Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse 1983-2011

I loved Amy Winehouse, she was the type of artist that made you realize just how great music could be, she was one of the very best singer/songwriters of recent years. When she first rose to fame and popularity she was a breath of fresh air at a time when most female artist were doing essentially the same thing, she came out with a throwback sound all her own, with an unique voice that hadn't been heard before, and a style that hadn't been heard in many years. After years of drug and alcohol abuse her life was cut short, at the Age of 27, and like several of other extremely talented artist that died at the age of 27, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix, we are left wondering what could have been if she hadn't had the drug or alcohol problems she had, or if she were able to clean up her act.

I first came to know her music like most others with the popular song "Rehab" the sadly ironic song about refusal to go to rehab. Soon after hearing that song I bought the CD, it was 11 tracks of utter brilliance, I hadn't heard anything that sounded like her before. Every track was so honest, gut-wrenching, painful, but ultimately sensational. After hearing the incredible "Back to Black" album, I sought out her other music, I was able to get ahold of her debut album "Frank" which at the time was unavailable in the states, and in my opinion  it was somehow able to be better than her second album "Back to Black" which I was amazed by, her debut was definitely her finding her voice, but it was an amazing album that once again was so honest, it was bluesy, jazzy and the type of music that hadn't been heard since the 1940's, let alone popular. After hearing her first two albums in the span of two days, and falling in love with them, it was official, I was hooked, I was a huge fan of not just her amazing music, but her style and her uniqueness.

She would go on to win a ton of awards, and Grammy's, for a too brief period of time took the music world by storm. The usual self promoting Kanye West at that Grammy ceremony, said that if Amy Winehouse didn't win a slew of awards that year, then the Grammy's loses credibility. It should be noted that Kanye was nominated for several awards himself that year. It goes to show that if the super egotistical Kanye West is able to humble himself because of an artist, that artist must be talented, Amy Winehouse was just that talented. 

It was around that time that it started to come out that Winehouse's hit song "Rehab" wasn't just a song, and more honest than anyone ever thought. It was found out that she battled many different drugs, the drug addiction started to become more of a focus than her music, and it became very clear that she wouldn't give us new music any time soon.

In the past couple years Winehouse had become better known for showing up on US and British tabloids than she was for being a gifted singer/songwriter, it was sad to watch to say the least. Sad as her death may be, it should come as no surprise to anyone, she was walking a slippery slope for a long time, and her lifestyle finally caught up with her. Her death or personal turmoil should not distract from her music however, although she only released the two albums, they are both great albums and both are among the best albums to be released in the past 10 years.

Top 10 Amy Winehouse Songs

10. Rehab

9. Fuck Me Pumps

8. In My Bed

7. Wake Up Alone

6. I Heard Love is Blind

5. Back to Black

4. Best Friends

3. Stronger Than Me

2. You Know I'm No Good

1. You Sent Me Flying

For Those wondering, why in my Top 10 List of Amy Winehouse songs I included so many live performances, it was to show, that her amazing and talented voice was not produced in the studio, it was not because of auto-tune, she could actually sing, she was actually talented.