AMY WINEHOUSE: Guess Who's B(l)ack And on Top of the Game

By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

Amy Winehouse is #1 on Billboard's R&B & Hip-Hop Charts. 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').

Amy Winehouse 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.'