She's the Best British Female and a diva to boot. But has she cleaned up her act? Oh no, no, no!

 

Published: 18 February 2007

 

Her behaviour was nothing less than shocking at the Brit Awards. Everyone agreed, she let the side down pretty badly. Tchuh. You think you know people, think you can trust them to turn in a reliable performance - and they go and ruin it. Amy Winehouse just flatly refused to get drunk, swear, vomit, smoke a joint or storm out. Not once did she tell the writhing popinjay Russell Brand to eff off with his smart remarks about her incipient alcoholism. She sang "Rehab" with a sweet uncertainty, hitching up her red frock to mid-thigh level, but delicately, carefully, as though primly fastidious about revealing her knickers. Her acceptance speech, far from being a rant about the awfulness of Dido or the rapacity of A&R men, was a little-girl stutter of "ers" and "ums" before she declared "I'm just glad my mum and dad are here" and exited, probably for a lovely family night out. It was hopeless. "They tried to make me go to rehab?" More like, "They tried to persuade me to have a small sherry and enjoy myself, but I said no, no, no...". At this rate, we'll soon have to stop waiting for her to self-destruct, and start listening to her singing.

 

On Wednesday night she was crowned Britain's top diva, walking off with the Best British Female Solo Artist against the stiff competition of Lily Allen and Corinne Bailey Rae. It confirmed what we knew but had half-forgotten: that her voice is a miracle - an extraordinary, bluesy growl, deep and sorrowful but tough as nails, as she informs a girl chum, "Tell your boyfriend/ Next time he around/. To smoke his own weed and don't wear my shit down," or wretchedly reflects on her hectic infidelity, and the moment her boyfriend spotted the giveaway carpet-burn on her back while she was in the bath...

 

Her voice is the point, of course, the way she marries a classic blues sensibility to a modern hip-hop attitude -- but Ms Winehouse's grip on the national psyche is multi-tentacular. For one thing, there's her extraordinary looks. She's only five-feet-two, but there's an awful lot of things to look at on her slender frame: the long, jolie-laide face, the split-fig mouth carmined with lipstick and studded with a pearl, her beautiful brown eyes accentuated, Cleopatra-style, with thick upward dabs of kohl, her mad brown beehive barnet. Her arms are as tattooed as David Beckham's or Robbie Williams'; they feature hearts, horseshoes and 1950s pin-up girls called Cynthia and Gabrielle, like the arms of a merchant seaman. She is very dark, smoulderingly sexy and indefinably dirty - perhaps because so much of her skin looks as though it's been scribbled on. One celebrity magazine ran a spread of Amy photographs taken over a week, above the injunction: "For heaven's sake, girl - have a wash!"

 

She is also gratifyingly (from a media-land, star-spotting point of view) keen on artificial stimulants and abuse. Since she first appeared in 2003, lurid stories have spread about her consumption of alcohol and marijuana, sometimes on-stage. As a guest on Charlotte Church's TV chat show, Winehouse was so drunk she forgot the words to Michael Jackson's "Beat It", leaving Church to sing unaided while (in the words of one commentator) "being observed by a rather dizzy-looking horse in lipstick". She claimed to breakfast on Jack Daniel's and Coke. Invited to comment on the competition at the 2004 Brit awards, she snapped: "Dido's gonna win, even though she's rubbish." With similar generosity, she called Chris Martin of Coldplay "a wanker" and Britney Spears "a joke". Several people must have itched to call her a little madam; but then they probably took one look at the truculent set of her jaw and thought better of it.

 

Winehouse was born in the East End of London in 1983, to a Jewish taxi driver called Mitch and a pharmacist mother called Janis; they separated when she was nine. The family had musical connections - one of her grandmothers was courted in the 1940s by jazz god Ronnie Scott, and two uncles were jazz musicians. Amy won a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School, where the careers of hundreds of future tin celebrities (Emma Bunton, the All Saints girls) got under way; but it wasn't an auspicious start for the north London mini-termagant. She was expelled for being "distracted" and went to The Brit School in Croydon, a girls-only academy which she disliked because, as she once told a reporter, "I'm like a little boy and I like to be around boys."

 

She embarked on a career as a music journalist and began singing on Saturdays with the National Jazz Youth Orchestra. Enter an impresario called Nick Shymansky from the Brilliant record company, who listened to the grainy, sluttish Winehouse delivery with amazement. He offered to pay for some hours in a recording studio for her. "Why?" Amy asked in all innocence.

 

Her debut album, Frank, knocked the critics flat with its rasping confrontational style, whether crushing husband-hunting girls (on "Fuck Me Pumps") or criticising a boyfriend for being insufficiently manly. "All I need is for my man to live up to his role," she sang, before asking her cringing beau, "Are you gay?". Frank sold 250,000 copies. Amy was nominated for Best Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act at the 2004 Brits, but didn't win either. Afterwards, her life hit a turbulent patch when a relationship collapsed and she split from a boyfriend called Blake (whose name and underpants are tattooed above her left breast.) It was her fault, and she hit a downward slide of self-recrimination; she stayed in her Camden flat, drinking, smoking dope, weeping, eating junk food and listening to the Shangri-Las' "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" over and over. By her own computation, she got through £200 worth of skunk per week. Her manager told her father that she should go into rehab. She agreed to a consultation there, but decided that she was suffering from depression and left - hence the song. Giving up dope meant also giving up junk food, and she became addicted to the gym. She still drinks, but now at least she knows the calorific value of every Amaretto Sour.

 

Her guilt at parting from Blake fuelled many songs on Back to Black, her follow-up album which has sold 700,000 copies and hit No 1 in the UK album chart. Nine months ago, she acquired a new boyfriend, Alex, a musician and chef, whom she met playing pool at the Good Mixer bar in Camden. Under his benign influence she has become downright wholesome. "Of course I like a drink," she told the red-top papers this week, "but I only tend to get on it when I'm bored. Then once I start I don't know when to stop. But there's another side of me that people don't see. I also like to get up early, cook my fella breakfast, then go the gym."

 

It's all going just too darned well. She's officially the nation's favourite female singer. Her recent US debut concert was a smash hit, attended by Dr John, Jay-Z, Mos Def and Jimi Hendrix's sister. At no point did she pass out from drink, forget the words or punch her guitarist.

 

Really, it's just not good enough.

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2281311.ece

I can't decide if I like her or not..haha

I have a feeling she's excellent live. I'd go and see her if the opportunity arose.

She was good on the Brits.

I quite enjoyed it, but then theres something I don't like about her.

Maybe its the hair and make-up..haha.

She was good on the Brits.

I quite enjoyed it, but then theres something I don't like about her.

Maybe its the hair and make-up..haha.

 

I like the fact she doesn't look like a pop clone, like all those wannabes on the Grammys who wanted to perform with Trousersnake.

She's unique, and that's a big part of her appeal.

I found Beyonce's performance at the Grammys a total bore!!

i like her voice sounds great with just her voice and a musical instrument (such as the keyboard in russell brand show).

 

she's kind of looney though saw her in nevermind the buzzcocks looked like she was trippin' hehe.

She has a fantastic voice, much better than a lot of 'singers' around at the moment.

I love her voice, and she is definately unique looking when it comes to some pop tarts that are everywhere these days

...They tried to make me go to rehab, I said "No, No No"...

 

Amy Winehouse fans: POST!

 

 

I am completely in love with this big lady. She is all over the radio

 

Besides being gorgeous and very feisty..she has a really cool voice and great mo-town/soul style for a foreigner.

I read somewhere she is a Jewish Brit :wacko:

 

I'm a sucker for female vocalists :blush:

she's got a very good voice though i havent had a change to listen to much of her stuff

i think she's got an amazing voice, and style.

i haven't had a chance to hear any of her albums yet, i only heard a couple of songs, and they were great!

i like her voice, and particularly in the song " i cheated myself like i knew i would, i told you i was trouble, you know i'm no good"

she was hilarious in 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks' a british comedy quiz show, she was obviously off her head hehe.

Bah, she's rubbish.

 

And what's wrong with this thread:

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37939

merged

 

I agree Dave, I can't stand her voice, her look, her big nose, her spot, everything.

I can't stand her attitude

Slowly liking her but um..unique...hm I hear so much of Lauryn in this women's voice. I understand the hype but not really. She'll do well. Word is is seriously traveling well about this women.so...

^ word is travelling fast due to her being in alot of gossip sections of mags.

spoKe too soon....

 

Winehouse Is Next Bond Girl

(Soundbuzz, Thursday May 10, 10:59 AM)

 

British singer Amy Winehouse will reportedly get up close and personal with hunky actor Daniel Craig in the next installment of the James Bond movie series.

 

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has offered Winehouse a part in the Casino Royale sequel after falling in love with the Rehab star's hit album Back to Black.

A source tells British newspaper News Of The World, "She's perfect for the role because she's the embodiment of the retro glamour of the original movies." (wenn)

 

http://au.launch.yahoo.com/070509/10/185w5.html

That's another reason not to watch the next Bond...

Besides being gorgeous and very feisty..she has a really cool voice and great mo-town/soul style for a foreigner.

I read somewhere she is a Jewish Brit :wacko:

 

What the fuck??

SHAMY Winehouse?

 

Amy's party-girl lifestyle takes horrific toll on her body

 

Last updated at 12:34pm on 25th July 2007 Comments (5)

A hard-partying lifestyle might be Amy Winehouse's trademark, but years of excess are leaving her body in a wreck.

 

The singer, who has just has announced an 11-date UK tour starting in mid November, looked typically gaunt during an outing in London recently, with her barely there outfit revealing a boney frame and aged, saggy skin.

 

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Defiant: Amy refuses to get help despite growing concern

 

Read more...

• Painfully thin Amy is shortlisted for Mercury Music Prize

Despite growing concern for the troubled star, her increasingly chaotic behaviour shows no sign of abeiting.

Last week disgruntled fans walk out of her concert at the Eden Project in protest after she appeared to spit at the crowd.

 

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Wreck: the singer's aged and saggy skin is also covered in stretch marks

 

Oh bee-hive! Amy was taunted by a group of boys during her latest outing

 

Reports also said Winehouse was in tears while on stage, hitting herself on the head with a microphone in frustration when she forgot the words to her songs.

It was the first time she had performed after a string of cancelled gigs, but it left disappointed fans joining the growing chorus of people urging the singer to get help.

 

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On the nose: the singer appeared to have a white substance in her nostril after visting her local pub earlier this week

 

Amy, who has previously admitted to self-harming, was seen with scratches on her chest

 

 

The star was more subdued during her latest outing.

 

As the 24-year-old walked back to her north London home she found herself subject to a bout of taunting, courtesy of a group of local teenagers.

 

 

An onlooker said: "Amy was minding her own business on her way home when the youths started having a go at her. They looked quite scary, but she just put her head down and kept walking."

 

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Shorts shift: the star again wore her favoured look of skimpy shorts and a vest

 

News look: Amy buying a paper and a sickly green ice lolly in her local newsagent’s

 

The usually outspoken star resisted the jibes and managed to bite her tounge.

Still, the defiant peformer has often said she has no plans to reform her usually wild behaviour, saying recently: "I'm not in this to be a role model."

 

Despite her private dramas, the accolades for her music continue to role in: Back to Black, her second album, was recently shortlisted for the Mercury prize.

What's wrong with doing a little search Mark?

What's wrong with doing a little search Mark?

 

It was a new item which deserved a new headline.;)

But not deserving of a new thread

But not deserving of a new thread

 

I disagree.;)