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Amy Jade Winehouse (born September 14, 1983) is an English jazz and soul singer and songwriter from North London. Her debut album, Frank (released in 2003) was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and she won an Ivor Novello award in 2004 for her debut single Stronger Than Me. In 2006, she released her second album, Back to Black. On 14 February 2007, she won a Brit award for Best British Female Artist.
Winehouse was born into a family with a history of jazz musicians. She grew up in the suburb of Southgate, North London, and attended Ashmole School. At around age 10, Winehouse founded a short-lived amateur rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, as Sour. She described the group as "the little white Jewish Salt 'n' Pepa". She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School aged 12 but was expelled at 13 for "not applying herself" and piercing her own nose. She later attended the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon.
She grew up listening to a diverse range of music (from Salt 'n' Pepa to Sarah Vaughan) and received her first guitar aged 13.
After her friend, soul singer Tyler James, gave her demo tape to an A&R person, she was discovered and began singing professionally at age 16. She signed to her current record label, Island/Universal, under management company 19 Management.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on October 20, 2003. It was produced mainly by Salaam Remi with many songs having jazz-influences 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 (sometimes explicit) lyrics and brought comparisons of her voice to, amongst others, Sarah VaughanNETQUOTEVAR:9 and Macy Gray.
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 sell platinum. Later in 2004, she won the Ivor Novello songwriting Award for "Best Contemporary Song" with her contribution to the first single, "Stronger Than Me" (alongside Salaam Remi). The album also made the short list for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury festival, on the Jazzworld stage, and at the V Festival.
After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 per cent behind [the] album" because of the inclusion of certain songs and mixes she disliked by her record label. Upon the release of her second album, she stated "I can't even listen to Frank any more - in fact, I've never been able to. I like playing the tracks live because that's different but listening to them is another story."
