Amy Winehouse

The first time I ever heard of Amy Winehouse was when she was on BBC-TV's "The Charlotte Church Show". That was in October 2006. Since then I've found out Winehouse is a major musical force in today's music, and especially modern British women's music.

How did she start? She was born Amy Jade Winehouse on Wednesday, September 14th, 1983 in the Southgate section of North London, England. Born into a Jewish family influenced by jazz, her father Mitchell, a taxi driver, used to sing Frank Sinatra songs to Amy, her older brother Alex, and her mother Janis, a pharmacist. Amy picked up on it, and started singing all the time too, driving her school teachers to distraction.

From age nine to thirteen, Amy attended the Suzi Earnshaw Theatre School. Her first group she founded at the age of ten with her age mate and friend Juliette Ashby-a short lived rap group Sweet 'n' Sour. Then she attended Sylvia Young Theatre School and appeared on TV with her schoolmates on "The Fast Show" in 1997 before being expelled for piercing her nose. She later went to the BRIT school in Selhurst, Croyden, then Southgate and Ashmore schools.

Amy Winehouse began playing her brother's guitar at age thirteen, and soon got her own as a present. At fourteen, Amy began writing music. Soon she joined The Bolsha Band, a local group. Winehouse also got a job as a show business journalist for the World Entertainment News Network. One thing led to another, and she acquired management in 2002, and was kept an industry secret until just before her first album, "Frank", was released in late 2003. It garnered sales and awards throughout 2004, marking her as a comer. And her career took off after that.

You can read about all her accolades elsewhere. But it was a meteoric rise, and her jazzy blues voice was so unique it could not be ignored and will be remembered forever.