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 Amy Winehouse’s recent appearance at London nightclub G.A.Y gave the gossip hungry tabloids something else to talk about. As the story goes: following an all day bender with Kelly Osbourne, the singer took to the stage only to throw up at the side of the stage and promptly had to end the set.
“Well, I got off a flight two days before that and I was so ill you wouldn’t believe it,” Amy explains. “No, really I had bad jet lag. I thought I could just go out and drink like I normally would, but I didn’t realise how tired I was. So yeah I went on stage and only did one song. I knew that if I had stayed on that stage I would have collapsed – and I knew that”.
The stories surrounding the 23 year old and her drinking are far and plenty and have almost reached legendary status. There’s the one about her shambolic, drunken appearance on The Charlotte Church Show which had to be heavily edited. What about the time she heckled U2 frontman Bono at an awards ceremony, not to mention the odd punch up or two. Wherever there’s a drink, there it would seem, is Amy Winehouse and yet another bit of juicy copy for the red tops.
“I go out and have a drink and I enjoy myself. It’s fine,” she asserts. “I don’t even notice stuff like that. You know what? I don’t really read the papers so I wouldn’t know. I don’t even hear about it so I don’t even know”.
But Amy, who admits to being Bipolar and has battled eating disorders, insists that she’s not an alcoholic. “No, course not. There’s a difference between drinking too much and being an alcoholic,” she states. “Of course I’ve drank too much, I’m 23 years old!”
However, others were not so convinced. Her management reportedly insisted that she checked into rehab. While for most celebrities nowadays, it seems ‘the thing’ to do, the songstress made it as far as the reception before deciding against it. It’s the inspiration for her smash hit single Rehab (“They tried to make me go to rehab but I said, no, no, no”).
The outspoken singer arrived on the scene in 2003 with her platinum selling breakthrough record, Frank, winning her an Ivor Novello award, several Brit award nominations and the album was on the shortlist for the Mercury Music Prize. Her second album, Back to Black has also received the thumbs up from critics and fans alike and will surely be up for a couple of nods come award season. Of the critical acclaim the album’s received she says: “Yeah, I’m pleased. I’m very proud of it, so I’m very pleased”.
Back to Black was recorded with Salaam Remi, producer of Frank, once on board for production duties and Mark Ronson, who has worked with Lily Allen, Christina Aguilera and Robbie Williams. It’s a departure from the jazz influences of her debut and instead references girl groups of the sixties, such as the Shangri-Las.
“I was listening to a lot of different music. I was listening to a lot of Motown and sixties music, not so much jazz or hip hop so it came out differently,” she says. “I like the way they’re quite dramatic and atmospheric. I like all that, it’s nice”.
Lyrically, the album reads like a confessional with Amy baring her soul with her acerbic wit. Whether it’s moaning about a boy who smokes all her pot (Addicted), or the new single, You Know I’m No Good in which she admits to behaving just as badly as the men who’ve messed her about. “It’s honest, it’s about my relationships, it’s about bad times I couldn’t have necessarily been able to get through unless I was writing,” she says. “I guess you have to be quite messed up to write about things otherwise you can’t really write them”.
Amy herself is currently happily in a relationship with her boyfriend Alex. “I’m not an insecure person. I’m not someone who’s in a relationship because I have to be with someone,” she says. You should be in relationships because you love and respect someone”.
When she appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks she announced that there were plans in the offing to work with fellow tabloid favourite Pete Doherty. But sadly it was never to be.
“I think it was just an idea that was floating around for a bit. I don’t know where that came from. I think he wanted to do something at one point,” she reveals. “Me and him are pretty much as bad as each other so it didn’t really happen”.
So what does the future hold for Ms Winehouse?
First off there’s her forthcoming tour which kicks off next month. “I am looking forward to that. I can’t wait,” she enthuses. ” My favourite bit about doing what I do is going on tour”.
She adds: “I’m just going to make the same kind of album again. Same kind of girl groups, quite a sad little album,” she says. “I’m good at writing heart break music I guess”.
You Know I’m No Good is out now.
For more info: www.amywinehouse.co.uk
Words: Helen Duong
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Class. 
Love Her Dressing Up Wiv As Her 4 A Party Nxt Week x 
She just does her thing.... you go girl!