, to Jewish parents. Jazz flowed through the family, with her grandmother being a jazz singer, and many of her uncles being jazz musicians.

When Winehouse was nine years old, her grandmother Cynthia suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School for furthering her vocal education. She was there for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before starting full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School; however, Winehouse was allegedly expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose.

After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse received her own when she was 13 and began writing music a year later. Soon after, she began working for a living, including, at one time, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network, in addition to singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000 she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; her influences were to include Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Her boyfriend at the time, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person. Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and while being developed by the management company, she was kept as a recording industry secret.

Her future A&R representative at Island/Universal, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, by this time Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI.

Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield, and the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Beese is reported as saying that he felt the reason behind the excitement, over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time, was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.

Winehouse then began a working relationship with the well respected hip hop producer Salaam Remi.

Page 2 of 10

In association with Salaam says,

“The first day I met Amy, which was May 27 2002, she sat down in my studio, and I was like, “what do you have, what are you going to do?” She pulled out a guitar, and she started singing the song “The Girl from Ipanema” and it lit up the whole room. And when it did, I looked around and thought, whoah, you can actually sing, and so was everyone else. She was the real thing”.

This song was to later inspire many of Amy’s hits such as ‘Me and Mr Jones’ and ‘Cherry’.

Salaam says,

This marked the turning point, where Amy could take any well-known song and make it into her own.

MUSIC - The Girl from Ipanema – Lioness – Amy Winehouse (Studio Master)

Winehouse's debut album, Frank, (named after the influence of Frank Sinatra) was released on 20 October 2003 and produced mainly by Salaam Remi. Many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, every song was co-written by Winehouse. The album received positive reviews with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics and brought comparisons of her voice to Sarah Vaughan, Macy Gray and others.

A track that didn’t make it to this Album, though originally intended was Half Time, now featured on the Lioness Album.

Salaam tells us,

“Half Time was done during those first initial songs as well, when Amy was really into the Jazz vibe. It was recorded for the Frank album, but never actually made it on. Over the last year or so, in between writing her other stuff, I asked Questlove to join me in trying to take this song and doing in the form that she would have wanted. We pretty much kept the song there, but the bottom line is that the song, the vocal, it’s just Amy at her pure genius. Also this song is special because in the 3rd verse she mentions … Frank Sinatra, and that’s where the title for the album came from.”

Music – Half Time – Lioness – Amy Winehouse (Studio Master)

The album entered the upper levels of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for BRIT Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act". It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004 she won the Ivor Novello (songwriting) Award for Best Contemporary Song, alongside Salaam Remi, with her contribution to the first single, "Stronger Than Me". The album also made the short list for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year she performed at the Glastonbury Festival, the V Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival (7 July 2004, at the Club Soda), and on the Jazzworld stage. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because of the inclusion by her record label of certain songs and mixes

Page 3 of 10

In association with she disliked. Additional singles from the album were "Take the Box", "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself".

Youtube – Amy Winehouse – Jonathan Ross 2004 HQ (I heard love is blind + interview) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFcG0pBhKPA

Winehouse was deeply influenced by not only vocal pop jazz, but soul girl groups, especially those from the 1960s.

Her stylist, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo, and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from The Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, that former lead singer of The Ronettes, Ronnie Spector was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the New York Post that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have my glasses on."

In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones' longtime band, the Dap-Kings to back her up in the studio and on tour. In May 2006 Winehouse's demonstration tracks such as "You Know I’m No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York East Village Radio show. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart numerous times, and entered at number seven on the Billboard 200 in the US. It was the best- selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the course of the year.

YOUTUBE - Amy Winehouse - rare performance + interview BBC Arena 5/5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuZ8CIw_D8s

Play from start to 1:45

The album spawned a number of singles. The first released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab". The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007.

Page 4 of 10

In association with Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got a hit record."

The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good", was released in January 2007. It reached number 18 on the UK singles chart.

The title track, "Back to Black", was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own", "Love is a Losing Game" and "Just Friends" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.

Speaking about the version on the album Lioness, Salaam says,

“With this version of ‘Tears dry’ (recorded prior to the one that was on Back to Black) we laid down that vocal in pretty much one take, she just laid out the lyrics the way she wanted it to go, but by the time Back to Black was coming together, we had so many mid tempos and down tempos I said we need something that’s up. So she hears me messing around with the Motown vibe of ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and then we hooked it into the song. But this is the original version of the song the way she did it. It also gives you another sentiment to the same lyrics”.

Music – Tears Dry – Lioness – Amy Winehouse (Studio Master)

In addition to her own album she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. The song was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single".

On Valerie Mark tells us. …

“One day in December, just after ‘Back to Black came out’, she was in New York, so I took her to Brooklyn to meet these guys that played on her record. We went in and the original arrangement of Valerie was much more soulful, sort of 60s Curtis Mayfield kind of sound to it. The whole band was packing up and everyone was about to get out the door - it was kinda last minute – whoah, let’s do one with a kinda dumbed down beat. And that’s the one that became the released version. But this original one was always kinda my favorite. It was certainly Amy’s favourite”.

Music – Valerie – Lioness – Amy Winehousse (Studio Master)

Amy married long term on/off boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. Fielder-Civil had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and moved to London at the age of 16 from his native Lincolnshire. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying "if he says one thing I don't like then I'll chin him". Drug use began to become an issue between the pair, with

Page 5 of 10

In association with Fielder-Civil quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced her to crack cocaine and heroin.

Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, citing fears that the two might commit suicide, with Fielder-Civil's father encouraging fans to boycott her music.

Meanwhile, Winehouse's tour of Back to Black didn’t go well. In November 2007 the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A music critic for the Birmingham Mail said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout". She announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing doctor’s advice to take a complete rest.

During 2008, Universal Music began pressing Winehouse for new material for her 3rd album. Winehouse in fact wasn’t even near a recording studio even as late as September that year. It was noted that she had touring obligations during the summer and also that if an album was quickly recorded, it would be at least a year before an album could be released. In late October Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.

In the background Amy was having to contend with her husband being imprisoned on 21st July 2008 following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved an assault on a pub landlord that resulted in a broken cheek. According to the prosecution the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up". The prosecution testified that the money used to pay off the landlord belonged to Winehouse, but that Winehouse pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, because she had to attend an awards ceremony.

One of the few tracks they did manage to lay down in the late 2008 recording sessions was Like Smoke featuring the rapper, Nas.

Salaam tells us,

“We had early versions of this song during ‘Back to Black’ that were kind of jazzy, but we brought it back around the 2008 period and put it back down. She actually wrote more lyrics that we never got a chance to record, but I was like you know what, this is a great opportunity for her and Nas to finally do that, that’s what Amy would have done. Whenever I approach something I always ask myself, what would Amy have done right now. She liked Nas so much that she wrote a song about him.

From the beginning of us working together she had a bit of a thing like, wow, you worked with Nas? So ‘Like Smoke’ for Amy is a continuation of the first album which had Nas on “in my bed”. The second album had her dedication to Nas lyrically with

Page 6 of 10

In association with ‘Me and Mr Jones’ which she mentions both of their birthdays being 9/14. Then I had introduced them over the last year or so and we were all talking about celebrating their birthday in Barbados”.

Nas tells us,

“We heard about each other of course, and we knew we shared the same birthday, so Salaam would tell us how we both reminded him of each other. So it was cool to meet my crazy twin. You know when you’re talking to someone that’s very genuine, there’s nothing Hollywood about it, nothing industry about it, just in her world. And her world was cool. Amy was someone I wanted to see stick around and I just felt that she had so much to offer”.

MUSIC – “Like Smoke” – Lioness – Amy Winehouse (studio master)

During her 2009 stay in Saint Lucia, Winehouse worked on new music with producer Salaam Remi. Island claimed that a new album would be due in 2010; Island co- president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me".

Whilst on the Caribbean island, Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman, saying she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that the "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married."

On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. On 25 February, Blake Fielder-Civil was quoted as saying that he planned to continue divorce proceedings to give himself a drug-free fresh start. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Uncontested, the divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Upon his request Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement.

More time passed with no 3rd album in sight. In July 2010 Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It's going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really."

But Mark Ronson said in July 2010 that he had not even started to record the album.

At this time Amy also looked at forming a band with Questlove of the Roots. However, Winehouse's problems obtaining a visa delayed the still unnamed group

Page 7 of 10

In association with from working together. Producer Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project.

During January 2011, she played five dates in Brazil, but had to cut short a performance in Dubai in the February following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.

On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her 12-leg 2011 European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster, and she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or— when trying to introduce them—the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who didn't allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her European tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.

Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse, London on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise guest appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with The Wanted.

Winehouse's last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his latest album, Duets II, which was released on 20 September 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul," was released on 14 September 2011 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday.

Salaam said,

Body and Soul is the last thing she recorded in the studio, with Tony Bennett, so it only made sense for it to be on the record. It’s part of her story. And with Tony Bennett she was just grateful to be able to do a song with one of the legends, her grandparents loved Tony Bennett, and she’s actually there doing a song with him. It’s like it was something that was big for her, a part of her legacy she was able to accomplish.

Bennett said that he believed that “Amy was in trouble at that time because she had a couple of engagements that she didn't keep up. But what people didn't realize at that time, she knew that she was in a lot of trouble; that she wasn't going to live. And it wasn't drugs. It was alcohol toward the end. . . . It was such a sad thing because ... she was the only singer that really sang what I call the 'right way' because she was a great jazz-pop singer. . . . She was really a great jazz singer. A true jazz singer.”

Music - Body and Soul – Amy Winehouse and Tony Bennett.

Page 8 of 10

In association with Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011. At that point her album Back to Black posthumously became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century.

To finish I’d like to take you back to 2009. When not in St Lucia, Amy spent time at a home she rented in Barnet in North London.

Salaam tells us,

(The Danny Hathaway classic) “A Song for You” was recorded in Amy’s house. We were in between trips to St Lucia. At one point she had a house in Barnet and she decided to take the equipment and put it in the house. So before we could get all the mics set up, she goes and takes out her guitar and just starts singing it. My engineer happened to push record luckily, and captured her having pretty much an “at home” moment. She was sitting down singing “A Song for You”, into a mic going through the chords, figuring it out as she was singing it. But, the lyrics of that song were so strong that she ended up weeping through the song,

I've been so many places in my life and time I've sung a lot of songs I've made some bad rhyme I've acted out my love in stages With ten thousand people watching But we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you

By the time she was finished it, make-up was running down her face.

The song was recorded in one take.

Music – “A song for you” – Amy Winehouse (Studio Master)

Page 9 of 10

In association with Thank you for coming along tonight.

Don’t forget to take away your download voucher which gives you a free taster of Amy Winehouse in Studio Master to enjoy at home.

If you enjoyed this then you can follow Linn on Facebook or Twitter and be the first to hear about future ‘Linn Lounge’ evenings or if you want to join our mailing list then we’ll keep you posted on upcoming Linn events in your area.

Next month, Linn Lounge presents John Coltrane.

Now it’s your turn to be the DJ - we’ve got a range of Linn systems set up around the shop for you to try.

So grab a bite to eat, fill your glass and listen to some of your favourite songs. Whether it’s the latest Studio Master download, a playlist on Spotify or even a movie, Linn systems are designed to get the very best sound from everything you listen to at home.

We’ve got staff on hand so feel free to ask any questions.

Page 10 of 10