Dionne Warwick

Marie Dionne Warwick (née Warrick, December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, television host, and former Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is one of the most-charted female vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998, and 80 singles making all Billboard charts combined.

 

 

 

 

 

Many of Warwick's family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group and RCA recording artists who frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. Dionne began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. While she was performing background on the Drifters' recording of their 1962 release "Mexican Divorce", Warwick's voice and star presence were noticed by the song's composer, Burt Bacharach, a Brill Building songwriter who was writing songs with many other songwriters, including lyricist Hal David. Warwick was signed to Bacharach's and David's production company, which in turn was signed to Scepter Records in 1962 by Greenberg. The partnership would provide Bacharach with the freedom to produce Warwick without the control of recording company executives and company A&R men. Warwick's musical ability and education would also allow Bacharach to compose more challenging tunes. The demo version of "It's Love That Really Counts", along with her original demo of "Make It Easy on Yourself", would surface on Warwick's debut Scepter album, Presenting Dionne Warwick, which was released in early 1963.

In November 1962, Scepter Records released her first solo single, "Don't Make Me Over". The two immediate follow-ups, "This Empty Place" (with "B" side "Wishin' and Hopin'" later recorded by Dusty Springfield) and "Make The Music Play"  charted briefly in the top 100. Her fourth single, "Anyone Who Had a Heart", released in November 1963, was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit (#8) in the U.S. and an international million seller. This was followed by "Walk On By" in April 1964, another major international hit and million seller that solidified her career. For the rest of the 1960s, Warwick was a fixture on the U.S. and Canadian charts, and much of her output from 1962 to 1971 was written and produced by the Bacharach/David team. In 1965, Eon Productions intended to use Warwick's song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as the theme song of the James Bond film Thunderball, until Albert Broccoli insisted that the theme song include the film's title. A new song was composed and recorded in the eleventh hour titled "Thunderball", performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score. 

The mid-1960s to early 1970s were a more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of gold-selling albums and Top 20 and Top 10 hit singles. "Message to Michael", a Bacharach-David composition, became a top 10 hit for Warwick in May 1966. The January 1967 LP Here Where There Is Love was her first RIAA certified Gold album, and featured "Alfie" and two 1966 hits: "Trains and Boats and Planes" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself". "Alfie" had become a radio hit when disc jockeys across the nation began to play the album cut early in 1967. "Alfie" was released as the "B" side of a Bacharach/David ballad, "The Beginning of Loneliness", which charted in the Hot 100. Disc jockeys flipped the single and made it a double-sided hit. Her follow-up to "I Say a Little Prayer", "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", was unusual in several respects. It was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; it was the "B" side of her "I Say a Little Prayer" single, and it was a song that she almost did not record. Warwick performed the song, and when the film became a success in the early weeks of 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single and made the single one of the biggest double-sided hits of the rock era and another million seller. At the time, RIAA rules allowed only one side of a double-sided hit single to be certified as gold, but Scepter awarded Warwick an "in-house award" to recognize "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" as a million selling tune.

The single "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (an international million seller and a Top 10 hit in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico) was also a double-sided hit, with the "B" side "Let Me Be Lonely" charting at #79. More hits followed into 1971, including "Who Is Gonna Love Me" (#32, 1968) with "B" side, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" becoming another double-sided hit; "Promises, Promises" (#19, 1968); "This Girl's in Love with You" (#7, 1969); "The April Fools" (#37, 1969); "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (#15, 1969); "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (#6 Pop, #1 AC, 1969); "Make It Easy on Yourself" (#37 Pop, #10 AC, 1970); "Let Me Go to Him" (#32 Pop, #4 AC), 1970); and "Paper Mache" (#43 Pop, #3 AC), 1970). Warwick's final Bacharach/David penned single on the Scepter label was March 1971's "Who Gets the Guy" (#52 Pop, #6 AC), 1971), and her final "official" Scepter single release was "He's Moving On" b/w "Amanda", (#83 Pop, #12 AC) both from the soundtrack of the motion picture adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine. In 1971, Warwick left the family atmosphere of Scepter Records for Warner Bros. Records, for a $5 million contract, the most lucrative recording contract given to a female vocalist up to that time.

Without the guidance and songwriting that Bacharach/David had provided, Warwick's career stalled in the early 1970s although she remained a top concert draw throughout the world. There were no big hits during the early and mid part of the decade, aside from 1974's "Then Came You", recorded as a duet with the Spinners and produced by Thom Bell. Warwick recorded five albums with Warners: Dionne (1972), Just Being Myself (1973), Then Came You (1975), Track of the Cat (1975), and Love at First Sight (1977). Her five-year contract with Warners expired in 1977, and Warwick's dry spell on the American charts ended with her signing to Arista Records in 1979, where she began a second highly successful run of hit records and albums well into the late 1980s. 

With the move to Arista Records and the release of her RIAA-certified million seller "I'll Never Love This Way Again" in 1979, Warwick was again enjoying top success on the charts. The song was produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album, Dionne, was certified Platinum in the United States for sales exceeding one million units. Other hits followed like Heartbreaker and Love Power. She has been releasing albums and performing up to the present day.

Karen O

Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978), known professionally as Karen O, is a South Korean-born American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. She is the lead vocalist for American rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 

 

 

 

 

The band formed in New York City in 2000 and is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They have recorded four studio albums; the first, Fever to Tell, was released in 2003. The second, Show Your Bones, was released in 2006 and was named the second best album of the year by NME. Their third studio album, It's Blitz!, was released in March 2009. All three albums earned the band Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Music Album. Their fourth album, Mosquito, was released in April 2013.

In 2007, O was placed at number three on Spinner.com's Women Who Rock Right Now. She began working on a small side project called Native Korean Rock and the Fishnets with fellow NYC musicians in 2008. She was featured in the track "Cut Me Up" by Har Mar Superstar for the soundtrack to the 2005 horror film House of Wax. For the movie Jackass 2, O collaborated with electronic artist Peaches and Johnny Knoxville to record a track entitled "Backass"; for Jackass 3D, she covered the Roger Alan Wade's "If You're Gonna Be Dumb" under the alternative title of "If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough". In 2007, she also contributed vocals to a version of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" for the I'm Not There film soundtrack. At the end of episode 409, "Brothers Cinco", of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! she performed a short song. She also has a song titled "Strange Love" on the album "Frankenweenie Unleashed!" O collaborated with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" for the soundtrack to the 2011 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for which Reznor and Ross composed the score.







 

O's debut solo album, Crush Songs, was released on September 9, 2014. It was released on Cult Records via Kobalt Label Services. On February 17, 2015, O released a live album titled Live from Crush Palace, recorded during three shows at Hollywood Forever Cemetery's Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles in September 2014. The album features live renditions of songs from Crush Songs, as well as "Hideaway" from Where the Wild Things Are and "The Moon Song" from Her. On January 11, 2018, O released the song "Yo! My Saint", featuring guest vocals from Michael Kiwanuka, in support of Kenzo's Spring Summer 2018 collection.

 

 

 

Lux Prima is the collaborative album from Karen O and musician-producer Danger Mouse, released 15 March 2019. “An Encounter with Lux Prima” was an immersive art piece and communal listening experience soundtracked by Karen O and Danger Mouse's collaborative album Lux Prima. The installation premiered at Los Angeles' Marciano Art Foundation in April 2019 where it played to sold-out audiences. The piece, consisting of groundbreaking audio-visual technology, saw the duo collaborate with an illustrious cast of fellow artists including creative director Barnaby Clay (David Bowie—“Life On Mars” Revisited, SHOT!), sound designer Ren Klyce (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Fight Club), lighting designer Tobias Rylander (Robyn, The xx, FKA twigs), visual artist Davy Evans. Further collaborating with George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound and Meyer Sound on the audio design and build as well as MSG's Obscura Digital on projection mapping, the installation played across every sense and was the living nucleus of the duo's collaborative album. 

Esther Forero

Esther Forero Celis (10 December 1919 – 3 June 2011), better known as Estercita Forero or "La Novia de Barranquilla" ("Barranquilla's Darling"), was a Colombian singer and composer. Esthercita Forero sang to her land in an endearing and nostalgic way. Her songs are or were part of the Barranquillan collective imagination and have deeply penetrated the identity of its inhabitants, who recognize and revere them as popular anthems. She was the author of well-known and accepted songs such as "Mi vieja Barranquilla" (1974), "Luna Barranquillera" (1963), "La Guacherna" (1976), "Volvió Juanita" (1978), "Palito 'e matarratón"  (1964), "Tambores de Carnaval" (1978) and "Nadie ha de saber" (2002).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She began to sing at age 4 at family gatherings and theaters of her hometown, Barranquilla. At the age of 14, she made her debut in a radio station named "La Voz de Barranquilla" (The Voice of Barranquilla.) Four years later she toured throughout the Colombian territory. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1942, Forero made her first tour abroad. In Panama, she performed with success on "Radio Estrella de Panamá", with the accompaniment of pianist and composer, Avelino Muñoz. In 1945, she went to Venezuela where she first popularized the music of the Caribbean coast. She traveled to Santo Domingo, where she wrote her first song entitled "Santo Domingo", and the porro (a Colombian cumbia rhythm that developed into its own subgenre) "Pegadita de los hombres", which became a hit and sold 80,000 copies for three consecutive years. Around 1950, she recorded a very successful album in Puerto Rico with composer Rafael Hernández, which contributed to Colombian music finding an opening among other popular expressions of the Caribbean. In Cuba, she performed with Pancho Portuondo's orchestra, followed in 1952 by a trip to New York where her songs were widely known by several fans, and she started recording with pianist and composer René Touzet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Esther Forero returned to Colombia in 1959, after 10 years of spreading the country's Caribbean music abroad. She began recording her music with orchestras such as those of Pacho Galán, Nuncira Machado, Aníbal Velásquez, and Clímaco Sarmiento, with singers including Gabriel Romero, Joe Arroyo, and Alfredo Gutiérrez. At her initiative, in 1974, a lost tradition of Barranquilla's Carnival was rescued – that of performing nightly parades with Cumbiambas (a folkloric rhythm and dance from Colombia) and tamboras(a percussion instrument that originated in the Dominican Republic made of recycled barrels and is played using 2 headed drums.) This night festival became known as La Guacherna. In 1975, she recorded Érase una vez en La Arenosa ("Once upon a time in the sandy city") – "Arenosa" (sandy) being an endearing term for Barranquilla – under the baton of maestro Pedro "Pete" Vicentini and accompanied by singer Alci Acosta. This recording tells the city's story in song and became an integral part of its culture. 

Esther Forero died on Friday, 3 June 2011 at age 91 at La Asunción Clinic, in her hometown of Barranquilla, after complications in several organs in her body.

 

The Dirty Burds

The Dirty Burds was a Lo-fi sixties garage girl punk band from London, England, formed around 1995, and the line up at the time was Fabien on vocals, Jacqui on bass guitar, Domi on drums and Teri on guitar. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One demo was recorded with this line up and then Fabian left. The Burds were on the lookout for a replacement singer. Jacqui stumbled across Tina at a 60's Garage club and asked her to to join.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a few months rehearsing, they recorded the "Dirty Shame EP" for Damaged Goods, which was recorded at Toe Rag Studios by Liam. The record was quite chaotic....just the sound the Burds were after. Teri left and Domi took over on guitar. Not long after the band split and reformed. Lois and Mole from the Embrooks became part of the next line up. Lois was now in control of the drums and Mole on guitar. Mave joined and for a while they had two guitarists. Next followed a mini tour of the West Coast of America, from L.A, San Francisco, Las Vegas (The Grind) to San Diego.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their second single, "It's A Lie" was on Mademoiselle Records. The label was set up by Christelle, who after seeing the Burds was inspired to start a record label that released only all girl bands. The atmosphere between some of the band was not good. After the short tour in the USA Mole and Lois left. Mave stopped playing guitar and became their drummer. Lynne joined the Burds and she became the guitarist. Tedra (also in Bullet Train) followed on guitar and this was truly a laid back line up but no gigs ever happened. The last single was ironically titled "Gotta Go" and was released on Rapid Pulse Records in America in 1999. Tina decided to leave to concentrate on her other band Suicide Milkshake and that's as far as the story goes.

Yvette and Yvonne McCarther

Yvette and Yvonne McCarther were among the world's oldest unseparated Siamese twins. They were craniopagus twins, joined at the head. They had separate personalities, brains and other organs, but shared a circulatory system. They started singing gospel at the age of 6 and continued to have a long, beautiful career. They traveled all over the United States, singing with most of the top gospel groups.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sisters were born in 1949 and after a brief tour with a circus, to which their mother was forced to agree to because of thousands of dollars in medical bills, the girls grew up as normally as possible under the circumstances. Over the years, they developed a sense of humor about themselves, one feigning ignorance of the other, for example, when she would introduce herself to a boy. The sisters had distinct personalities. Yvette was quiet and shy, Yvonne more outgoing. Yvette loved to eat, and Yvonne complained that she gained weight because of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1974, the women recorded “He's Sweet I Know” and “After It Is All Over Down Here.” These recordings were private pressings not made for public distribution, and include their raucous 60's pairing plus a sweet childhood chant and an unusual incantation by their mom, set to spook show organ grinding. In 2010 Norton Record put out an EP with four tracks, After It's All Over, He's Sweet I Know, Your Mother and We Are Workers For The Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

The sisters were found dead in their home in January 1993,  victims of heart failure. They were 43 years old.

Kim Weston

Kim Weston (born December 20, 1939) is an American soul singer, and Motown alumna. In the 1960s, Weston scored hits with the songs "Love Me All the Way" and "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)", and with her duet with Marvin Gaye, "It Takes Two".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born Agatha Nathalia Weston in Detroit, Michigan, she was signed to Motown in 1961, scoring a minor hit with "Love Me All the Way" (R&B No. 24, Pop #88). Weston's biggest solo hits with Motown were "Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)" (R&B No. 4, Pop No. 50, 1965) and "Helpless" (R&B No. 13). Her biggest claim to fame was singing the classic hit "It Takes Two" with Marvin Gaye in 1966 and her later recording of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing". It was the success of "It Takes Two" that caused Motown to partner Gaye with Tammi Terrell, spawning even more success for the label.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weston left Motown in 1967 and later sued the label over disputes about royalties. She went to MGM Records where she cut a couple of singles, "I Got What You Need," and "Nobody," which went largely unnoticed due to lack of airplay and promotion. She made an album for the label, This Is America, which included her popular version of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing". This was released as a single and featured in the movie Wattstax. All the money from the single was donated to the United Negro College Fund. 

She recorded several more albums for various labels, Stax/Volt among them, and also made an album of duets with Johnny Nash. None of these recordings charted, and Weston reportedly relocated to Israel, where she worked with young singers. Along with many former Motown artists, she signed with Ian Levine's Motorcity Records in the 1980s, releasing the single "Signal Your Intention", which peaked at No. 1 in the UK Hi-NRG charts. It was followed by the album Investigate (1990), which included some re-recordings of her Motown hits as well as new material. A second album for the label, Talking Loud (1992), was never released, although all the songs were included on the compilation The Best Of Kim Weston (1996). 

She was inducted into the inaugural class of the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame at Cleveland State University August 2013.

Budget Girls

Teri and Kristen were two go-go dancers from the USA who decided to form a band with three garage kids from the London N7 Action Sound scene (Cee Bee Beaumont). 

 

 

 

 

Their debut single was recorded in two hours at Toe Rag Studios. The Get In Your Ear E.P. was a lo-fi classic (also issued in the states by Planet Pimp records). Kristen went back to the states and Teri stayed in London, 18 months later they got back together to record their one and only (so far) album.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On A Tight Budget was released in early 1998 on Damaged Goods. In 2000 they met up again and recorded 5 new tracks, three of which came out as their last single Miso Hornie. Who knows if there will ever be anymore releases by The Budget Girls….

 

 

 

 

 

Bambi Lake

Bambi Lake (Oct. 20, 1950-Nov. 4, 2020) was a performer who sprung out of the Cockettes, the radical, gay, hippie performance troupe, and the Angels of Light, the free-theater child of the Cockettes. She was a San Francisco-of-yesterday fixture who persevered into the new millennium and established herself as an actress, street-level poet, and chanteuse.

 

 

 

 

 

Bambi was born in Palo Alto, California, on October 20, 1950. She was the fourth of eight children. She attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City. From an early age, she knew she was destined to perform and often said that she survived high school by plunging herself into the never-ending whirl of local theater. After studying theater at Cañada Junior College, in 1970, she met future Cockette piano player Peter Mintun, who picked her up hitchhiking. He told her about a new merry band of hippies, and the next thing she knew, she was at a Cockette rehearsal. The Cockette's founder, Hibiscus, took her under his wing, and together they became Angels of Light. In 1973 she made Berlin her home. At this time, Bambi started taking hormones and, before she knew it, became who she always knew she was. She returned to San Francisco in 1978 and threw herself into San Francisco's fledgling punk scene. She sang with the all-female band VS and went on to tour Europe with The Stranglers.

 

In the 1980s, she began writing poetry and putting her words to music. Her best-known song, the autobiographical "The Golden Age of Hustlers," is performed all over the world. She sang sad songs on stages of all sizes all over San Francisco for more than 50 years and released her debut album, My Glamourous Life as a Broadway Hostess, in 2005. In a 2017 interview, she said her greatest talent was "making people cry." Her voice was fierce and filled with enchanting melancholy. After a brief hiatus, she launched a comeback in 2016 following her documentary, Sticks and Stones, directed by Silas Howard. Her last public performance was as part of the cast of the Dan Karkoska-produced Cockettes Are Golden: A 50th Anniversary Celebration, Jan. 4, 2020 at the Victoria Theatre.


She died of cancer on November 4, 2020, she was 70 years old. 

Little Ann

Little Ann (born Ann Bridgeforth; 22 March 1945 – 26 January 2003) was an American soul singer. Her recording career was short-lived but her work was 'rediscovered' shortly before her death. Originally from Chicago, but growing up in the small town of Mount Clemens in Michigan, "Little Ann" Bridgeforth performed regularly as a singer, including at her cousin's club, Michelle's Playroom. When she was getting gigs elsewhere, she changed her name to Little Ann - how she was known within the family, as the youngest of seven brothers and sisters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1967 in Detroit, she recorded "Deep Shadows", produced by Dave Hamilton, but it was not released, and was almost lost to history. In 1969, she recorded an album's worth of her soulful singing, with Hamilton. The record company, Ric-Tic, released only one song, "Going Down a One Way Street", as a single (Ric-Tic142). It was to be her only release for a long time. In the early 1980s, an acetate of a Little Ann song was discovered by someone in England. Under the title "When He's Not Around" by Rose Valentine, it became a big hit in the Northern soul scene. Then in 1990, that original master tape, including the song, which was really called "What Should I Do?", was discovered at Hamilton's home, leading to a release of the single on Ace/Kent Records.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Deep Shadows" was finally heard by the world on the CD compilation Dave Hamilton's Detroit Dancers, Vol 1 in 1998, along with two other, at-that-time unreleased, tracks. It has since been covered several times and has featured in a Nike Jordan trainers ad in the US. Further unreleased tracks appeared on Detroit Dancers Volumes 2 and 3, in 1999 and 2006 respectively, before the tracks were compiled on vinyl in 2009 with the release of the entire Deep Shadows album on Helsinki's Timmion Records. 

Finally, with the release of some of her music, Little Ann performed in the UK, shortly before her death in 2003.

Amy Winehouse

Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.  Her album Back to Black became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century and VH1 ranked Winehouse 26th on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winehouse was born on 14 September 1983 at Chase Farm Hospital in north London. Many of Winehouse's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music a year later. Shortly afterwards she began  singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; influenced by Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter of whom she was already listening to at home. She signed to Simon Fuller's 19 Management in 2002.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, Winehouse co-wrote every song. The album received critical acclaim with compliments given to the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics. Winehouse's voice was compared with those of Sarah Vaughan and Macy Gray, among others. The album entered the upper reaches of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for the Brit Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act." It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004, she and Remi won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song, for their first single together, "Stronger Than Me." The album was also shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury Festival – Jazzworld, the V Festival and the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The further singles from the album were "Take the Box," "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings, to back her up in the studio and on tour. In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the course of the year. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab." The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007.  The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good," was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black," was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own," "Love Is a Losing Game" were also released as singles.

 

 

At the 2007 Brit Awards it was nominated for British Album of the Year, and she received the award for British Female Solo Artist. The song "Rehab" won her a second Ivor Novello Award. At the 50th Grammy Awards in 2008, she won five awards, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and becoming the first British woman to win five Grammys, including three of the General Field "Big Four" Grammy Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year (for "Rehab"), as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.  

 

 

She died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011 at her London house, at the age of 27.