Amy Winehouse was one of the greatest singer songwriters to walk the planet and a pop superstar whose story will be told for decades to come. The star only released two albums, but what she left us with was a legacy and catalogue of songs like few others.
Her life was battered and bruised by drug and alcohol addiction and it ultimately cost her her life as everything unravelled in front of a tabloid press that hounded her through much of it.
While her life is a warning to the millions of people who suffer from alcohol and drug abuse, her music is another reminder of just how beautiful and precious she was.
To celebrate the great Amy Winehouse, here are our top five songs from the British artist…
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Rehab
Released in 2006 on the Back to Black album, Rehab is a song about Amy’s struggles with substances and the fact that her loved ones around her were continually trying to get her to go to rehab. It should be a rather tough listen and a dark song, as it’s essentially the denial phase of someone’s addiction, but it’s still an incredible song.
Drug detox clinics are common in the UK and the fact of the matter is, rather than say “no, no, no” to going, she should have done the opposite and we’d have enjoyed far more albums from here.
Love Is A Losing Game
Another song from Back to Black, this song is a staggeringly beautiful piece of music to come out of a 23-year-old. It’s heart-wrenching and timeless and a song that could have come straight out of the Great American Songbook. Her vocals on this track are just amazing and you can’t help but fall in love with Amy on this record.
Back to Black
The title track of her 2006 album, this is a brilliantly melodic song with blunt and cutthroat lyrics and great production from Mark Ronson who makes it sound like a song straight out of the 1960s.
It’s a song about romantic agony, like much of the album and for many this is Amy’s greatest piece of work.
In My Bed
Released in 2003, this was one of the first signs of Amy’s talent, featuring on debut album Frank. It’s full of soul but still a completely different tone to what we’d come to know and love from her on her second album. It’s all about cheating in relationships, just as is You Know I’m No Good on Back to Black, but they’re poles apart. Both are still amazing though in how they deliver defiance.
Valerie
It would be wrong of us not to include a cover, given that Amy Winehouse did so many amazing ones, but we’re going not with a crooner but Valerie, the 2006 single from The Zutons.
Teaming up with Mark Ronson, the song was completely restyled into a 60s soul variation and perfectly performed by Winehouse. It became an instant classic and is still played regularly to this day.