By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices
Move over Teena Marie!!!
A new white woman is dominating the urban music scene.
And unlike Madonna, Christina Aguilera and Pink, she has the nerve to be British!
A real Brit, Madge.
And I'm not talking about the blond-haired, blue-eyed, black brother loving Joss Stone, either.
It's Amy Winehouse -- a brassy broad who's living up to her last name with much buzzed about public forays with alcoholic beverages.
Off the strength of her groovey and infectious singles 'Rehab,' and 'You Know I'm No Good,' the acclaimed British singer/songwriter has landed in the No. 1 spot on 'Billboard's Top R&B/Hip--Hop Albums chart with her gold selling American debut 'Back to Black.'
Yes.
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums; beating out the likes of brand new releases by Rihanna, T-Pain, Fabolous and last week's debut of neo-soul newcomer Chrisette Michele.
What a perfect ending to Black Music Month.
The charismatic singer and tabloid mainstay has been making a name for herself over the past few months with an all-out media blitz and an aggressive radio airplay campaign.
On the heels of two major magazine covers ('Rolling Stone,' and 'Spin'), the English music wunderkind won two MOJO Awards (named "Woman of 2006" and winning the first ever 'Song of the Year' award for her smash hit single, 'Rehab').
Her American record label, Universal Republic, calls her signature brand "torrid but textured R&B."
I say it's old school soul fused retro pop ditties with a no holds barred lyricism, which comes across as a combination of Macy Gray, cocaine, Lauryn Hill, lithium with a dash of John Legend's two albums as a backdrop.
And the music buying public is just eating it all up.
Scorching hot remixes of her two singles have attracted the likes of hip-hop's finest, including Jay-Z, Ghostface Killah and Pharoahe Monch.
On her own, 'Back to Black' has sold more than 2.5 million copies globally, and is expected to cross the platinum-selling status mark within the next few weeks in the states.
For those who don't know: the 24-year-old Winehouse (real name) was born to an English family with a history of jazz musicians and grew up listening to a wide array of music, including Teena Marie, Busta Rhymes, Elvis Presley, Carole King, Mahalia Jackson, The Ronettes, The Shangri-las, The Shirelles, Sarah Vaughan, Minnie Ripperton, Dinah Washington, and Frank Sinatra.
Growing up in the suburb of Southgate, North London, she founded a short-lived amateur rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour at the age of 10. She, being known as Sour, later described the group as "the little white Jewish Salt-N-Pepa."
Love that.
She's planning a return to the states after a closely followed string of sold-out European shows on two festivals - the August 4 "V Festival" in Washington, DC, and Chicago's Lollapalooza on Aug. 5.
Winehouse's much anticipated end-of-summer tour kicks off at New York City's Central Park Summer Stage on Sept. 12, with a show the following day - Sept. 13 - in Upper Darby, PA.
She's also expected at the Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, TX on September 15, with stops in included in Los Angeles on September 18 and 19, San Francisco on Sept. 21 and 22, Seattle on Sept. 25, Minnesota on Sept. 28, and pulling into Chicago on Sept. 29 - with more dates to be announced.
So get out those debit cards and buy tickets to see Amy Winehouse get loose.
If you can't wait for the show, please-please-please check out this OUTRAGEOUS video-clip below of Amy Winehouse and former "popera" singer Charlotte Church desecrating Michael Jackson's classic hit 'Beat It.'
BV Extras:
-- Celebrate Black Music Month with Black Voices


Comments: (112)
Add a comment
By: d on 8/28/2007 11:29PM
what you all complaining about whos music is it??? is it good ?? do you like it ??? no dont listen yes freaking enjoy it thats it aint nothing wrong about nothing how about black people singing pop and rock and all the white people music as you say if you look into eaurope black people there as you say stealing white people music ITS MUSIC STOP DEVIDING THINGS! its sopouse to be for the soul right well you just made it material not for the soul
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Jo on 9/01/2007 3:19PM
I'm a 42 year old black British woman, and a big Winehouse fan. Sorry if that makes me a traitor to my race. Having read some of the comments on here, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. One thing is pretty obvious though - most of the people saying she can't sing etc. have not heard her voice (or maybe are judging her on the laughable performance with Charlotte Church, when she was so out of it it was untrue). And why the constant comparisons with Joss Stone? So they're both white and British. And? Winehouse is on a different plane (in every sense).
This girl has real talent - she has a great voice and writes incredible songs. So what if she's not black!
Right, the bits that made me laugh: some of you seem to have mis-understood the use of the word 'black' in her songs. In 'Rehab', do you seriously think that the line 'Yes I've been black but when I come back you'll know' means 'I've been a black person, but I'm not any more'? Or in 'Back to Black', the line 'You go back to her and I'll go back to black' means she's about to black up? Please, it's almost embarrassing!
On a serious note, I'm horrified and really saddened by some of the negative comments on here. I don't care if you don't rate her as a singer, and am sure she doesn't either, but the reasons (or should I say, the REASON, as really there's only one) you give make me want to scream. I have never visited America, and to be honest, having read (some) of the xenophobic, racist, ignorant stuff posted here, don't think I want to. Thank God some of you appear to be open-minded and balanced, but the rest of you really scare me. I knew there were lots of racist fascist biggots over there, but I (rather naively) thought that most of them would be white.
Reply to this Comment | Report This