Her death at 27 silenced one of music's strong and intimate voices
KURATED NO. 36
Amy Winehouse : Sept. 14, 1983 – July 23, 2011
Unreleased Tracks and Rare Ones
plus Rolling Stone’s 10 Great Unreleased Winehouse Songs CONTENTS

(Note: this post was first published in 2019)

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Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse duet on Body and Soul in March, 2011. It was her final studio recording.

AMY WINEHOUSE:
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Her death at 27 silenced one of music’s best voices and hopes for a stellar career

The short life of the uniquely talented musician Amy Winehouse ended on this day in 2011. Just 27, her vocal gift and deeply personal songwriting held promise for an auspicious career – and, possibly, a place in the pantheon of singers like Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

Veteran jazz crooner Tony Bennett said about Winehouse : “Some people think that anyone could sing jazz, but they can’t. It’s a gift of learning how to syncopate but it’s also a spirit that you’re either born with or you’re not. And Amy was born with that spirit.”

While born of “that spirit”, her death left the promise unfulfilled.

Winehouse’s final recording was a duet on Body and Soul with Bennett released a few months after her death from alcohol poisoning. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo or Group Performance in 2012.

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Awards

Winehouse lent her contralto to soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. Her work earned many honours including a Brit Award as Best Female Singer for her 2003 debut and album, Frank, as well as five Grammy Awards in 2008 for her breakthrough disc, Back to Black.

Recordings

The Winehouse discography is spare: two studio albums, one live album, three compilation albums, four extended plays, 14 singles, three video albums and 14 music videos. 

There are, however, many live recordings on YouTube as well as several unreleased pieces.

Notes on Today’s Playlist

  • The 15-song playlist on YouTube features some rare and live recordings. I’ve chosen mostly acoustic versions and work from –or influenced by– Back to Black’s tracks plus some jazz covers.
  • The 10-song version on Spotify has a number of gaps compared to YouTube. But there are a number of strong songs here not available on YouTube.
  • Rolling Stone published an online article three years ago –Amy Winehouse: 10 Great Unreleased Songs– which features video and a brief description of each one. You’ll hear some of her earlier songs from the period she was recording Frank.

The Tracks

  1. All My Loving
  2. I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know
  3. Tears Dry On Their Own
  4. Amy, Amy, Amy
  5. What It Is
  6. Wake Up Alone
  7. Do Me Good
  8. Take the Box / In My Bed
  9. Love Is A Losing Game
  10. Back To Black
  11. Brother
  12. Stronger Than Me
  13. Our Day Will Come
  14. Someone To Watch Over Me
  15. Body and Soul

PLAYLISTS

Kurated is a music sharing project.
Stay tuned and enjoy!
Kris Sig Plastic V3

23 July 2019