Think of the icons who have changed the shape of popular music forever, and few tower as high as Amy Winehouse and her unmistakable beehive. Breaking through in the early ‘00s like a gale-force wind that gleefully rucked up pop’s carefully-ironed tablecloth, the sharp-witted, soul-and-jazz-loving Londoner stood out in a landscape of shimmering US pop stars and perfectly choreographed girl bands. Fusing vintage sounds with her biting storytelling, Winehouse was refreshing, exciting and – above everything else – a raw and honest voice.
Amy Winehouse died a decade ago this Friday (July 23), aged 27, leaving behind a huge musical legacy. Following her passing, countless artists paid tribute to an enormous talent. “Amy changed pop music forever,” Lady Gaga tweeted in 2011. “I remember knowing there was hope, and feeling not alone because of her. She lived jazz, she lived the blues.” In another post, Adele thanked Winehouse for “[paving] the way for artists like me”, adding that she “made people excited about British music again whilst being fearlessly hilarious and blase about the whole thing. I don’t think she ever realized just how brilliant she was and how important she is, but that just makes her even more charming.” The late George Michael accurately called her “the most soulful vocalist this country has ever seen.”
MusiCares, the musicians charity run by the organisers of the Grammys, and the Amy Winehouse Foundation are behind the sale, with proceeds from the auction set to benefit the charity work of both organisations.
The Winehouse NFT is a photo of the late singer in New York City that was taken by photographer Charles Moriarty, with the image having been subsequently animated by the visual artist Mark Palkoski.
The NFT is listed on marketplace OpenSea until 30 May. The reserve price is 3 Ether, a sum of cryptocurrency which is roughly worth $7,623 (£5,400).
The auction is being staged by bosses at MusiCares, a non-profit offshoot of the Recording Academy that assists musicians with financial and medical crises.
Following the release of the posthumous rarities compilation Lioness: Hidden Treasures, label executives claimed the vaults were empty – having destroyed any further demos for her incomplete third record of original material. Despite this, a number of high-quality tracks have surfaced on bootlegs and online over the years, lovingly shared by fans desperate for the album that never was. rom 'Frank' outtakes to Beatles cover, hear some of the late star's most compelling rarities
Here this soulful acoustic take on the Beatles recorded for the Glastonbury Calling TV documentary in 2004.
Recorded in 2006 during sessions for Black to Black, "All the songs are about the state of my relationship at the time with Blake," Winehouse said of the record in 2007. "I had never felt the way I feel about him about anyone in my life. It was very cathartic, because I felt terrible about the way we treated each other." Ironically, Back to Black’s success helped reunite the pair, who married in 2007.
"Trilby." , this track pays tribute to her weakness for shopping. "Well, I got more shoes than Carrie Bradshaw, more bags than I could store," "I want more, more, more, more, more!"
The track was being left off the compilation because Winehouse herself didn’t want the song to be issued
