Amy Winehouse

Winehouse's great-great-grandfather Harris Winehouse emigrated from Minsk, Belarus, to London in 1891.

After her death, Back to Black briefly became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century.

VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music.

She had an older brother, Alex (born 1979).

The family lived in London's Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School and then secondary at Ashmole School.

Winehouse attended a Jewish Sunday school while she was a child.

During an interview following her rise to fame, she expressed her dismissal towards the school by saying that she used to beg her father to permit her not to go and that she learned nothing about being Jewish by going anyway.

In the same interview, Winehouse said she only went to a synagogue once a year on Yom Kippur "out of respect".

Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians.

Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, had been a singer and had dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott.

She and Amy's parents influenced Amy's interest in jazz.

Her father, Mitch, often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she was chastised at school, she would sing "Fly Me to the Moon" before going up to the headmistress to be told off.

Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother in Whetstone, London and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex on weekends.

Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter.

She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues, reggae and jazz.

Amy Jade Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in Gordon Hill, Enfield, to Jewish parents.

Her father, Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, was a window panel installer and taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), was a pharmacist.

In 1992, her grandmother Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, where she went on Saturdays to further her vocal education and to learn to tap dance.

She attended the school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School.

Several years later it was reported that Winehouse had been expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose, but these claims were denied by Sylvia Young: "She changed schools at 15...I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy."

Mitch Winehouse also denied the claims.

An English teacher at the Sylvia Young Theatre School remembered Amy as a gifted writer, predicting that she would become a novelist or journalist.

She attended the Mount School, Mill Hill and the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, dropping out at age 16.

After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own guitar when she was 14 and began writing music shortly afterwards.

Soon after, she began working for a living as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network and also singing with local group the Bolsha Band.

A member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra during her youth, Winehouse signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002 and soon recorded a number of songs before signing a publishing deal with EMI.

She also formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.

Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released in 2003.

Many of the album's songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, were co-written by Winehouse.

Frank was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize.

The song "Stronger Than Me" won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2003.

Winehouse released her follow-up album, Back to Black, in 2006, which went on to become an international success and one of the best-selling albums in UK history.

At the 2007 Brit Awards, it was nominated for British Album of the Year and Winehouse received the award for British Female Solo Artist.

The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award.

At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys.

These included three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.

Winehouse struggled with substance abuse, mental illness and addiction.

She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011, at the age of 27.

Her brother believed that bulimia was also to blame.