[ backstory ]

(Disclaimer: Facts mixed with creative fiction.)

TW: Domestic abuse, sexual assault, substance abuse, self-harm

1983 - 1990
Amy was a seven-pounder born four days late. Her mother, Janis, was a pharmacist, and her father, Mitch, was a taxi driver. Since the day she was born, Amy was always getting herself into trouble, hence was dubbed "Hurricane Amy". She was notorious for frequently injuring herself due to her rowdiness, running away from home, and desiring to be the center of attention no matter the mood she was in. Her brother Alex, three years her senior, had desired a brother. He would fight her for the limelight often. Despite the result, he still loved and protected his little sister.

Amy's interest in music began at a very young age when she listened to jazz, blues, and rock records with her parents, namely Tony Bennett, Carole King, and James Taylor. She knew by then that singing was her calling. Self-taught, she would shake the world with her beautiful, smoky vocals.

Her first few years of school Amy felt like the odd one out, at one point bullied and judged the other kids so they would notice her. Over time, her number of friends outnumbered her enemies. Very intelligent, Amy was bumped up a year but quickly grew bored and loss interest in academics. When she was in her mid-teens, her interest in the guitar began when she would sneak into her brother’s room and play his guitar when he wasn’t home.


1990 - 2001
The turbulence in her family started rather early when Mitch had an adulterous affair with a secretary at his job when Amy was about a year old. Her parents divorced when she was ten, delivering a heavy blow to her premature psyche. She attempted to take her own life by consuming an abundance of sleeping pills. Amy has told nobody about this except Tyler. Exploring other options to numb her pain, she started drinking and smoking marijuana to cope.

Suspended several times from school due to disruptive behavior, Amy was still the popular girl with a handful of friends; notably Juliette and Lauren. Last but not least: Tyler James, whom she was acquainted with in her jazz class at age thirteen during her first year at Sylvia Young Theatre School. Tyler thought he was listening to a 40-year-old jazz singer who chain-smoked (which happened to be true, she had already been doing so for a year). Amy fell in love with the touch of Stevie Wonder in Tyler’s voice, rebounding with “Your voice is absolutely mental.” He would become her roommate for several years after graduation.

Her teachers knew she was brilliant, but because of her lack of effort in academics, teacher comment were often “could be better”, or “waste of potential”, “a sharp, but disruptive girl”. It happened to be that school didn’t interest her as much as poetry and music. She would always be singing and grabbing the concentration of others, the big elephant in the room that wouldn’t keep quiet, whether she was running her mouth or letting her bold pipes go.

For a short time in her preteen years, she gained interest in hip-hop groups such as Salt-N-Pepa and TLC, forming a brief band with her friend dubbed Sweet N’ Sour. Amy, of course, was "Sour".

Silently, she began to suffer from bulimia in her early pubescent years, and anorexia would follow her into adulthood. This left her parents shocked, they knew how much Amy loved to eat. Her parents did not think much of it, her mother thought it would pass so no action was taken. Like many young women, Amy had a troubled body image.

In desperate need of an escape from her troubles, watching her brother play his electric guitar inspired her greatly. When he wasn’t home, Amy would snatch his Stratocaster and practice on it for hours. The accelerated learner she was, Amy picked up on it in a few months studying guitar tabs and sheet music. It was then she discovered another means of self-therapy. Play guitar for an hour and feel ten times better. In time, she saved enough money and bought herself an acoustic.

The only person she felt she could be herself around was her paternal grandmother, Cynthia. Amy needed someone to tell her “no” and tell her things as they were. Janis unfortunately did not fit that role appropriately in her daughter’s life. Amy’s unruly behavior at times became too much for her mother to bear, so she just tolerated it. Her rowdiness got progressively worse because of the lack of a father figure in her life. Her stepfather, Richard, was a candidate that Amy refused to accept.

Sadly, Mitchell’s absence led to the dawn of Amy’s promiscuous lifestyle at the age of fourteen. Due to her father’s infidelity, Amy’s view of the opposite sex became very slanted. By the time she was sixteen, she had several flings but no serious relationship up until she met a black boy named Crispin Waller, a fellow classmate in her later years of secondary school. He was the first she fell in love with and would be far from the last.

Another factor to the early dawn of Amy’s sex life was a dark secret she kept to herself; at the age of sixteen, she was brutally raped by a date while under heavy influence of alcohol. She may not remember well because she was very intoxicated, but the mental toll it took on her left a deep scar. Her increasing body count was from a hope that she would forget the trauma. But she would learn the hard way that it wasn't a good solution.



2001 - 2007 (present)
After playing guitar and singing in a few bands in her mid-teens, Amy settled on fronting her own and formed “The Amy Winehouse Band” with old friends and former bandmates she recruited a seven-piece group to make up the act. Troy Miller, a friend from a previous band Amy played for, volunteered to fill the role of percussion. Following a year of small shows around London, Amy was promoted by Simon Fuller through Tyler and signed a record deal when reached eighteen. Together with manager Nick Shymanky, the search began for a record producer. An admirer of his work, Amy settled on hip-hop producer Salaam Remi, who instantly agreed to work with her upon hearing her demo tape.

No music was churned within a year, Amy spent her quarter of a million pounds (UK currency) on new clothes, and her first property in Camden in the apartment complex known as Jeffrey’s Place. The geek she was, thousands were spent on WWF and comic book memorabilia and also her hobby of collecting posters of pinup girls that decorated the walls of her flat, a fascination she picked up from Cynthia. The record label had threatened to drop her a year after the contract was signed, so Amy had to come up with a record quickly.

Since the age of seventeen Amy was dating a man seven years her senior, Chris Taylor. It was unlike what she had with Crispin, falling heels over in love with him. But that passion faded in a couple of years when she realized he wasn’t for her. Chris lacked the masculine qualities that attracted Amy. Her relationship with him would inspire songs such as “Stronger Than Me”, “Take The Box”, and “In My Bed”. For years, she would not have another serious relationship. Amy developed an attraction to the handsome manager at her job as a cashier at a coffee shop, but the thirty year old did not feel comfortable with a seventeen year old girl ogling him. He rejected her, this led to the composition of “Amy Amy Amy”, and “You Sent Me Flying”.

Progress began on her debut album, Frank, titled after her biggest jazz hero, Frank Sinatra. Recorded in New York City with Salaam, the record pretty much made itself. In a matter of a few weeks, the lyrics were all set. Frank was released to the UK in a mere few months in 2003, raising Amy to widespread fame in the United Kingdom. She raked in BRIT, Ivor Novello, and Mercury Awards for Frank. Overwhelmed by her success, Amy believed she didn’t do much to deserve them so she gave them to her mother. How could she possibly have been ready for stardom at a young age? She dreamed of this possibility as a child but nobody could truly be prepared for it. Was this what she really wanted? Her life was changing so fast, and the stage of adulthood barely started. At first, she made friends with the photographers who hung outside of her loft. In time, she grew frightened of them, dubbing them "vultures".

A year following Frank, Amy’s lifestyle began to change. She wasn’t that lively immaculate girl for much longer and hung around different crowds; enjoying the fruits of her labor through partying and other activities. She became distant from friends, leaving herself alone with Tyler, who was her roommate since day one. The local pubs became Amy’s frequent habitat. Her alcohol consumption continued to climb; she was exhausted creatively and it distressed her. She needed inspiration, and heartbreak was what motivated her to write Frank. Island Records was steps away from throwing her to the curb if she did not begin work on another album soon.

Two years since her first album was released; Amy had no concrete material for a new record. Her daytime drinking led to her meeting a man who would change her life forever. She fell hard for Blake Fielder-Civil, meeting him at her favorite pub in Camden, Good Mixer. He started as a fling, but became much more than that, despite Blake already dating another girl since he met Amy. Civil was a heroin addict, a red flag that her social circle continued to point out, but Amy was not the type to judge for such things. Several years later, her decision would leave a scar on her heart.

After a year together, Blake dumped Amy for his girlfriend on the side. Not that it mattered, she was sleeping with someone else as well, an A&R scout named George. It was around this time Amy dressed more immaculately, got more tattoos, kept her hair dyed jet black like Cynthia’s, and the cat-eye and winged eyeliner that was to become her iconic look. The breakup with Blake led to Amy increasing her daily alcohol consumption to clear him from her mind. Nick Shymansky demanded she go to rehab, but instead, Amy asked for her father’s opinion and made the decision to not go. This very event in her life would lead to the composition of the song that would launch her career further. Feeling that Nick was too invasive to her problems due to their sentimental relationship and romantic history, Amy fired him and requested that Raye Cosbert, her promoter, also fulfill the manager role.

Her next album, Back to Black, was centered around her savagely broken heart and dwindling mental state; the yang to its predecessor. The release of ‘Rehab’ as a single catapulted her to superstardom. The record would launch her into worldwide fame, and there was no escaping it. Seemingly overnight, Amy Winehouse became a household name. Being in denial that she would ever be famous could no longer continue.

Amy’s trademark beehive made its debut when she and her hairdresser tossed around ideas for her look in the music video to the album’s title track. The retro look quickly grew on Amy; it reminded her of the style of Ronnie Specter and became a comfort blanket. Many different styles of her trademark beehive would come and go.

Upon the filming of the music video for “You Know That I’m No Good”, Blake appeared on the set to return to Amy’s life now that success had become her middle name. Looking the other way, she could not risk herself falling into his spell again.

Back to Black became the number-one album in nineteen countries. She had become the first British artist, notably a female solo artist, to go platinum in record sales for years; becoming the pride of the United Kingdom. Amy failed to see how much she had underestimated herself. All she wanted to do was sing. And she got far more than she bargained for in such a short time.