FEATURE:
More Than Just Friends
Why the London Show Marking Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black at Twenty Will Open the Album to a New Audience
_________
IT is emotional…
IN THIS PHOTO: Amy Winehouse in 2006/PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Benson
marking twenty years of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black. That is her final studio album. She died in 2011. The album is getting a reissue that will be out on 23rd October. The album turns twenty on 27th October. It is one of the greatest albums of all time, so it will be interesting having this reissue. The unreleased demos and outtakes will give us a bigger picture of this classic album. Although we can never get anything new from Amy Winehouse, there are these demos and recordings that fans have not heard. What is interesting is a one-off show that will celebrate Back to Black. Rolling Stone UK provide more details:
“A special one-off London show to mark 20 years of Amy Winehouse‘s Black To Black has been announced, featuring appearances from the likes of Mark Ronson and Jorja Smith.
The Back To Black 20 concert will take place at the Roundhouse in Winehouse’s native Camden on October 21, just days before the 20th anniversary of her seminal second album.
Winehouse’s band will perform Back To Back in full, with the evening led by album producers Ronson and Salaam Remi and the singer’s longtime musical director Dale Davis, among other figures.
The songs will be performed by an array of handpicked guest vocalists including Sasha Keeble, Baby Rose, Corinne Bailey Rae, FLO, Skye Newman, Jorja Smith, Lianna La Havas, Nia Smith, Jessie Reyez and Yebba.
“I’m honoured to be asked to come celebrate Amy alongside Salaam and some amazing artists worthy of singing her songs,” said Ronson. “Doing justice to the legacy of ‘Back To Black’ is the order of the night.”
Remi added: “Funny how time flies! I can’t believe it’s been 20 years already. I’m excited to see what these ladies bring to their versions of these songs we know and love.”
Fans hoping to gain access to the artist pre-sale for the Roundhouse concert can pre-order any 20th anniversary edition of Back To Black from Winehouse’s official store by 12pm on Monday (September 28) to receive an exclusive pre-sale code. Tickets then go on general sale at 10am on October 1 here.
The Back To Black 20 show will also be recorded for broadcast. BBC Two will in October as the main show of a night celebrating Winehouse, while BBC Radio 2 will broadcast the show on October 26 from 7pm to 9pm as part of Jo Whiley’s programme.
The Roundhouse also holds special significance as it was the site of Winehouse’s final public appearance on July 20, 2011, when she performed with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield as part of the iTunes Festival. Winehouse passed away at her Camden home three days later.
It is going to be a massive show. These artists who are performing are more than contemporaries. They are huge fans of Amy Winehouse and have, in their own ways, been influenced by her. Those in attendance will obviously be fans of Amy Winehouse, but I think there will be people who have not heard Back to Black. The fact that it is also being broadcast will wider the album to a new audience, though I think it is the people on the bill sharing the news and updates that will push Back to Black beyond the BBC Radio 2 audience. We can hear artists today who have been inspired by Back to Black, though we will see that heighten to. On its twentieth anniversary, there is going to be people discovering this album fresh. What I think will happen is that rising artists will pick up the album or hear the show and that will motivate them. You can draw a line between artists such as RAYE and Jorja Smith and Amy Winehouse. We are going to see many more artists cite Winehouse and Back to Black as an influence following its twentieth anniversary. A lot of times, when you get album anniversaries marked with a special show, you have seemingly random artists put in there. I am reminded of Graceland and a concert shown on the BBC. It seemed a little odd in terms of the selected artists and didn’t really add too much to the album. With Back to Black, this is a mix of Amy Winehouse’s collaborators/friends and artists who very much owe her a debt. The fact that this material means so much to them and this show is so important. You can feel the gravitas of it. I feel that is why it will create this ripple where so many people listen to the album and explore Amy Winehouse’s work.
GRAMMY published a feature in 2024 that explored the legacy of Back to Black. It definitely changed Pop music forever. Twenty years after its release and you can feel its impact running through music. Whether it is an artist who has elements of Amy Winehouse’s voice and delivery. The subjects written about. The production sound. It will continue to impact and shape music for years more:
“She Heralded The Arrival Of The Alt Pop Star
When Amy Winehouse hit the stage, people remarked on her big voice. She had classic, old-time torch singer pipes, like Sarah Vaughn or Etta Jones, capable of belting out odes to lost love, unrequited dreams, and crushing breakups. And while those types of singers had been around before Winehouse, they didn’t always get the chance — or grace required — to make their kind of music, with labels and producers often seeking work that was more poppy, hook-packed, or modern.
The success of Back To Black changed that, with artists like Duffy, Adele, and even Lady Gaga drawing more eyes in the wake of Winehouse’s overwhelming success. Both Duffy and Adele released their debut projects in 2007, the year after Back To Black, bringing their big, British sound to the masses. Amy Winehouse's look and sound showed other aspiring singers that they could be different and transgressive without losing appeal.
Before she signed to Interscope in 2007, "nobody knew who I was and I had no fans, no record label," Gaga told Rolling Stone in 2011. "Everybody, when they met me, said I wasn’t pretty enough or that my voice was too low or strange. They had nowhere to put me. And then I saw [Amy Winehouse] in Rolling Stone and I saw her live. I just remember thinking ‘well, they found somewhere to put Amy…’"
If an artist like Winehouse — who was making records and rocking styles that seemed far outside the norm — could break through, then who’s to say someone else as bold or brassy wouldn’t do just as well?
Amy Showcased The Artist As An Individual
When the GRAMMY Museum hosted its "Beyond Black - The Style of Amy Winehouse" exhibit in 2020, Museum Curator and Director of Exhibitions Nicholas Vega called the singer's sartorial influence "undeniable." Whether it was her beehive, her bold eyeliner, or her fitted dresses, artists and fans had adopted elements of Winehouse’s Back To Black style into their own fashion repertoire. And though it’s the look we associate most with Winehouse, it was actually one she had truly developed while making the record, amping up her Frank-era low-slung jeans, tank tops, and polo shirts with darker eyeliner and much bigger hair, as well as flirty dresses, vibrant bras, and heels.
"Her stylist and friends were influential in helping her develop her look, but ultimately Amy took bits and pieces of trends and styles that she admired to create her own look," Vega told GRAMMY.com in 2020. While rock ‘n’ rollers have always leaned into genre-bending styles, Winehouse’s grit is notable in the pop world, where artists typically have a bit more of a sheen. These days, artists like Miley Cyrus, Billie Eillish, and Demi Lovato are willing to let their fans see a bit more of the grit — thanks, no doubt, to the doors Winehouse opened.
Winehouse also opened the door to the beauty salon and the tattoo studio, pushing boundaries with not just her 14 different vintage-inspired tattoos — which have become almost de rigeur these days in entertainment — but also with her signature beehive-like bouffant, which hadn’t really been seen on a popular artist since the ‘60s.It’s a frequent look for contemporary pop divas, popping up on artists like Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey, and Dua Lipa”.
That Roundhouse show on 21st October is going to be a big event. It is going to be a chance to pay tribute to Amy Winehouse, but also bring this incredible album to life in a unique way. It will not stop there. We are going to see young fans and artists alike speak about Back to Black and what it means to them. Major artists like Jorja Smith and Sasha Keeble posting about the event and writing words about Back to Black. Shining a new light on this masterpiece twenty years later. Even though we lost Amy Winehouse over fifteen years ago, with Back to Black and the legacy it has, it is like she is…
STILL very much with us.