Like everyone else I heard the very sad news about the untimely passing of Amy Winehouse over the weekend. My condolences and thoughts are with her family during this very difficult time. She was a truly unique talent who I greatly admired and she will be deeply missed.
Its no secret that Winehouse had a thing for ska and for 2-Tone in particular and that made me love her even more. She covered The Specials live (quite memorably at the Glastonbury Festival back in 2008 urging them to re-form from the stage) and had members of the band join her on stage. Later, she joined the reunited line-up of The Specials live and you could tell she loved every minute of the experience.
Winehouse was such a ska fan that she confirmed to Rolling Stone back in 2008 that her planned follow-up to her break through 'Back To Black' would include a fair amount of ska. Like her penchant and ease with soul and RnB which she wore like a second skin, ska seemed to come effortlessly to Winehouse. Sadly, that album or any of the ska songs she might have demoed or recorded is unlikely to see the light of day and that's a shame.
To pay homage to Winehouse and to her love of ska, I have posted some of her best live versions of her singing 2-Tone classics by The Specials below.
Its no secret that Winehouse had a thing for ska and for 2-Tone in particular and that made me love her even more. She covered The Specials live (quite memorably at the Glastonbury Festival back in 2008 urging them to re-form from the stage) and had members of the band join her on stage. Later, she joined the reunited line-up of The Specials live and you could tell she loved every minute of the experience.
Winehouse was such a ska fan that she confirmed to Rolling Stone back in 2008 that her planned follow-up to her break through 'Back To Black' would include a fair amount of ska. Like her penchant and ease with soul and RnB which she wore like a second skin, ska seemed to come effortlessly to Winehouse. Sadly, that album or any of the ska songs she might have demoed or recorded is unlikely to see the light of day and that's a shame.
To pay homage to Winehouse and to her love of ska, I have posted some of her best live versions of her singing 2-Tone classics by The Specials below.
Here she is performing 'Message To You Rudie' and 'You're Wondering Now' live from the Glastonbury Festival on June 29, 2008:
Her she is performing 'You're Wondering Now' live with The Specials:
Finally, for those of you who share my love of Winehouse's ska side, I'm reposting for download a very rare, limited edition, European fan club only 4-song 12" EP that includes her singing very faithful 2-Tone ska and reggae versions of The Specials' 'Monkey Man', 'Hey Little Rich Girl', 'You're Wondering Now' and a moving ska/reggae take on Sam Cooke's 'Cupid'.
Please play them loud and say a prayer for Amy's soul. Rest in peace Amy...
A sad loss. She did a wonderful job of bringing soulful vocals and the live horn section back to popular music. She will be missed. She was a troubled soul, but she has finally found peace. Sadly it was that troubled soul that forged her into such a great artist, but it also drove her to self-destruction. May her family find comfort in the knowledge that she brought pleasure to millions.
ReplyDeleteNehama
Hey there, Marco,
ReplyDeleteMy first comment here and what a sad occasion. I've loved Amy's music from day one and felt it was a great pity she lived the way she did. In a few years she could have been one of the truly great ones.
Btw, yesterday I saw that NME online says there might be an upcoming album of the songs she recorded in the last couple of years.
About the rare tracks you mention, I just wanted to mention that three of the track were also included on a special edition of "Back to Black" that came with a second CD. I got it from Amazon UK and it's called "Back to Black the Deluxe Edition".
The tracks on it are: Valerie, Cupid, Monkey Man, Some Unholy War, Hey Little Rich Girl, To Know Him is to Love Him, and Love is a Losing Game (org. demo).