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The British singer with the towering, distinctive beehive hairdo brought home the biggest haul from the recent prestigious Grammy Awards 2008. She matched the record previously set by world-class artistes like Alicia Keys and Norah Jones by winning five Grammy Awards - Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. She is now the only British singer to record as many as five awards in one night.

Amy Jade Winehouse was born in 1983 in London and established her career in the R&B and soul music industry. Her debut album named ‘Frank’ was released in 2003 in Britain and earned her rave reviews from peers and critics. ‘Frank’ was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize, the annual prize for the best music album in the United Kingdom. Her sophomore album brought about even more stellar results - six Grammy nominations and five wins, a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist and two Ivor Novello Awards.

‘Back To Black‘ is a delightful mix of soul, jazz and modern ‘pop-py’ R&B with, more often than not, dark lyrical content. It is an artistic blend of the evergreen ’60s retro and modern-day pop engineered to near perfection by Amy Winehouse and producer Mark Rhonson. Her album has drawn much comparison to Lily Allen and Macy Gray; however, Amy Winehouse’s sounds appear darker and more mature, as opposed to Lily Allen’s hip-hop and reggae-like style. Her smash single ‘Rehab’ is a cynical insight into her alcoholic and drug addiction and rehabilitation. ‘Rehab’, I feel, is actually representative of her transition from her debut to sophomore albums - from Frank’s jazzy blues ballads to Back To Black’s more commercial and preppy feel. Yet, Winehouse manages to retain that retro groove and vintage style.

She is endowed with a husky, mellow voice that manages to bring out fully that distinctive Amy-Winehouse-retro sound. Her powerful vocals create soulful ballads, transforming her own experiences into powerful heart-wrenching statements. Her album is also laden with playful and cheeky tracks like ‘Me And Mr Jones’ which is full of profanities. This obvious clash of old-school classy vintage retro and brash, modern pop is what appeals to me the most. She manages to incorporate both successfully, giving her modern songs that popular nostalgic theme.

Evidently, ‘Back To Black‘ is intended for mature audiences. Profanities aside, tracks deal with very mature themes. In ‘Just Friends’, she croons about trying to break off from an illicit relationship and part of it goes ‘…the guilt will kill you, if she don’t first…’ The soulful fusion of Mariah Carey-crooning, Alicia Keys-R&B and Aretha Franklin-retro will guarantee great songs. This album will definitely yank at your heartstrings with the borderline-seductive ‘Just Friends’ or the somber ‘Love Is A Losing Game’ coupled with Winehouse’s naturally-bleak vocals. This album was rated by her fellow artistes to be worthy of five Grammy Awards. This fact by itself already speaks volumes about the quality of her work.

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