A playlist of the musicians who inspired Amy Winehouse
The late Amy Winehouse is proof that you don’t need to leave a prolific oeuvre behind to become one of the greatest artists of your generation. When she was just 19, Winehouse released her debut album, Frank, which demonstrated a talent wise beyond her years. The teenager blended mature themes about infidelity and heartbreak with youthful musings on cannabis and promiscuous women, delivering her carefully crafted lyrics with her exquisite, rich vocals.
Frank weaves classic influences such as jazz, soul and ’60s girl groups with contemporary sounds such as hip-hop and modern pop, situating the record somewhere between the past and present. A few years later, Winehouse released her magnum opus, Back to Black, which only continued to further highlight her extraordinary talents for writing honest and confessional tracks. Although the singer tragically died in 2011, she remains one of the 2000s’ most significant voices, popularising a new wave of female pop artists that stray from convention.
Winehouse has hugely inspired artists from Lady Gaga to Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish, laying the foundations for the current state of popular music. Her blend of old and new genres helped her create a timeless sound, with the singer taking inspiration from the artists that shaped her tastes and interests in music as a child.
From gospel singers to Salt-n-Pepa, Winehouse’s eclectic taste in music formed the skeletons of her sound, claiming in a 2006 interview that she “listened to hip-hop and jazz for so many years”. Discussing her brother’s influence on her tastes, she explained: “He started listening to jazz when he was about 18 and I was 14. I just remember the first time I ever heard [ Thelonious Monk’s] ‘Around Midnight’ through the wall. I was just like: what is that?”
“And I remember the first time I heard Ray Charles. It was ‘Unchain My Heart’. I remember walking into my brother’s room. I always used to knock because he would throw stuff at you if you didn’t. But I opened the door and he goes, what? He looked at me as if I was about to go, ‘Mum’s dead’ or something (touch wood). He goes what’s wrong and I went: ‘Who is this?’ And he went: ‘It’s Ray Charles.’ Then I just listened to Ray Charles for three months, exclusively.”
Winehouse also revealed a love for gospel artists such as Aretha Franklin and Mahalia Jackson. She said: “I love gospel, because gospel is so truthful. You know, I’m not religious, but there is nothing more pure than the relationship you have with your God – there is nothing stronger than that apart from your love of music. Gospel is very inspirational.”
Of course, the influence of musicians such as Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington is very apparent in Winehouse’s music. She explained: “Sarah Vaughan is one of my favourite singers of all time. She was an instrument. I’ve heard one record, it’s like a humming solo, and she sounds like a reed instrument – like a clarinet. I came to Sarah Vaughan later: I was about 18. And I learned to sing from Dinah Washington, and from stuff like [Thelonious] Monk. It wasn’t just the vocal jazz – I learned from everything, really.”
Winehouse also cited the monumental impact of the Shangri-Las, calling ‘I Can Never Go Home Anymore’ one of “the saddest song in the world”. She added: “I love the drama, I love the atmosphere, I love the sound effects.”
Find a full playlist of music that inspired Amy Winehouse below.
