You heard it here first: #1 Amy Winehouse

Congratulations to London chanteuse Amy Winehouse on her success in landing a fistful of Grammys on Sunday night.

The jazz-inflected pop vocalist has long been a favourite of Music for Grown-Ups.

Here’s what we said long before she became a global sensation:



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Amy Winehouse: music for grown-ups

If you’re reading this outside the UK, the name Amy Winehouse will probably be new you – the word is that she has yet to be promoted overseas.

If you’re in the UK, you can hardly have escaped Ms Winehouse. Back To Black, her chart-topping second album, her colourful lifetyle, and triumph at last week’s Brits awards, have made her the best-publicised English pop persona since, er, Oasis.

Back To Black, the new album, released before Xmas, has already stacked up 700,000 sales. Frank, her fine debut album, was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2003.

A fine, ballsy, songwriter, an authentic soul/jazz/r&b voice, and on-stage charisma, Winehouse is a massive new talent. Lovely tone. Fine range. Convincing actress. And – bonus – she swings.

But, because she was cross-promoted to the supermarket market with a bunch of less talented Brit “jazz” singers at launch, I’d dismissed her along with the rest of the wannabes. Mistake. Amy’s the first pop star to have made me pay serious attention for many years.

Music for grown-ups? From a boozy, potty-mouthed, loose-lipped 23 year old? You bet. Best check out Amy Winehouse - rapido!


Gerry Smith