STACK #187 May 2020

FEATURE MUSIC

“Who’s that?” She replied, “I just made it up.” After Ronson validated her song idea, Amy suggested, “Let’s go into the studio and knock it out now.” Simples! Rehab ’s chorus boasts such a catchy, timeless melody that even teetotalling grannies are powerless before its singalong appeal. Over this album’s entirety, Amy’s soaring contralto drips with sass, while her potty-

WINEHOUSE WHEELHOUSE Adele Adele on Amy: “I used to see her on TV or in magazine shoots with a pink electric guitar, and I used to think she was the coolest motherf-cker on the face of the Earth... Because of her, I picked up a guitar, and because of her, I write my own songs... I owe 90% of my career to her.” Lady Gaga Ronson produced Gaga’s 2016 album Joanne and also co-wrote Shallow (for A Star Is Born ). Gaga released an entire album of collaborations with Tony Bennett ( Cheek To Cheek ) as well. During a 2009 interview, Lady Gaga commented, “Because of Amy, very strange girls like me go to prom with very good-looking guys.” jealous of Black To Black : “It felt like everything I’ve been saying, everything I wanted to do, she did it. It was one of those things like, ‘Damn it! Damn it!’ It was perfect.” Ronson co-wrote and produced many tracks on Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox album and then Ronson tapped Mars (plus The Dap-Kings horn section) for his monster hit Uptown Funk . Mars and his all-dancing band also performed Valerie as part of the 2011 VMAs Amy Winehouse tribute. Bruno Mars Bruno Mars admitted to being extremely

Amy withTony Be n nett

mouth colours lyricism (e.g., the third line of Me & Mr Jones : “What kind of f-ckery is this?”). The modern lingo and 21st Century references littered throughout Back To Black sound anachronistic popping out of these Stax/Motown-inspired arrangements – classic Winehouse. “Even though some of it is personal in a sad way,” Winehouse shared, “I’d never let it just be that; I’ll always put a punchline in the song just to try and be different with my lyrics.” Testament to Winehouse’s masterful songwriting, Ronnie Spector chose to include a cover of Back To Black within The Ronettes’ hits during his shows,

down and just let it come out, ya know wha’ I mean?” Footage of this particular recording session shows Amy minus that trademark Ronnie Spector-inspired beehive, which seemed to grow bigger and more OTT as her star rose – and as her frame shrunk, due to a pernicious eating disorder – over the years. With exaggerated black winged eyeliner in place, Amy occasionally glances down to check lyrics in a notebook while singing. Amy’s left arm is draped casually over the back of a high stool, her right hand placed inside the pocket of those dangerously low-slung denim shorts. After nailing the vocal

take, Amy looks visibly shaken by the power of her own sombre, repeated “bla-a-ack”s at song’s close. “Oh, it’s a bit upsettin’ at the end, innit?” she acknowledges. Ronson’s voice is heard from the control booth: “Yes, Amy!” Whistling a happy tune while she removes the headphones and picks up her notebook, Amy then enters the control booth where Ronson is waiting, extending his arm out for a low-five. Ronson reflects: “It

and Prince also regularly covered Love Is A Losing Game . Winehouse was nominated in six categories at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards off the back of Back To Black , and was invited to perform live at the ceremony, but she was unable to attend after her initial request for a visa was denied (American officials eventually reversed this decision, by which time it was too late for her to make the trip). On the night, Amy staged a concert for

late icon, Questlove lamented: “I really miss not having her here to school me on jazz; I thought I was a music snob, and I thought I had my doctorate in jazz, but no... She’s a teacher.” Following Winehouse’s death, Bennett confessed: “I regretted that I wasn’t able to tell her to slow down... She was one of the truest jazz singers I ever heard. To me, she should be treated like Ella Fitzgerald, like Billie Holiday. She had the complete gift. If she had lived I would’ve said, ‘Slow down, you’re too important.’ Life teaches you, really, how to live it, if you can live long enough’.” Although all of Amy’s songs are autobiographical, it’s particularly painful to listen to Rehab in light of the circumstances of her death. Had Winehouse said, “Yes, yes, yes,” back then instead of, “No, no, no,” there’s a chance she might still be here crooning cuss words, schooling wannabes, and expanding her elegantly ravaged legacy. BC

Amy and Blake Fielder-Civil

was just one of those serendipitous things, like I just caught her at that magic moment, you know, and she was just ready to get it going. And that’s why I couldn’t understand what everyone was saying about this procrastinating, troubled artist.” Confirming that both the album’s title track and Rehab came together within three days, Ronson marvels that this speedy turnaround was “probably the quickest out of any record that [he’s] ever worked on.” On the genesis of Rehab – which became Amy’s signature song and, remarkably, her only Top 10 hit in the US – Winehouse told Jools Holland that she just randomly sang the song’s chorus hook while walking down a NewYork street with Ronson. He laughed and asked,

friends, family and label peeps at London’s Riverside studio, and two songs – You Know I’m No Good and Rehab – were beamed live to the Grammys via satellite. Record Of The Year – just one of the five Grammys Winehouse collected that year – was presented by Winehouse’s idol Tony Bennett. “I was in shock, not ‘cause I’d won the Grammy, but because Tony Bennett had said my name!” Amy gushed afterwards. Winehouse’s final recording was a duet with Bennett – Body And Soul , a jazz standard, which was the lead single from his Duets II album. Prior to her death, Amy had been in touch with fellow jazz aficionado Questlove, and the pair were planning to recruit Mos Def and Raphael Saadiq to record an album. Of the

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