Amy Page #2

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- Sleeping!

Just give us a smile,

then we can turn the camera off.

Come on, just give us a quick

one. A one-second flash.

How big do you think

you're going to be?

I don't, at all,

because, you know,

my music is not on that scale.

The music is not on that scale.

Sometimes I wish it was,

but I don't think

I'm gonna be at all famous.

I don't think I could handle it.

I'd probably go mad.

You know what I mean?

I would go mad.

- Where are we going?

- We're going to Birmingham!

Why are we going to Birmingham?

We're going to Birmingham

to sing songs.

- Yeah?

- And make merry.

Oh, that was sick!

That was sick!

- Get me, get me.

- Nicky, that was beautiful.

What are your thoughts

on how beautiful that was?

My turn, my turn!

Wait, let me get

a really good shot.

Oh, what a shot.

Oh!

She don't even care.

Watch it...

watch it go in there.

Got no light in here.

Don't get my spots in.

What spots?

- I love you.

- Do you know I'm zooming in?

You're zooming in

on all my spots!

You're a f***ing c*nt.

Does my hair look okay

like this?

Yeah, very good. It's lovely.

- Do you promise?

- I promise.

What song d'you think

I should do first tonight?

Right, I think

you should start off with...

Ah, I love your little cap!

It's so cute!

Um, I think you should

start off with a song called...

Oh, on camera. Okay. Okay.

- Go, sister. Go get done.

- Stop!

In my bed

Yeah yeah...

Could you please

introduce yourself?

Yes. Hello. I'm Amy Winehouse.

I'm 20. I'm a jazz singer.

I've heard your record

and it sounds very, uh, mature.

Is it all live?

Also, not only the singing,

but also the instruments?

Yeah, all the instrumentation

is completely live.

I wouldn't have any fake horns

on my record.

I think they put fake strings

on Take the Box,

but I wasn't a part of that.

I would never, ever have put

strings on my record. Ever.

And this guy doing the mix

of this song, he just...

didn't even think about it.

Okay, um...

just a couple of questions.

Um...

- Upset?

- Yeah.

Oh, okay. Okay, okay.

Okay. Um...

There wasn't a girl that had

been gobby in the media

for a long time.

And she could be very cutting.

Especially if she got bored

or felt misunderstood.

I dunno, it seems to me, though,

that every woman

who writes about, you know,

kind of puts it down on a record

doesn't do them any harm.

Look at Dido. I mean, she...

she used that album to

clean out her emotional closet.

- Did she?

- Yeah, it's all about

the break-up of her relationship

and, you know,

- kind of like surviving.

- Mm...

And, uh, and not, not going...

I mean, like the whole thing

about not going down

with the ship.

- Yeah...

- I mean, Dido's Dido,

but, you know, I mean, uh...

I think she's one

of the most exciting

and brilliantly

talented vocalists

to emerge in this country

in many, many years.

It is Amy Winehouse.

Fantastic.

You're managed by the company

who looks after S Club 7,

used to look after

the Spice Girls, Simon Fuller.

Have they tried to mould you

in any way?

Asked you to do things,

to change the way you look

or speak or behave?

Um, yeah, one of them

tried to mould me

into a big triangle shape

and I went, "No!"

No, I've got my own style.

I've got my own style

and I wrote my own songs

and, you know, if someone has

so much of something already,

there's very little you can...

add.

Yeah. You know what I like

about you, as well?

The way you sound so common.

Because I am common

and it's like, you know,

it's so refreshing

to hear someone

who isn't speaking

like they've taken

elocution lessons.

Yeah. They gave me elocution

lessons, but they kind of...

Psht!

- They didn't stick.

- Off my back, yeah.

I realized early on,

when Amy made her mind up,

she made her mind up.

And I found it difficult

to stand up to her.

She would say, "Oh, Mum,

you're so soft with me."

"I can get away with murder.

You should be tougher, Mum."

Well, I just accepted it.

I wasn't strong enough

to say to her, "Stop."

I met another woman when

Amy was about 18 months old.

We worked together.

We were having an affair.

But another eight or nine years

were to pass before I left home.

I was a coward.

But I felt that Amy was over it

pretty quick.

When Amy was a teenager,

13 or 14,

she was being taken

to the doctor's

and she was on antidepressants.

What is it about men

Amy used to always say to me

that that was her dream, really,

to do those sorts of shows,

to play in jazz clubs

to small audiences.

She had one of the most pure

relationships to music,

such an emotional

relationship to music.

Like she needed music

as if it was a person,

and that she would die for it.

Let me read this.

Oh, my God.

Uh, and the winner...

and the song is Stronger Than Me

by Amy Winehouse

and Salaam Remi.

Let's give it up!

This is me, isn't it?

Right here.

Wow!

I don't believe this.

Um, thank you, Salaam.

There's no picture of him,

but Salaam is the most

inspirational producer

I've ever worked with.

And he has that unique skill

of not just having

the most appropriate beat,

but also, um,

drawing the artistry out.

And I guess that's the story

of this song.

- And I wanna thank...

- What I allowed her to do

was to really just

put her wit into her songs.

When I heard her sing

in front of me,

I could tell she was really

like a jazz singer.

She had the stylings

of a 65-year-old jazz singer

who knew the ropes up and down.

It was, like, "Okay, if this is

what you are when you're 18",

then what are gonna be

when you're 25?"

We're now joined by Mos Def

in the backstage area.

Thanks for coming and taking

time out and chatting to us.

I heard they was doing

something, so I came down.

I became aware of Amy in 2004.

I was out in England.

I'm a big jazz fan and I really

liked what she was doing.

I thought it was unique,

it was edgy and sincere.

And that's the thing

I liked most about Amy,

is that she didn't have

any airs. She was real.

I had a chance to meet her

while I was here,

and we hit it off.

We became fast friends.

She was just a charming,

sweet lady.

I had a bit of a crush on her,

to be honest.

She was raw,

she was fast with a blue joke,

could drink anybody

under the table,

wasn't afraid to roll a smoke,

had a big giant laugh,

and was just a sweetheart,

you know?

You don't seem that bothered

about everything.

D'you know what I mean?

You have some artists

that step in here and go,

"Right, I want

that number-one spot."

I want my album

to go number one,

"I wanna chase up

with a second album."

But what's up with you?

I'm determined

on the next thing.

I'm not interested in...

Success, to me, is not success

to... the record company

or whoever.

Success, to me,

is having the freedom

to work with whoever

I wanna work with,

to always be able to just

f*** everything off

and go to the studio when I

have to go to the studio, or...

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