Just been reading about the honours bestowed on Amy Winehouse. I've got a bit of an idea about her lifestyle and problems but, because I work in China, I've missed a lot of news about various entertainers.

However, I'd just like to say that Winehouse sounds like she belongs in the same category as Piaf and Billie Holiday. My personal favourite of all time is Piaf and I've got nearly all her recordings, plus one or two videos, films........etc

Piaf and Billie Holiday seemed to have a quality in their voices and stage appearances that could make the hardest of their audience cry. [ Piaf, in particular had a large, sentimental following in the Parisian Underworld ]. I think, this was partly due to the voices but also because their audiences knew that both women had suffered, probably, more than they ever had. It made the sadness and pathos very authentic !

Anyway, good luck to Winehouse and I look forward to hearing her, somehow, at a later date.

A great example to kids.
As long as you can sing it dont matter that your a dirty smack head!!

A great example to kids.
As long as you can sing it dont matter that your a dirty smack head!!
If you are looking to pop music for your role models then you're pretty screwed up already.

winehouse belongs in the same category as piaf and holiday?

is this a joke?

A great example to kids.
As long as you can sing it dont matter that your a dirty smack head!!

Just like Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin...yadda yadda yadda.

Why does that have anything to do with how good a musician they are?

The Daddy makes a comment about ' kids ' and ' role models '. Well, first of all, I don't know why the emphasis on ' kids '. Our wonderful Yoof are just as likely to take the local gang leader as their role model as a pop-singer.
Also, of course, not all kids blindly follow what a popular singer does, good or bad. Did millions of teenagers start over-eating on junk food as Elvis got more and more obese ? Or did fans suddenly start boozing more because Dean Martin was a well-known lush ? Should we ban anyone well-known, with bad habits because kids MIGHT possibly follow their
example ? I would think most people are capable of enjoying an artist without slavishly copying the artist's behaviour. Obviously, there will always be dead-heads but whose going to follow them around advising them about role models ?
I said that Winehouse SEEMED to be in the same category as Piaf and Holiday on the grounds that her life at her age seems as mixed up as their lives at their age. I said that I didn't know much about her singing style or the quality of her voice. I had just read that she'd won a lot of awards in America and, not being au fait with the modern pop scene, I assumed she did have SOME qualities ? I suppose I'll have to be patient and hear her for myself sometime but I doubt if I'll start snorting coke or whatever, even if I do become a fan.
I like Wagner but I'm not too fond of the Nazis ; I like Van Gogh's paintings as well but not thinking of chopping my ear off either.

Kurt Cobain was like a god to me when I was 15, and I've never taken heroin, ever.

I do see the OP's point, I think Ms Winehouse has an incredible voice which conveys aching and loss particularly well, not as well as Piath or Holliday though. However she is still young and, providing she doesn't self destruct, who's to say in 10, 20 or even 30 years she will not be held in the same esteem?

I'd never heard of her before last week, she's not that popular in the US, although she will be now , maybe her and Britney will get together :hihi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8z4oKr_SN4

My favourite Winehouse song... she reminds me of She's out of my life Michael Jackson on this...

And perhaps NOT her best moment imitating Mikey...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vfdl7-E80Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8z4oKr_SN4
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She sounds like Peggy Lee, and someone else, have to listen to it again to think who that other someone else is.

I'd never heard of her before last week, she's not that popular in the US, although she will be now , maybe her and Britney will get together :hihi:

Now THAT would be one hell of a party!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd3oxNhfLOg

Here's last nights Grammys stuff with her on.

winehouse belongs in the same category as piaf and holiday?

is this a joke?

No, its no joke, she really does. :|

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd3oxNhfLOg

Here's last nights Grammys stuff with her on.

No sound on this one ?

No sound on this one ?

Strange i got the sound!

She sounds like Peggy Lee, and someone else, have to listen to it again to think who that other someone else is.

Ella Fitzgerald ? Sara Vaughan ? Yes, she is in their league.

Strange i got the sound!

So did I. You have to wait a while. Worth the wait. Terrific.!! Shes grown on me.

Ella Fitzgerald ? Sara Vaughan ? Yes, she is in their league.

She was suppose to be at the awards last night but the US wouldn't allow her a Visa to enter, got enough pop queen head cases already over here :hihi:

She was suppose to be at the awards last night but the US wouldn't allow her a Visa to enter, got enough pop queen head cases already over here :hihi:

Yep, shes her own worst enemy. She is of course, a singers singer.

Ella Fitzgerald ? Sara Vaughan ? Yes, she is in their league.


No I don't hear either of them in her voice, someone else, just Peggy Lee for now, other one will come to me soon.:)

No I don't hear either of them in her voice, someone else, just Peggy Lee for now, other one will come to me soon.:)

Billie Holiday ? Janis Joplin ?

Ella Fitzgerald ? Sara Vaughan ? Yes, she is in their league.
Compared to The Sugababes, Amy Winehouse is a good singer. Compared to someone like Ella Fitzgerald she isn't even close. I'd say one of the best singers of late has been Jamelia, but she isn't doing this brand of retro-soul so she doesn't get mentioned. I like Winehouse, i really do, but i don't like the hype. She's good, might even be great if she can get her act together - but she isn't amazing.

And to quote Bill Hicks.

When did mediocrity and banality become a good image for your children? I want my children to listen to people who ****ing rocked! I don't care if they died in puddles of their own vomit. I want someone who plays from his ****ing heart!

Billie Holiday ? Janis Joplin ?

I wouldn't even insult someone like Winhouse comparing her to Joplin :hihi:

I wouldn't even insult someone like Winhouse comparing her to Joplin :hihi:

I believe Peggy Lee is the nearest then.:)

I take it none of you have heard her sing live? She sounds terrible. It's all in the production I'm afraid. She's good, a little different to most female singers out at the moment, but in the same league as Piaf and Holliday? Impossible!

I believe Peggy Lee is the nearest then.:)

I was thinking about Dusty Springfield too :)

if you think this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd3oxNhfLOg

is anywhere near the same league as this...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2-sUzR71wpQ

you don't imho, deserve to own a pair of ears

if you think this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd3oxNhfLOg

is anywhere near the same league as this...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2-sUzR71wpQ

you don't imho, deserve to own a pair of ears

I think Winehouse is just singing the wrong songs, would be interesting to hear her sing one of Piaf's songs, wouldn't it ?

would be interesting to hear her sing one of Piaf's songs, wouldn't it ?

no, no, no.

if you think this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd3oxNhfLOg

is anywhere near the same league as this...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2-sUzR71wpQ

you don't imho, deserve to own a pair of ears

Couldn't agree with you more. Winehouse isn't a bad writer but her (unproduced) vocals are a weak pastiche of some of the artists mentioned earlier. True, produced she sounds great, but I'm actually a bit embarrassed for her when I see her live stuff