Amy Winehouse : The Story So Far

This week on Channel 4, Jacques Peretti investigates the life of talented yet troubled singer Amy Winehouse. The star grabs newspaper headlines for her personal life but it's her music career we want to celebrate, and that starts with a band called Sweet & Sour.

Amy was ten when she and best friend Juliette Ashby formed Sweet & Sour, a rap group tribute to Salt-N-Pepa. Two years later, she joined the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School where she was trained as an actress, even appearing in an episode of 'The Fast Show'. However, the acting life was not for her, and she got into trouble from Sylvia Young for getting her nose pierced and "not applying herself". She quit the school before her GCSEs.

Croydon's BRIT school (which would go on to produce The Feeling, The Kooks and Adele to name but a few) were pleased to accept her though and, despite toying with becoming a music journalist, she started writing and recording jazz songs. With the help of then boyfriend, soul singer Tyler James, she secured a deal with Island Records and representation from Simon Fuller's 19 Management on the strength of her demo tapes.

Her debut album, 'Frank', was released in 2003, and she garnered rave reviews for her astonishing vocals and take-no-prisoners lyrical stance. Single 'Stronger Than Me', about an ineffectual boyfriend, won her the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.

After taking an 18 month break from writing, she hooked up with producer Mark Ronson (along with original collaborator Salaam Remi) and returned, in 2007, with the phenomenal 'Rehab', written from her own brief brush with an alcohol rehabilitation clinic.

With her album 'Back To Black' repeatedly hitting the UK number one spot and becoming the best-selling album of the year, she caught the attention of the USA where the album reached number two. More awards followed, including Best Female Artist at the Brits and an incredible five Grammy awards.

Ronson and Winehouse continued their domination of the airwaves with a cover of The Zutons' 'Valerie' and until recently the pair were working on the theme tune for the next Bond movie, 'Quantum of Solace' (perhaps they were struggling to find a rhyme for 'quantum'). With proposed duets with Pete Doherty and Prince on the cards, Amy's musical future, at least, looks bright.


Watch our Amy Winehouse video interview where she tells us about talking to dead people.

Read what happened when Amy Winehouse answered your questions. We like her when she's funny.

Look at tons of Amy Winehouse pictures in our gallery.