Amy Winehouse Tonight We'll Be Celebrating The
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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.