Darcus Beese, the A&R man who signed Amy Winehouse to Island Records in 2002, has spoken about discovering the singer and her enduring legacy as her iconic album Back to Black marks its 20th anniversary.
Beese first heard Winehouse when she was a teenager and immediately recognised her special talent. Speaking to BBC Radio 6 as part of a day-long commemoration of the album's anniversary on October 27, he recalled his first impression: "The real blues and the real jazz. You kind of hear the spirit of Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, and that list could go on. Janis Joplin just for the persona and the raw energy."
A Star Is Signed
Beese signed the fledgling star quickly, beginning a professional and personal relationship that lasted until her tragic death in 2011, aged 27, from accidental alcohol poisoning. He described Winehouse at the time: "Amy was probably 18. She was someone who had a lot of insecurities, but had swag."
He added: "She had somewhere to channel this raw personality, an old head on young shoulders. She knew what she liked and what she didn't like. It was easy for her to just tell you to get out of her vicinity if it didn't chime with her. She didn't suffer fools gladly. She was standing on the hill of 'I don't care if I'm right or wrong, this is what I'm doing.'"
From Frank to Back to Black
Winehouse released her debut album Frank on 20 October 2003, aged 20. It was shortlisted for the 2004 Mercury Prize, and its single Stronger Than Me won an Ivor Novello award for best contemporary song. Selling more than 1.1 million copies in the UK, Frank was nominated for two Brit Awards in 2004, for British female solo artist and British urban act.
Beese said some record company "meddling" meant there were tracks she didn't want, and his boss sent it back saying it didn't have a "first single." He added: "Out of that came Stronger Than Me, which was the first single from Frank. By the time you get to Back to Black, I think she's in the headspace of 'no one's going to meddle in this process, in this vision that I have.'"
Winehouse recorded Back to Black between 2005 and 2006, first with producer Salaam Remi in Miami and then with producer Mark Ronson. Beese said: "I want to be blasé and say that she didn't really care what people thought she was doing. You can hear where she cares. She's true to the art and the craft, and the lyricism is almost poetry."
Personal Life Unravels
Born in Enfield, north London, on 14 September 1983, Winehouse's parents, Mitch, an amateur singer and taxi driver, and Janis, a pharmacist, separated when she was nine. Beese noted her influences: "Her understanding of how she grew up and where she grew up and how all those influences come into it - whether it's her dad being a crooner and knowing all the Frank Sinatras of this world, her religion dialing into that. Knowing what that meant for her, and a true love of hip-hop, or Black music - without being a culture vulture, or people using the word cultural appropriation."
Mark Ronson wrote the music for the title track, Back to Black, the night after meeting Amy. At Island Records, she showcased her tracks for Beese and Island President Nick Gatfield. Beese recalled: "So Amy and Ray came over, she had her guitar with her. We was in Nick's office, and she sat down on the sofa, and she played Love Is a Losing Game. That was her signalling 'I'm ready to make the record.' She went off and made the album really quickly."
Beese was looking to leave Island when he flew out to see Amy and Mark Ronson. He recalled: "The first song they played was Rehab. You're just like, 'Holy, wow. Okay.' Those moments when people go, 'where were you when you first heard that record? And what was it, and what happened?' I was sitting there going, 'and I've just handed in my letter of resignation! What have I done?' I literally came back and I went, 'I've changed my mind.'"
Island welcomed him back, and Rehab, the lead single from Back to Black, sold more than 383,000 copies in the UK. Back to Black entered the UK chart at number three, before reaching number one, and was the best-selling album in Britain in 2007. It entered the US Billboard 200 at number seven and peaked at number two, after Amy won five Grammys on 10 February 2008.
Alongside her musical success, Winehouse's personal life was unravelling. She married Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami Beach, Florida, on 18 May 2007. He was in prison from July 2008 to February 2009 for assault and perverting the course of justice, and an uncontested divorce was granted on 16 July 2009. From early 2010 until her death, Winehouse, who was struggling with her fame, was dating British film director Reg Traviss.
Beese said of fame: "When people arrive at it, they don't arrive happy." He added that Back to Black exposed Amy to "toxicity": "It put her in the firing line. That's the music industry, and that's what the business does to people."
Found dead at her home in Camden, north London, on 23 July 2011, eight days later, Amy's Back to Black album again topped the UK albums chart.
A Lasting Legacy
Beese went on to become president of Island Records and was awarded the OBE in 2014 for services to the UK music industry. He said of Amy: "On a personal level she just taught me, family is everything. She would never want to talk about work, she'd want to talk about your kids. And she'd talk about family, and that's what made her happy."
Believing Amy's legacy will last forever, he added: "I think where she really nailed it was the lyric. That's what has made it timeless. Is it 1967 or is it 2026? It's just timeless."
Amy's goddaughter Dionne Bromfield also shared a special memory. Bromfield, now 30, came to public attention in 2009 on Strictly Come Dancing, singing Mama Said with Amy on backing vocals. She was the first artist to sign to Amy's Lioness Records label that year, with her debut album, Introducing Dionne Bromfield, reaching number 33 in the UK.
She recalled a Friday night when she was 13: "I remember it so vividly. We were at her place cooking, something she rarely did, but she loved to do. We were making meatballs. She put on a song that I had never heard before. It was Carole King's It's Too Late off the Tapestry album. I knew she loved Carole King's So Far Away, but this was a new song to me. I remember thinking, 'what in the world is this?' and her being like, 'what? You've never heard this before?' With her little cheeky grin at the fact that she had put me onto something new. Every time it plays, I immediately go back to being in Amy's kitchen cooking and hearing it for the first time."
She added: "It allows me to remember her in a way in which I loved best … being the regular young woman listening to beautiful music while cooking at home. There's just something so simple and peaceful about it. Every time I hear Carole's song, I just go back to being in that room with Amy cooking and really just enjoying the moment."
