Chasing Amy

 

When Amy Winehouse burst onto the music scene with the tragically prescient “Rehab” back in 2006, everyone readily predicted she would become a huge star. Her passing a mere 5 years later at the tender age of 27 did not hinder that: remarkably, the artist’s short career left behind enough gems for her not only to enter the pantheon of global music superstars, but also to inspire a rebirth in the modern soul genre, in the UK and beyond. Not too shabby…

First things first: although the world got to know Amy with her seminal 2006 Back to Black album, this was actually her sophomore effort. Back in 2003, she’d already released the debut album Frank, to less fanfare. To be clear, that first issue, although perfectly enjoyable, lacked the personality of its follow-up, instead relying on the more topical pop/rnb vibes of the era. Then, as the artist grew in experience — and sheer courage to take on the “system” and push for her singular vision, the far more sophisticated reinvention of classic 60’s soul through a contemporary looking glass that is Back to Black came to be. That she was able to stick to her guns as well as deliver such a wonderfully stylistic masterpiece is all up to her…

Once she’d found her voice, it felt like she was not gonna have anyone take it back from her. Everything she produced in the years that followed was noteworthy: her duet with Mark Ronson, “Valerie”, became just as every bit a classic as her solo work did. Ronson, let it be said, happened to be her greatest ambassador: the then-young producer had done absolute wonders on Back to Black and their artistic visions seemed to wonderfully coalesce regardless the setting. The Tony Bennett duet “Body and soul” was another smash hit (although sadly posthumous), receiving a Grammy award for Best duo/group pop performance while accompanying album Duets II won Best traditional pop vocal album. Other posthumous track “Our day will come”, recorded for her first album, was also a beautiful piece of work, tying it together numerous styles and eras as she evidently loved doing…

Sadly, though, excesses in her personal life gradually prevented her from reliably performing live. In the last years before her untimely passing, several infamous episodes had her skipping shows and/or showing up drunk on stage. While this in no way constitutes a unique example in the history of Rock n’ roll (far from it), it nevertheless makes for a sad story, because of how incredibly talented Amy Winehouse really was — and because it eventually killed her. No matter: she left behind enough for us to keep enjoying her unique artistic universe…