by Zack Mandell

Created on: November 04, 2010   Last Updated: November 05, 2010

Amy Winehouse is a British singer and songwriter.  She’s known for her deep classical singing voice as well as her use of multiple genres within one song. This unique style, along with her voice, has made her very distinct as an artist. Most Americans came to know Amy Winehouse through the 2007 release of her hit song “Rehab” into the U.S. During this peak in her career, she became a popular subject of the tabloids as a result of her hard-partying lifestyle and the unpredictable behavior that ensued. The lyrics of her hit song were based on real events, as her record label reportedly wanted her to go to rehab prior to releasing a second album. Winehouse wasn’t in favor of that idea, as the chorus of the song reminds: “They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said . . . Noo, Noo, No.”

Born in London on September 14th, 1983, Amy Winehouse was brought up in a family that had a fondness for jazz music. Her mom was a pharmacist and her father was a taxi driver. She had one older brother. As she grew up, Amy was exposed to jazz greats like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald since her parents had a collection of their favorite music genre. Winehouse's father, Mitchell, would reportedly sing Sinatra songs to her, a habit she would adopt and practice during school, much to the dismay of her teachers. When she was just 9 years old, Amy's grandmother suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School. She would stay here for the next four years, after which she moved onto full-time training at the Sylvia Young Theatre school.

Now in the teens, Amy started to show signs of rebelling. At 14 she was kicked out of the Theatre school for "not applying herself" and for piercing her nose. She got her first big break at the age of 16, when one of her close friends got her demo to an A&R person who happened to be searching for a jazz vocalist. This event led to Winehouse getting a recording contract with Island Records.

In 2003, Amy Winehouse released her first album. She was just 20 years old. With the help of hip-hop producer Salaam Remi, Frank would become a platinum-selling record in England. The album earned Winehouse nominations in two categories at the 2004 BRIT Awards (British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act). In the same year she and Remi won the Ivor Novello songwriting Award for Best Contemporary Song in recognition of their single "Stronger Than Me".

In late 2006 Amy Winehouse released the music that would award

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