Amy Winehouse’s Rehab began with a conversation on a New York street
Warning: This article contains discussion of drug addiction which some readers may find distressing.
It's hard to believe that Amy Winehouse's iconic Back to Black album came out 20 years ago today but one of the artist's most famous songs might not have happened if not for a chance conversation in New York.
In 2011, we lost the performer to alcohol poisoning, after she struggled with substance abuse, mental health disorders, and eating disorders throughout her life.
Winehouse has long been described as a tortured soul due to her extraordinary voice and musical talent, which was intertwined with what she went through in her personal life, with many of the songs on her album delivering a raw emotion that few could replicate but many could resonate with.
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The lead single of that album, widely regarded as one of the best of all time, is Rehab - where Winehouse discusses her own refusal to attend a rehabilitation centre despite her problems with drugs and alcohol.
She produced the album alongside Mark Ronson, who she later collaborated with again with her cover of The Zutons' 'Valerie'.
Ronson was central to the production of Rehab, as it was him who had the conversation with Winehouse on a street in New York, before they headed to the studio and recorded the song, as well as 'Back to Black', in a matter of hours.
In an interview with Fresh Air on NPR Illinois, he recalled: "So when she was telling me this story about rehab — we were actually walking down the street and she was saying, 'There was this time a couple of years ago, and I was in this dark place, and my family came over and some friends, and they tried to make me go to rehab', and I was like, 'No, no, no.'
"And she put up her hand, and I just thought, 'That's such a catchy turn of phrase, and should we go back — and do you want to try to write a song with that? Because it just instantly sounded like a hook to me. I remember it so well. "She was telling me this really deep story, and I'm kind of like, "Is it gross?" — all I can hear is a big pop hook in there."
To mark the 20th anniversary of the album's release, Ronson has also paid tribute to Winehouse and the legacy that the north London performer left, even if he does have mixed feelings about the album due to the raw emotion that she put into each song.
He said: “Amy just was so inspiring – especially to UK artists. This whole thing is very emotional.
“I have mixed feelings because all that music was built on her pain and what life she had to go through. Obviously, she had to carry that through to the end.
“I was there to make sure the arrangements were good. I didn’t have to endure that trauma and pain and those things – to have essentially the same success from the record.
“I always have a little bit of… It’s not guilt. It’s just something that I think about.”
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Topics: Amy Winehouse, Celebrity News, Mental Health
James Moorhouse