Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was born September 14, 1983, in Camden, London, England. The niece of professional jazz players, Amy grew up surrounded by music and formed her first group at the age of 10. "Me and my friend loved Salt-N-Pepa," she explains. "So we formed a band called Sweet ?n' Sour. We had a tune called ?Spinderella,' which was great... but it was a long time ago." Although the group's tenure was short-lived, Amy continued to pursue her interest in live performance by attending the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone at the age of 12. Unfortunately, the school's classes failed to capture her interest and she was expelled the following year for "not applying herself."

Undaunted, Amy packed her bags and enrolled at the BRIT School, Britain's only free performing arts and technology institution. The change of scenery agreed with her and, within three years, Amy was signed to her first record contract by Island Records -- the same label that also represents Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey and Fall Out Boy.

On December 31, 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Hollands' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man".Performing at Eurockéennes 2007

On September 8, 2007 Winehouse settled a claim for copyright infringement over the song from the album "He Can Only Hold Her" brought against her by songwriter and producer P*Nut. His spokesperson said he would now receive a share of the copyright from the song and payment of costs. Previously he had received a "thank you" for his contribution and no songwriter credit on the album.

Since her rise to fame, Winehouse has been the subject of much media attention. On 18 May 2007 she married Blake Fielder-Civil in an unannounced ceremony in Miami, Florida. The marriage came as a surprise to fans and even family as the two had split two years earlier, the break-up inspiring several of the songs on Back to Black. In the same period the singer and her husband were photographed bloodied and bruised in the streets of London allegedly after a hotel room fight started when according to the singer she was spotted by her husband doing drugs with a call girl and cutting herself.