Amy Winehouse found dead

It is understood the singer’s death is being treated as “unexplained”.

The Back To Black artist cancelled all tour dates and engagements last month after a series of erratic public appearances.

The London Ambulance Service attended her flat this afternoon but were unable to save her life, sources said.

Just three days ago (20 July) she made a surprise appearance at the Camden Roundhouse in London, alongside her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield.

Although she was as famous in her final years for her excesses with drink and drugs as for her music, Amy Winehouse was undoubtedly one of the finest female popular singers to emerge from the UK in the last 25 years.

Born in north London on 14 September 1983, she was 20 when her debut album, Frank, a collection of mainly jazz-influenced songs, was released to critical acclaim in 2003. In 2004 she was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize.

Back to Black

Two years later her best-known album, Back to Black, went to number one in the UK album chart and propelled her to fame in the United States. Its best-known song, Rehab, also made the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic.

Produced by Mark Ronson, Back to Black also provided several other singles, including You Know I’m No Good and Love Is a Losing Game. The album secured several nominations in the 2008 US Grammy Awards, winning Best Pop Vocal Album. Mark Ronson won Producer of the Year at the same event.

Amy Winehouse’s recording success coincided with a series of increasingly erratic concert performances. Her 2007 tour of the UK prompted a succession of negative reviews, culminating in November in the cancellation of public appearances for the rest of the year. She was reported to have been unsteady on her feet during a performance at a festival in St Lucia in 2009.

Most recently, in June of this year she was booed off stage at the start of her European tour in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. All shows on the tour were subsequently cancelled.

However, her live performances could also enthral. Her 2008 Glastonbury set was hailed by many as the best performance at the festival that year.

In 2007, Winehouse married Blake Fielder-Civil, with whom she had a turbulent relationship. Fielder-Civil served several months in jail between 2008 and 2009 on charges of assault and trying to pervert the course of justice. The couple were divorced in August 2009.

Amy Winehouse’s influence on popular music has been considerable, and she undoubtedly paved the way for the worldwide success of other British female singers such as Adele and Duffy.

Interviewed in October 2010 for the American magazine Harper’s Bazaar, she told journalist Polly Vernon that she had no unfulfilled ambitions, concluding: “If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.”

But her many fans would argue that her soulful alto voice – one that could express both strength and vulnerability with equal ease and conviction – still had much more to offer the world.

Twitter tributes to Amy Winehouse:

Lily Allen wrote: "Its just beyond sad, there's nothing else to say. She was such a lost soul, may she rest in peace."

Singer Jessie J tweeted: "The way tears are streaming down my face. Such a loss."

Burlesque artist Dita Von Teese wrote: "Devastated. I spent extraordinary times with Amy. She sang for me once for hours, it was the most beautiful & touching thing. A huge loss."

Actress Demi Moore wrote on Twitter: "Truly sad news about Amy Winehouse. My heart goes out to her family. May her troubled soul find peace."