Amy Winehouse shared everything she wanted to achieve in life in diary before she died

She had a set of pipes that could bring the house down, a beehive which couldn't be beat and a pocketful of dreams.

The late and great Amy Winehouse would have turned 41 today (14 September), but sadly, her life was cut short in July 2011 and she passed away from alcohol poisoning.

But none of us could ever forget the music powerhouse or her lasting legacy - and millions of fans will definitely be playing her tracks on repeat to toast to her birthday.

Although the biopic based on her life, Back to Black, didn't get a great reception from fans, there are still plenty of other ways to get to know the real Amy a bit better, even though she's no longer here.

Excerpts from the diary she wrote as a teenager, which were published by her parents Janis Winehouse-Collins and Mitch Winehouse last year on her 40th birthday, are a great place to start.

The former couple - who split when their daughter was nine - dove into their family archives and generously shared snippets from the late singer's notebooks in the book Amy Winehouse: In Her Words.

Amy would have turned 41 this year (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images for NARAS)

Among Amy's personal diary entries, photos and handwritten lyrics was a bucket list of sorts which she penned in her childhood bedroom, that detailed her 'fame ambitions' for the future.

Her parents explained in the book which was released last year: "After Amy’s passing, we started sifting through her writings and drawings collected from her early childhood, and we started to understand more of how, behind her casual attitude, Amy had been carefully honing her talent for years."

It went on to explain that the 'Rehab' singer's bedroom was her 'haven' and that she would 'always take herself off to work in' there, plotting her big plans for the future until the early hours of the morning.

Her parents explained they later discovered she had been 'filling notebook after notebook with lists and drawings, maps and plans, which she would constantly revise and update'.

But it's Amy's bucket list which really made her mother and father smile all these years later.

"Amy’s lists still make us laugh," the pair went on. "Even as a 16-year-old she had ambitions way beyond most people’s dreams.

The singer's parents shared excerpts from her teenage diaries (Gareth Davies/Getty Images)

It continued: "Our daughter really was one of a kind!

"Twelve years on from her death, looking back on these drawings and scribblings still makes us smile, just like Amy did."

On a page titled 'fame ambitions', the star jotted down 14 goals she had for her life.

For starters, it seems Amy might have set her sights on running her own restaurant, as her number one priority on the list was to 'open Dolly's Diner' - and longtime fans will know she has a track of the same name too.

Secondly, she wanted to one day be 'photographed by David LaChapelle'...which later came to fruition, as the award-winning snapper even directed her music video for her hit track 'Tears Dry on Their Own' in 2007.

Next, Amy hoped to someday 'do a movie where she looks ugly', as well as at some point starring alongside cinema legend Michael Madsen.

Her fifth dream was to become 'good friends' with Sarah Jessica Parker, Stella McCartney and Eddie Izzard.

Sixth, was a pretty self-explanatory one: "To f**k Huey."

Then returning her focus to her career plans, Amy wrote: "To collaborate with Missy Elliott + Timbaland."

Amy had penned something of a bucket list in her childhood bedroom (Family Handout)

This was closely followed by her aspirations of owning a shoe collection which consisted of more than 300 pairs, as well as getting herself some 'Marilyn hair' at some point to replicate the movie icon's signature look.

In at number ten was Amy listing her wishing to meet celebrities Liz Taylor and Paul Newman one day.

But even as a teen, the singer was all to aware that the industry wasn't the healthiest place for a lot of people, as she then discussed her desire to 'avoid surgery'.

Sweetly, Amy's 12th ambition on the list read: "To have people look up to me."

She can tick that one off alright.

The Grammy-winner added that she would love to 'buy a house in South Beach' one day, before wrapping it up with her final desire, which was: "To make a movie with Steve Buscemi in it."

Amy might not have managed to tick them all off, but she certainly achieved some incredible feats in her short life.

Janis and Mitch said it was 'bittersweet' looking back on their daughter's old journal entries - especially one particular paragraph which she jotted down.

It read: "Mostly I have this dream to be very famous, to work on stage. It’s a lifelong ambition. I want people to hear my voice and just forget their troubles for five minutes...I want to be remembered for being...just me."

Happy birthday to an absolute legend.