Events

1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.

1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.

1793 – Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.

1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.

1833 – Cornerstones are laid for the construction of the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio.

1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.

1862 – American Civil War: Henry W. Halleck takes command of the Union Army.

1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa.

1881 – The Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.

1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.

1914 – Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia will reject those demands and Austria will declare war on July 28.

1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.

1929 – The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.

1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties.

1940 – The United States' Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

1942 – The Holocaust: the Treblinka extermination camp is opened.

1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin.

1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad.

1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin.

1952 – The European Coal and Steel community is established.

1952 – General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.

1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.

1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.

1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.

1967 – 12th Street Riot: in Detroit, Michigan, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It will leave 43 killed, 342 injured and 1,400 buildings burned.

1968 – Glenville Shootout: in Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.

1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, Italy, to Lod, Israel.

1970 – Qaboos ibn Sa’id becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Sa’id ibn Taimur initiating massive reforms ;modernisation programs and end to a decade long civil war.

1972 – The United States launch ''Landsat 1'', the first Earth-resources satellite.

1974 – The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government.

1982 – The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985-86.

1983 – The Sri Lankan Civil War begins with the killing of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Terrorist group. In the subsequent riots of Black July, about 1,000 Tamils are slaughtered, some 400,000 Tamils flee to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, India and many find refuge in Europe and Canada.

1983 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.

1984 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown after nude photos of her appeared in ''Penthouse'' magazine.

1986 – In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.

1988 – General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.

1992 – A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that it is necessary to limit rights of homosexual people and non-married couples.

1992 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.

1995 – Comet Hale-Bopp is discovered; it will become visible to the naked eye nearly a year later.

1997 – Digital Equipment Company files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.

1999 – Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Al-Hassan is crowned King Mohammed VI of Morocco on the death of his father.

1999 – ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan.

2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.

Births

645 – Yazid I, Arabian Caliph (d. 683)

1301 – Otto, Duke of Austria (d. 1339)

1339 – King Louis I of Naples (d. 1384)

1503 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary, Queen consort of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1547)

1649 – Pope Clement XI (d. 1721)

1705 – Francis Blomefield, English topographer (d. 1752)

1773 – Sir Thomas Brisbane, Scottish astronomer, soldier and governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)

1775 – Etienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1812)

1777 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter (d. 1810)

1796 – Franz Berwald, Swedish composer (d. 1868)

1823 – Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian Catholic archbishop (d. 1894)

1838 – Edouard Judas Colonne, French violinist (d. 1910)

1856 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist (d. 1920)

1864 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician (d. 1903)

1865 – Max Heindel, Danish occultist and mystic (d. 1919)

1884 – Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (d. 1950)

1885 – Georges V. Matchabelli, Georgian-born American perfumer (d. 1935)

1886 – Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish diplomat (d. 1978)

1886 – Walter H. Schottky, German physicist (d. 1976)

1888 – Raymond Chandler, American novelist (d. 1959)

1892 – Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (d. 1975)

1894 – Arthur Treacher, English character actor (d. 1975)

1895 – Aileen Pringle, American actress (d. 1989)

1898 – Jacob Marschak, American economist (d. 1977)

1898 – Red Dutton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1987)

1899 – Gustav Heinemann, German politician (d. 1976)

1900 – John Babcock, Canadian World War I veteran (d. 2010)

1901 – Hank Worden, American actor and rodeo cowboy (d. 1992)

1905 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor and lecturer

1906 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)

1906 – Chandrasekhar Azad, Indian nationalist (d. 1931)

1909 – John William Finn, American WWII Medal of Honor recieptant (d. 2010)

1912 – Michael Wilding, English actor (d. 1979)

1912 – M. H. Abrams, American literary critic and writer

1913 – Michael Foot, English politician (d. 2010)

1914 – Nassos Daphnis, Greek born American painter (d.2010)

1914 – Virgil Finlay, American horror illustrator (d. 1971)

1918 – Bueno de Mesquita, Dutch comedian and actor (d. 2005)

1918 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player (d. 1999)

1920 – Amalia Rodrigues, Portuguese fado singer (d. 1999)

1921 – Calvert DeForest, American actor (d. 2007)

1923 – Luis Aloma, Cuban baseball player (d. 1997)

1923 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American writer (d. 1958)

1923 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer (d. 2001)

1924 – Gavin Lambert, British-born American screenwriter (d. 2005)

1925 – Tajuddin Ahmad, Bangladeshi politician (d. 1975)

1927 – Gérard Brach, French film director and screenwriter (d. 2006)

1928 – Hubert Selby Jr., American author (d. 2004)

1929 – Lateef Jakande, Nigerian politician

1931 – Queen Te Atairangikaahu of the New Zealand Māori (d. 2006)

1931 – Guy Fournier, French Canadian author and screenwriter

1931 – Claude Fournier, French Canadian film director and screenwriter

1933 – Bert Convy, American game show host and performer (d. 1991)

1933 – Raimund Abraham, Austrian architect (d. 2010)

1933 – Benedict Groeschel, American Roman Catholic priest

1935 – Jim Hall, American race car driver and builder

1935 – Hein Heinsen, Danish sculptor

1936 – Don Drysdale, American baseball player (d. 1993)

1936 – Anthony Kennedy, American Supreme Court Justice

1937 – Dave Webster, American football player

1938 – Juliet Anderson, American pornographic actress (d. 2010)

1938 – Ronny Cox, American actor

1938 – Götz George, German actor

1938 – Charles Harrelson, American convicted murderer; father of Woody Harrelson (d. 2007)

1938 – Bert Newton, Australian actor and television show host

1940 – Don Imus, American talk radio host

1940 – Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italian banker and economist (d. 2010)

1941 – Richie Evans, American NASCAR driver (d. 1985)

1942 – Myra Hindley, English multiple murderer (d. 2002)

1942 – Madeline Bell, American-British singer

1942 – Sallyanne Atkinson, Australian politician

1942 – Dimitris Liantinis, Greek philosopher

1943 – Randall Forsberg, American nuclear freeze advocate (d. 2007)

1943 – Tony Joe White, American singer and songwriter

1944 – Dino Danelli, drummer (Young Rascals)

1946 – Andy Mackay, oboe and saxophone player (Roxy Music)

1947 – Gardner Dozois, American science fiction writer and editor

1947 – David Essex, English singer

1947 – Torsten Palm, Swedish racing driver

1948 – John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician

1948 – John Hall, American politician and songwriter

1949 – Clive Rice, South African cricketer

1950 – Alex Kozinski, Romanian-born American judge

1950 – Blair Thornton, Canadian guitarist (Bachman–Turner Overdrive)

1950 – Alan Turner, Australian cricketer

1950 – Ian Thomas, Canadian singer-songwriter

1951 – Edie McClurg, American actress

1951 – Michael McConnohie, American voice actor

1952 – Bill Nyrop, American ice hockey player (d. 1995)

1952 – Janis Siegel, singer (Manhattan Transfer)

1952 – Paul Hibbert, Australian cricketer (d. 2008)

1953 – Graham Gooch, English cricketer

1953 – Bob Hilton, American game show host and announcer

1954 – Annie Sprinkle, American porn star and performance artist

1957 – Kate Buffery, British actress and writer

1957 – Nick Galis, Greek basketball player

1957 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (d. 2004)

1959 – Nancy Savoca, American filmmaker

1960 – Al Perez, American professional wrestler

1961 – Martin Gore, English musician and songwriter (Depeche Mode)

1961 – Woody Harrelson, American actor

1961 – André Ducharme, Québécois humorist and comedian

1961 – Michael Durant, American helicopter pilot

1962 – Eriq La Salle, American actor

1964 – Uwe Barth, German politician

1964 – Nick Menza, drummer (Megadeth))

1964 – Ed Forchion, American marijuana activist

1965 – Rob Dickinson, English guitarist, singer and songwriter (Catherine Wheel)

1965 – Slash, English-born American guitarist (Guns N' Roses)

1966 – Samantha Beckinsale, English actress

1967 – Titiyo, Swedish singer

1967 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor

1968 – Elden Campbell, American basketball player

1968 – Gary Payton, American basketball player

1968 – Stephanie Seymour, American supermodel

1969 – David Kaufman American voice-over artist and character actor

1970 – Charisma Carpenter, American actress

1970 – Sam Watters, singer, songwriter, record producer

1970 – Thea Dorn, German writer

1971 – Dalvin DeGrate, American singer

1971 – Alison Krauss, American singer and fiddler

1971 – Chris Michalek, American jazz harmonica player

1971 – Christopher Lee, Singaporean actor and model

1971 – Joel Stein, American journalist

1972 – Marlon Wayans, American actor

1972 – Floyd Reifer, West Indian cricketer

1973 – Nomar Garciaparra, American baseball player

1973 – Francis Healy, English-born Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Travis)

1973 – Monica Lewinsky, American White House intern

1973 – Himesh Reshammiya, Indian Bollywood composer, singer and actor

1973 – Andrea Scanavacca, Italian rugby player

1974 – Terry Glenn, American football player

1974 – Maurice Greene, American sprinter

1974 – Stephanie March, American actress

1974 – Sonny Siaki, Samoan professional wrestler

1974 – Rik Verbrugghe, Belgian cyclist

1974 – Kathryn Hahn, American actress

1975 – Seong Hyeon-ah, South Korean actress

1975 – Surya Sivakumar, Indian Tamil actor

1976 – Judit Polgár, Hungarian chess player

1976 – Jonathan Gallant, Canadian bassist (Billy Talent)

1977 – Scott Clemmensen, American ice hockey player

1977 – Neicer Reasco, Ecuadorian footballer

1977 – Shawn Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player

1978 – Stuart Elliott, Northern Irish footballer

1978 – Marianela González, Venezuelan actress

1978 – Stefanie Sun, Singaporean singer

1979 – Perro Aguayo, Jr., Mexican professional wrestler

1979 – Richard Sims, Zimbabwean cricketer

1979 – Ricardo Sperafico, Brazilian racing driver

1979 – Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Greek footballer

1980 – Michelle Williams, American singer (Destiny's Child)

1981 – Steve Jocz, Canadian drummer (Sum 41)

1981 – Jarkko Nieminen, Finnish tennis player

1982 – Zanjoe Marudo, Filipino actor

1982 – Gerald Wallace, American basketball player

1982 – Paul Wesley, American actor

1983 – Andrew Eiden, American actor

1983 – Bec Hewitt, Australian actress

1983 – Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer

1983 – David Strettle, English rugby player

1984 – Matthew Murphy, English musician and singer (The Wombats)

1984 – Brandon Roy, American professional basketball player

1985 – Matthew Colin Bailey, American designer

1985 – Blake Harrison, English actor

1985 – Ólafur Hannesson, Icelandic television personality

1985 – Luis Ángel Landín, Mexican footballer

1986 – Ayaka Komatsu, Japanese model and actress

1986 – Nelson Philippe, French racing driver

1986 – Reece Ritchie, English actor

1986 – Natalie Tran, Vietnamese-Australian YouTube video blogger

1989 – Daniel Radcliffe, English actor

1989 – Katy B, English singer-songwriter

1990 – Kevin Reynolds, Canadian figure skater

1992 – Amanda Wilson, English singer

1996 – Rachel G. Fox, American actress

Deaths

1227 – Qiu Chuji, Chinese founder of the Dragon Gate Taoism (b. 1148)

1373 – Bridget of Sweden, Swedish mystic and saint, founder of the Bridgettine Order (b. 1303)

1403 – Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, English rebel (executed) (b. 1343)

1531 – Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, French nobleman, Marshal of Normandy and husband of Diane de Poitiers (birth year unknown)

1536 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, bastard son of King Henry VIII of England (b. 1519)

1562 – Gotz von Berlichingen, German Imperial Knight and mercenary (b. 1480)

1584 – John Day, English printer (b. 1522)

1692 – Gilles Ménage, French scholar (b. 1613)

1727 – Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. c. 1661)

1757 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (b. 1685)

1764 – Gilbert Tennent, Irish-born American religious leader (b. 1703)

1773 – George Edwards, English naturalist (b. 1693)

1781 – John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-born American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)

1793 – Roger Sherman, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1721)

1833 – Anselmo de la Cruz, Chilean political figure (b. 1777)

1853 – Andries Pretorius, South African Boer leader (b. 1798)

1875 – Isaac Singer, American inventor and entrepreneur (b. 1811)

1878 – Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian physician (b. 1804)

1885 – Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822)

1916 – Sir William Ramsay, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)

1919 – Spyridon Lambros, Greek history professor and Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1851)

1920 – Conrad Kohrs, German-born American rancher (b. 1835)

1923 – Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1878)

1924 – Frank Frost Abbott, American classical scholar (b. 1850)

1930 – Glenn Curtiss, American aviation pioneer (b. 1878)

1932 – Tenby Davies, Welsh half-mile world champion runner (b. 1884)

1941 – George Lyman Kittredge, American English literature scholar and Harvard University professor (b. 1860)

1942 – Adam Czerniakow, Polish engineer (suicide) (b. 1880)

1942 – Andy Ducat, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886)

1948 – D. W. Griffith, American film director (b. 1875)

1951 – Robert J. Flaherty, American filmmaker (b. 1884)

1951 – Henri Philippe Pétain, French leader of Vichy France (b. 1856)

1955 – Cordell Hull, 47th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)

1966 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)

1968 – Henry Hallett Dale, English pharmacologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1875)

1971 – Van Heflin, American actor (b. 1910)

1973 – Eddie Rickenbacker, American fighter ace in World War I and founder of Rickenbacker Motors (b. 1890)

1979 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and novelist (b. 1898)

1980 – Sarto Fournier, Canadian politician, Mayor of Montreal (b. 1908)

1980 – Keith Godchaux, American pianist (Grateful Dead) (b. 1948)

1980 – Mollie Steimer, Russian-born American anarchist agitator and political prisoner (b. 1897)

1982 – Giorgos Gavriilidis, Greek actor (b. 1906)

1982 – Vic Morrow, American actor (b. 1929)

1983 – Georges Auric, French composer (b. 1899)

1985 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (b. 1923)

1989 – Donald Barthelme, American short fiction writer and reporter (b. 1931)

1990 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese developer of television (b. 1899)

1993 – James R. Jordan, Sr., American soldier and murder victim, father of Michael Jordan (b. 1936)

1996 – Jean Muir, American actress (b. 1911)

1996 – Aliki Vougiouklaki, Greek actress (b. 1934)

1997 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese long and triple jumper (b. 1904)

1999 – King Hassan II of Morocco (b. 1929)

2001 – Eudora Welty, American writer (b. 1909)

2002 – Leo McKern, Australian actor (b. 1920)

2002 – William Luther Pierce, American white nationalist and novelist (b. 1933)

2002 – Chaim Potok, American novelist and rabbi (b. 1929)

2003 – James E. Davis, New York City police officer and councilman (murdered) (b. 1962)

2003 – Yvonne Sanson, Greek actress (b. 1926)

2004 – Mehmood, Indian actor (b. 1932)

2004 – Carlos Paredes, Portuguese guitarist and composer (b. 1925)

2004 – Piero Piccioni, Italian pianist, organist, conductor and composer (b. 1921)

2004 – Serge Reggiani, French singer and actor (b. 1922)

2005 – Ted Greene, American jazz guitarist and teacher (b. 1946)

2006 – Jean-Paul Desbiens, Quebec writer and journalist (b. 1927)

2007 – Tor Kamata, American-Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1937)

2007 – Ron Miller, American songwriter and record producer (b. 1933)

2007 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan (b. 1914)

2008 – Kurt Furgler, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1924)

2010 – Daniel Schorr, American journalist (b. 1916)

2011 – Amy Winehouse, British singer songwriter (b. 1983)

Holidays and observances

Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari movement)

Christian Feast Day:

* Bridget of Sweden

* Heiromartyr Phocas (Eastern Orthodox)

* Liborius of Le Mans

* July 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Neptunalia, in honor of Neptune. (Roman Empire)

Renaissance Day (Oman)

Revolution Day (Egypt)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

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Category:Days of the year Category:July

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name	Dixie Carter
birth date	May 25, 1939
birth place	McLemoresville, Tennessee, U.S.
birth name	Dixie Virginia Carter
death date	April 10, 2010
death place	Houston, Texas, U.S.
occupation	Actress
years active	1960–2010
spouse	(divorced; 2 daughters) (divorced) (her death)
website	http://www.dixiecarter.com}}

Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American film, television and stage actress, best-known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom '' Designing Women'' (1986–1993). She is also known for her roles as Randi King on the CBS legal drama ''Family Law'' (1999-2002) and as Gloria Hodge on the ABC series ''Desperate Housewives'' (2006-2007).

Early life

Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee, and spent many of her early years in Memphis. She attended college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). She was a graduate of Memphis State (now University of Memphis) with a degree in English.

At school, she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1959, Carter competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up to Mickie Weyland. Ms. Carter won the Miss Volunteer beauty pageant at the University of Tennessee in the same year 1959.

Career

In 1960, Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of ''Carousel''. She moved to New York City in 1963 and got a part in a production of Shakespeare's ''The Winter's Tale''.

After an eight-year hiatus from acting, she returned to the craft in 1974, when she filled in for actress Nancy Pinkerton as Dorian Cramer on ''One Life to Live'', while Pinkerton was on maternity leave. She subsequently was cast in the role of Assistant D.A. Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson on the soap opera ''The Edge of Night'', on which she appeared from 1974 to 1976. (She went along with the show when it switched from CBS to ABC.) Carter took the role even though some advised her that doing a daytime soap might negatively affect her career. However, it was with this role that Carter was first noticed, and after leaving ''Edge of Night'' in 1976, she relocated from New York to Los Angeles and pursued prime-time television roles.

She appeared in series such as ''Out of the Blue'', ''On Our Own'', ''Diff'rent Strokes'', The Greatest American Hero (playing a KGB spy), and ''Filthy Rich'' (1982). Carter's appearance in ''Filthy Rich'' paved the way for her best-known role, that of interior decorator Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980s/1990s television program ''Designing Women'', set in Atlanta, Georgia. ''Filthy Rich'' had been created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who went on to create ''Designing Women''. (''Filthy Rich'' also featured future ''Designing Women'' cast member Delta Burke in its cast.) Hal Holbrook, her real-life husband, had a recurring role as Reese Watson, and Carter's daughters, Ginna and Mary Dixie, also had guest-star roles as Julia Sugarbaker's nieces, Jennifer and Camilla.

Coincidentally, actress Mary Ann Mobley who replaced Dixie as Maggie on ''Diff'rent Strokes'', guest starred on Designing Women, as Karen, a snide head of a historical society who put Julia's home on a tour of homes, and ended up angering Julia.

Famous for portraying strong-minded Southern women, Carter provided the voice of Necile in Mike Young Productions' direct-to-video 2000 cartoon feature ''The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus''. She was also in the voice cast of My Neighbors the Yamadas, the English-language dub of Studio Ghibli's 1999 anime movie ''My Neighbors the Yamadas''.

From 1999 to 2002, she portrayed Randi King on the legal drama ''Family Law'', portraying a lawyer for the first time since she was Brandy Henderson on ''The Edge of Night''. In 2004, she made a guest appearance on ''Law and Order: SVU'', playing a defense attorney named Denise Brockmorton in the episode called ''Home'', in which she defended the paranoid mother of two children (Diane Venora) who had manipulated her older son to kill the younger son, after breaking her home rules.

Carter starred in several Broadway musicals and plays. She appeared on and off-Broadway as well, playing the role of Melba Snyder in the 1976 Circle in the Square revival of ''Pal Joey'' and diva Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's ''Master Class'', a role created by Zoe Caldwell.

In 2006–07 Carter found renewed fame with a new generation of fans as the disturbed Gloria Hodge on ''Desperate Housewives'', earning an Emmy nomination for her work on the series. ''Desperate Housewives'' creator Marc Cherry started out in Hollywood as Carter's assistant on the set of ''Designing Women''. She was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for ''Desperate Housewives'' in 2007.

Carter gave an interview in 2006 for the feature length documentary, ''That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor'', which received support from Taylor's family and many of Dub's previous co-workers, including Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Don Collier, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett and many others. The project was scheduled to have its World Premiere at Taylor's childhood hometown of Augusta, Georgia on April 14, 2007.

Her final film was ''That Evening Sun'', which she filmed on site with her husband Hal Holbrook in East Tennessee in the summer of 2008. The film was produced by Dogwood Entertainment (a subsidiary of DoubleJay Creative) and is based on a short story by William Gay. ''That Evening Sun'' premiered at South By Southwest, where it competed for the narrative feature grand jury prize.

Personal life

In 1967, Carter married businessman Arthur Carter (no prior relation). They had two daughters (who would later appear in an episode of ''Designing Women''), Mary Dixie and Ginna. Following the birth of her daughters, Carter left acting for eight years to focus on raising her children.

She divorced Arthur Carter in 1977, and married Broadway and TV actor George Hearn the same year. Two years later, in 1979, she divorced Hearn. She married for the third time on May 27, 1984, to Hal Holbrook (14 years her senior), who is most noted for his appearances as Mark Twain. Carter renovated her old family home in McLemoresville. She and Holbrook divided their time between their homes in Beverly Hills, California, and McLemoresville, Tennessee, where Carter's elderly father, Halbert, resided until his death in early 2007, at age 96.

In 1996, Carter published a memoir titled ''Trying to Get to Heaven'', in which she talked frankly about her life with Hal Holbrook, ''Designing Women'', and her plastic surgery during the show's run. She acknowledged, along with other celebrities, having used HGH (Human Growth Hormone) for its anti-aging properties.

Political views

Carter was also a registered Republican who described her political views as libertarian. She was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly along with Pat Boone at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Although her ''Designing Women'' character, Julia Sugarbaker, was known for her liberal political views and subsequent monologues, Carter disagreed with many of her character's left-of-center commentaries, and made a deal with the producers that for every speech she had to make, with which she disagreed, Julia would get to sing a song in a future episode. Carter once jokingly described herself as "the only Republican in show business". She was also a strong supporter of the gay community.

Death and legacy

Carter died on April 10, 2010, in Houston, Texas. Her death was announced by her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, who stated the cause as complications from endometrial cancer which was diagnosed earlier in 2010. In addition to Holbrook, she is survived by her daughters from her first marriage: Ginna Carter (of Los Angeles) and Mary Dixie Carter (of Brooklyn) as well as a sister, Melba Helen Heath (of San Anselmo, California) and several nephews and nieces. In addition to family, her funeral, held on April 15, 2010, was attended by ''Designing Women'' co-stars Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. Dixie Carter was interred in her hometown, McLemoresville, Tennessee.

The Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center (informally called "The Dixie") in Huntingdon, Tennessee is named in honor of Carter.

A public service announcement made by Carter in 2003 describing and offering outreach to sufferers of Spasmodic Torticollis / Cervical Dystonia began appearing in New York and New Jersey, and then across the United States in 2010.

Filmography

! Year !! Title !! Role !! Other notes
late 1970s
1974-1976	''The Edge of Night''	A.D.A Olivia Brandeis Henderson
1977	''The Andros Targets''	Rita	1 episode " The Killing of a Porno Queen"
1977-1978		April Baxter	22 episodes
1979		Marion Richards	12 episodes
1980		Nora Wing
1981	''The Killing of Randy Webster''	Billie Webster
	''Cassie & Co.''	Evelyn Weller	1 episode "The Golden Silence"
''Bret Maverick''	Hallie McCulloch	1 episode "Hallie"
''Best of the West''	Mae Markham	1 episode "The Pretty Prisoner"
''Quincy, M.E.''	Dr. Alicia Ranier	1 episode "The Face of Fear"
''The Greatest American Hero''	Samantha O'Neill	1 episode " Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell"
	Jessica Lindner	1 episode "Suspect"
1982-1983		Carlotta Beck	15 episodes
1983	''Going Berserk''	Angela
1984-1985	''Diff'rent Strokes''	Maggie McKinney	28 episodes
1986			1 episode "Fox on the Range"
1986-1993	''Designing Women''	Julia Sugarbaker	163 episodes
		Louise Archer
	Lillie Langtry
	Julia Huddleston	1 episode "The Sweetest Gift"
	''Dazzle''	Lydie Kilkullen
''Diagnosis: Murder''	D.A. Patricia Purcell	1 episode "Murder in the Courthouse"
1996	''Gone in the Night''	Ann Dowaliby
1997		Rita	2 episodes "The Mother of All Gwens" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Turkey"
1999-2000		Peaches	9 episodes
1999-2002		Randi King	68 episodes
1999	''My Neighbors the Yamadas''		voice: English version
2000	''The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus''	Necile	voice
2001	''The Big Day''	Carol
2003		Frederica
			TV pilot
''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''	Denise Brockmorton	1 episode "Home"
2005	''Hope & Faith''	Joyce Shanowski	1 episode " A Room of One's Own"
2006-2007	''Desperate Housewives''		7 episodes
2008	''Our First Christmas''	Evie Baer
2009		Ellen Meecham

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Award	! Category	! Series or Play	! Result
1976	Theatre World Award	Outstanding Actress	''Jesse and the Bandit Queen''
1979	Drama Desk Award	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play	''Fathers and Sons''
1989	''Los Angeles Women in Film Festival''	Excellence in TV Episodic Comedy	''Designing Women''
2007	Emmy Awards		'Desperate Housewives''
2009	SXSW Film Festival	Best Ensemble Cast

References

External links

Official site

Category:1939 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Actors from Tennessee Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American libertarians Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American soap opera actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Cabaret singers Category:California Republicans Category:Cancer deaths in Texas Category:Deaths from uterine cancer Category:University of Memphis alumni

da:Dixie Carter de:Dixie Carter fr:Dixie Carter hr:Dixie Carter it:Dixie Carter pl:Dixie Carter pt:Dixie Carter ro:Dixie Carter ru:Картер, Дикси simple:Dixie Carter fi:Dixie Carter tl:Dixie Carter

name	Esperanza Spalding
background	solo_singer
born	October 18, 1984Portland, Oregon, U.S.
genre	Jazz, jazz fusion, bossa nova, neo soul
occupation	Musician, composer, educator, bandleader
instrument	Vocals, upright bass, bass guitar, violin, oboe, clarinet
years active	2000-present
associated acts	Stanley Clarke, Patti Austin, Noise for Pretend
label	Heads Up International, Hush, Merge
website	}}

Esperanza Spalding (born October 18, 1984) is an American multi-instrumentalist best known as a jazz bassist and singer, who draws upon many genres in her own compositions. In 2011, she won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 53rd Grammy Awards, making her the first jazz artist to win the award.

Early life and early education

Spalding grew up in the King neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, a neighborhood she describes as "ghetto" and "pretty scary". Her mother raised her and her brother as a single parent.

Spalding has a diverse ethnic background. She notes, "My mom is Welsh, Hispanic, and Native American, and my father is black." She also has an interest in the music of other cultures, including that of Brazil, commenting, "With Portuguese songs the phrasing of the melody is intrinsically linked with the language, and it’s beautiful".

Her mother shares Spalding's interest in music, having nearly become a touring singer herself. But while Spalding cites her mother as a powerful influence who encouraged her musical expansion, she attributes her inspiration for pursuing a life in music to watching classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform on an episode of ''Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood'' when she was four.

By the time Spalding was five, she had taught herself to play the violin and was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. Spalding stayed with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon until she was fifteen and left as concertmaster. Due to a lengthy illness when she was child, Spalding spent much of her elementary school years being homeschooled, but also attended King Elementary School in Northeast Portland. During this time she also found the opportunity to pick up instruction in music by listening to her mother's college teacher instruct her mother in guitar. According to Spalding, when she was about 8 her mother briefly studied jazz guitar in college; Spalding says, "Going with her to her class, I would sit under the piano. Then I would come home and I would be playing her stuff that her teacher had been playing." Spalding also played oboe and clarinet before discovering the bass in high school. She is able to sing in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Discovering the bass

Spalding had intended to play cello, but discovered the bass during a one-year stint at age 14 at the prestigious performing arts high school, The Northwest Academy, to which she had won a scholarship. The school was not a good fit, but the bass was. Spalding found high school "easy – and boring" and dropped out. When asked in 2008 why she plays the bass instead of some other instrument, Spalding said that it wasn't a choice, but the bass "had its own arc" and resonated with her. Spalding says that for her discovering the bass was like "waking up one day and realizing you’re in love with a co-worker". By the time she randomly picked up the bass in music class and began experimenting with it, she had grown bored with her other instruments. Her band teacher showed her a blues line for the bass which she later used to secure her first gig. After that, she went in to play the bass daily and gradually fell in love.

When she was 15 or 16 years old, Spalding started writing lyrics for music for the local indie rock/pop group Noise for Pretend, touching on any topic that came to mind. Although she had taken a few private voice lessons which taught her how to protect her voice, her primary singing experience had come from "singing in the shower", she said, before she started performing vocals for Noise for Pretend. Her desire to perform live evolved naturally out of the compositional process, when she would sing and play simultaneously to see how melody and voice fit together, but she acknowledges that performing both roles can be challenging. In a 2008 interview, she said, "[W]hat can be difficult is being a singer, in the sense that you are engaged with the audience, and really responsible for emoting, and getting into the lyrics, melody, etc and being an effective bassist/band leader."

Education and career

Spalding left high school at 16 and, after completing her GED, enrolled on a music scholarship in the music program at Portland State University, where she remembers being "the youngest bass player in the program." Although she lacked the training of her fellow students, she feels that her teachers nevertheless recognized her talent. She decided to instead apply to Berklee College of Music on the encouragement of her bass teacher, and did well enough in her audition to receive a full scholarship. In spite of the scholarship, Spalding found it a challenge meeting living expenses, so her friends arranged a benefit concert that paid her airfare and a little extra.

Spalding's savings did not last long. Broke and exhausted, she considered leaving music and entering political science, a move jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny discouraged, telling Spalding she had "the 'X Factor'" and could make it if she applied herself. During her time at Berklee, her primary bass instructor was John Lockwood.

Touring

Spalding had begun performing live in clubs in Portland, Oregon as a teenager, securing her first gig at 15 in a blues club when she could only play one line on bass. One of the seasoned musicians with which she played that first night invited her to join the band's rehearsals "so she could actually learn something", and her rehearsals soon grew into regular performances spanning almost a year. According to Spalding, it was a chance for her to stretch as a musician, reaching and growing beyond her experience. Her early contact with these "phenomenal resources", as she calls the musicians who played with her, fostered her sense of rhythm and helped nurture her interest in her instrument.

Patti Austin hired Spalding to tour with her internationally after Spalding's first semester at Berklee, where Spalding supported the singer on the Ella Fitzgerald tribute tour "For Ella". In 2008, Spalding recalled the tour as educational, helping her learn to accompany a vocalist and also how to sustain energy and interest playing the same material nightly. She continued to perform with Austin periodically for three years. During the same period, while at Berklee, Spalding studied under saxophonist Joe Lovano before eventually touring with him. They began as a trio, expanding into a quartet before joining quintet US5 and traveling across the United States from New York to California.

She does not consider herself a musical prodigy. "I am surrounded by prodigies everywhere I go, but because they are a little older than me, or not a female, or not on a major label, they are not acknowledged as such," says Spalding.

Teaching

Spalding was the 2005 recipient of the Boston Jazz Society scholarship for outstanding musicianship. Almost immediately after graduation from college later the same year, Spalding was hired by Berklee College of Music, becoming one of the youngest professors in the institution's history, at age 20. As a teacher, Spalding tries to help her students focus their practice through a practice journal which can help them recognize their strengths and what they need to pursue. As of 2008, she was also in the process of developing several courses for students at Berklee, including one that focuses "on transcribing as a tool for learning harmony and theory". Since that time, Spalding currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Solo records and collaborations

Spalding has recorded three albums ''Junjo'' (2006), ''Esperanza'' (2008) and ''Chamber Music Society'' (2010). The first was created to display the dynamic that she felt among her trio. Though ''Junjo'' was released solely under her name, Spalding considers it "a collaborative effort." With ''Esperanza'', Spalding's material was meant to be more reflective of herself as an artist, with musicians selected to best present that material. Ed Morales wrote in PopMatters on June 23, 2008 that ''Esperanza'' is "a sprawling collage of jazz fusion, Brazilian and even a touch of hip-hop." Siddhartha Mitter wrote in ''The Boston Globe'' on May 23, 2008 that "the big change" in ''Esperanza'' "is the singing..... This makes [''Esperanza''] a much more accessible album, and in some ways more conventional." In ''Chamber Music Society'', inspiration from her earlier days as a concertmaster is apparent in her fusion of three-piece string ensemble with piano, keyboards, drums and percussion. As Patrick Jarenwattananon wrote for NPR Music, "the finished product certainly exudes a level of sophisticated intimacy, as if best experienced with a small gathering in a quiet, wood-paneled room."

In addition to these albums, Spalding has collaborated with Fourplay, Stanley Clarke, Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, Joe Lovano, Niño Josele, Nando Michelin, and Theresa Perez.

Her next project, scheduled for release in late 2011, is an album currently titled ''Radio Music Society'', which she hopes will showcase jazz musicians in an accessible manner suitable for mainstream radio. She plans to record ''Radio Music Society'' in May. With ''Radio Music Society'', she hopes to incorporate her own musical compositions with covers of such artists as the Beach Boys and Wayne Shorter. She also plans to record an album with Milton Nascimento in the future. In February 2011, she released a vinyl version of her ''Chamber Music Society'' album which included a bonus track titled "Morning" that will be included on her new ''Radio Music Society'' album.

Critical reception

Gary Burton, Executive Vice President at Berklee, said in 2004 that Spalding had "a great time feel, she can confidently read the most complicated compositions, and she communicates her upbeat personality in everything she plays." Ben Ratliff wrote in ''The New York Times'' on July 9, 2006 that Spaldings voice is "light and high, up in Blossom Dearie's pitch range, and she can sing quietly, almost in a daydream" and that Spalding "invents her own feminine space, a different sound from top to bottom."

Ratliff wrote in ''The New York Times'' again, two years later, on May 26, 2008 that one of Spalding's central gifts is "a light, fizzy, optimistic drive that's in her melodic bass playing and her elastic, small-voiced singing" but that "the music is missing a crucial measure of modesty." He added, "It's an attempt at bringing this crisscrossing [of Stevie Wonder and Wayne Shorter] to a new level of definition and power, but its vamps and grooves are a little obvious, and it pushes her first as a singer-songwriter, which isn't her primary strength." Pat Metheny said in 2008 it was immediately obvious "that she had a lot to say and was also unlike any musician I had ever run across before. Her unique quality is something that goes beyond her pretty amazing musical skills; She has that rare 'x' factor of being able to transmit a certain personal kind of vision and energy that is all her own."

Andrés Quinteros wrote in the Argentinian periodical, ''26Noticias'' on October 28, 2008 that Spalding is one of the greatest new talents on the jazz scene today.

In February 2011, at the 53rd Grammy Awards, Spalding won the "Best New Artist" award.

Influences and attitude toward music and jazz

Spalding cites jazz bassists Ron Carter and Dave Holland as important influences on her music; Carter for the "orchestration" of his playing and Holland for the way his compositional method complements his personal style. She has described the saxophone player Wayne Shorter, and singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento, as heroes. She has also noted her preference for the music of Brazil.

Spalding says she loves fusion music and was influenced by a "wonderful arc that started 40 years ago where people kept incorporating modern sounds into their music." She has expressed concerns that jazz has wandered from its roots, suggesting that jazz has lost its street value and its relevance to "the Black experience to the Black Diaspora and beyond" now that has been co-opted by the "seasoned 'art' community." She notes that in its early days, jazz was "popular dance music" and "the music of young people who considered themselves awfully hip", and believes "hip-hop, or neo-soul ... is our 'jazz' now as far as the role these genres play in the music genre lineage...."

Spalding, who has expressed a desire to be judged for her musicianship rather than her sex appeal, believes that female musicians must take responsibility to avoid oversexualizing themselves. and that in order to write original music, one must read and stay informed about the world. She has said she models her career on those of Madonna and Ornette Coleman.

Performances

Some of Spalding's high-profile performances include: ;2009 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and Concert On December 10, at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies, Spalding performed at Oslo City Hall in honor of the 2009 Laureate President Barack Obama and again at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert the following day. She was personally selected by Obama, as per the tradition of one laureate-invited-artist to perform.

;2009 Park City Jazz Festival Spalding also was the featured final act for the opening night of the 2009 Park City Jazz Festival in Park City, Utah, one of the top jazz festivals in the country. She closed the show with a number along with bass artists Brian Bromberg and Sean O'Bryan Smith, who also performed earlier that day.

;2010 BET Awards As a tribute to Prince, Spalding was invited to sing along with Patti LaBelle, Alicia Keys, and Janelle Monáe. Spalding performed the 1987 hit single "If I Was Your Girlfriend."

;2010 Austin City Limits (PBS-TV) On February 7, 2010, Spalding became the most searched person and second most searched item on Google as a result of her appearance the previous evening on the PBS television program ''Austin City Limits''.

;2011 Roots Picnic On June 4, 2011, Spalding performed at The Roots Picnic in Philadelphia, sharing the stage with The Roots, Nas and Wiz Khalifa.

Discography

Solo albums

!Original release date	!Album	!Label
April 18, 2006	''Junjo''	Ayva Music
May 20, 2008		Heads Up International
August 17, 2010	''Chamber Music Society''	Heads Up International

Notes

With Noise for Pretend

!Original release date	!Album	!Label
October 30, 2001	''Blanket Music/Noise For Pretend''	Hush Records
July 2, 2002	''Happy You Near''	Hush Records

With Stanley Clarke

!Original release date	!Album	!Label
October 16, 2007	''The Toys of Men''	Heads Up International

With Nando Michelin

!Original release date	!Album	!Label
November 21, 2006	''Duende''	Fresh Sound New Talent
January 4, 2010	''Reencontro''	Blue Music Group

With M. Ward

!Original release date	!Album	!Label
March 18, 2003	''Transfiguration of Vincent''	Merge Records

With Mike Stern

!Original release date	!Album	!Label
August 11, 2009	''Big Neighborhood''	Heads Up International

References

Further reading

Murphy, Sarah, "Student Profile: Esperanza Spalding", Berklee College of Music, April 2004

External links

Official website

Esperanza Spalding interview for OnTheGig.com

Esperanza Spalding interview for allaboutjazz.com

Who is Esperanza Spalding and how did she beat Justin Bieber? - includes interview for Billboard.com (2011).

VIDEO: Esperanza Spalding Performance and Interview at The Roots Pinic (2011)

Category:1984 births Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz double-bassists Category:American jazz singers Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Berklee College of Music faculty Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Portland, Oregon Category:Women in jazz

de:Esperanza Spalding es:Esperanza Spalding fr:Esperanza Spalding it:Esperanza Spalding nl:Esperanza Spalding ja:エスペランサ・スポルディング pl:Esperanza Spalding pt:Esperanza Spalding ru:Сполдинг, Эсперанса sv:Esperanza Spalding

name	Amy Winehouse
alt	Amy Winehouse at the Eurockéennes festival in France (2007)
background	solo_singer
birth name	Amy Jade Winehouse
birth date	September 14, 1983
birth place	Southgate, London, UK
death date	July 23, 2011
death place	Camden, London, UK
genre	Soul, R&B;, jazz, blues
instrument	Vocals, guitar, drums
occupation	Singer, songwriter, composer, arranger
years active	1993–2011
label	Island, Lioness, Universal Republic (U.S.)
associated acts	Dionne Bromfield, Mark Ronson, Tony Bennett, Nas, Zalon, Heshima, Paul Weller, The Rolling Stones, Lily Allen
website	}}

Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B;, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, ''Frank'', was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, ''Back to Black'', led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the then record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

In 2007 she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album. She won the Ivor Novello Award three times: once in 2004 for Best Contemporary Song (musically and lyrically) for "Stronger Than Me", once in 2007 for Best Contemporary Song for "Rehab", and once in 2008 for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Love Is a Losing Game".

Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011. Her album ''Back to Black'' subsequently became the UK's best selling album of the 21st century thus far.

Early life

Amy Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of North London to a Jewish family, with some Russian ancestry on her mother's side who also influenced her interest in jazz. Her father Mitchell "Mitch" Winehouse, a taxi driver, her mother Janis Winehouse, a pharmacist, and her grandmother, Cynthia, are who we credit for raising her and her older brother, Alex, who was four years old upon her birth.

Mitch often sang Frank Sinatra songs to young Amy, who also took to a constant habit of singing to the point that teachers found it difficult keeping her quiet in class. Winehouse's parents separated when she was nine.

When Winehouse was nine years old, Cynthia, her grandmother and once engaged to Ronnie Scott, suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School for furthering her vocal education. She attended the Earnshaw school for four years and founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour with Juliette Ashby, her childhood friend before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School; however, Winehouse was allegedly expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and also for piercing her nose. (Sylvia Young herself has denied this – "She changed schools at 15 – I've heard it said she was expelled; she wasn't. I'd never have expelled Amy.") She also appeared in an episode of ''The Fast Show'', 1997, with other children from the Sylvia Young School and later attended The Mount School, Mill Hill, the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon, Southgate School and then Ashmole School.

Music career

Early career

After toying around with her brother Alex's guitar, Winehouse received her first guitar when she was 13 and began writing music a year later. Soon after, she began working for a living, including, at one time, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network, in addition to singing with local group the Bolsha Band. In July 2000 she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; her influences were to include Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Her boyfriend at the time, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R; person. Her future A&R; representative at Island/Universal, Darcus Beese, heard of her by accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say. Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was. However, Winehouse had already recorded a number of songs and signed a publishing deal with EMI by this time. Incidentally, she formed a working relationship with producer Salaam Remi through these record publishers.

Beese introduced Winehouse to his boss, Nick Gatfield, and the Island head shared his enthusiasm in signing the young artist. Winehouse was signed to Island/Universal, as rival interest in Winehouse had started to build to include representatives of EMI and Virgin starting to make moves. Beese told ''HitQuarters'' that he felt the reason behind the excitement, over an artist who was an atypical pop star for the time, was due to a backlash against reality TV music shows, which included audiences starved for fresh, genuine young talent.

Winehouse's greatest love was 1960s girl groups. Her stylist, Alex Foden, borrowed her "instantly recognisable" beehive hairdo (a weave) and she borrowed her Cleopatra makeup from The Ronettes. Her imitation was so successful, as the ''Village Voice'' reports: "Ronnie Spector—who, it could be argued, all but invented Winehouse's style in the first place when she took the stage at the Brooklyn Fox Theater with her fellow Ronettes more than 40 years ago—was so taken aback at a picture of Winehouse in the ''New York Post'' that she exclaimed, "I don't know her, I never met her, and when I saw that pic, I thought, 'That's me!' But then I found out, no, it's Amy! I didn't have on my glasses."

New York Times reporter, Guy Trebay, discussed the multiplicity of influences on Winehouse's style. Trebay noted: "her stylish husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, may have influenced her look." Additionally, Trebay observes: :She was a 5-foot-3 almanac of visual reference, most famously to Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes, but also to the white British soul singer Mari Wilson, less famous for her sound than her beehive; to the punk god Johnny Thunders...; to the fierce council-house chicks... (see: Dior and Chanel runways, 2007 and 2008); to the rat-combed biker molls photographed by the Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger in the 1960s; to a lineage of bad girls, extending from Cleopatra to Louise Brooks’s Lulu and including Salt-n-Pepa, to irresistible man traps that always seemed to come to the same unfortunate end.

Major label success and ''Frank''

Winehouse's debut album, ''Frank'', was released on 20 October 2003. Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz and, apart from two covers, every song was co-written by Winehouse. The album received positive reviews with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics and brought comparisons of her voice to Sarah Vaughan, Macy Gray and others.

The album entered the upper levels of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for BRIT Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act". It went on to achieve platinum sales. Later in 2004 she won the Ivor Novello (songwriting) Award for Best Contemporary Song, alongside Salaam Remi, with her contribution to the first single, "Stronger Than Me". The album also made the short list for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year she performed at the Glastonbury Festival, the V Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival (7 July 2004, at the Club Soda), and on the Jazzworld stage. After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because of the inclusion by her record label of certain songs and mixes she disliked. Additional singles from the album were "Take the Box", "In My Bed"/"You Sent Me Flying" and "Pumps"/"Help Yourself".

International success and ''Back to Black''

In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings to back her up in the studio and on tour. In May 2006 Winehouse's demonstration tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album. The 11-track album was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work. Promotion of ''Back to Black'' soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs. ''Back to Black'' was released in the UK on 30 October 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart numerous times, and entered at number seven on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the US. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the course of the year.

The album spawned a number of singles. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab". The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US. ''Time'' magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality. Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good", was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black", was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own", "Love Is a Losing Game" and "Just Friends" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.

A deluxe edition of ''Back to Black'' was also released on 5 November 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as "Valerie". Winehouse's debut DVD ''I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London'' was released the same day in the UK and 13 November in the US. It includes a live set recorded at London's Shepherds Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer's career over the previous four years. ''Frank'' was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart.

In addition to her own album she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album ''Version''. The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. The song was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single". Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby", was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's solo debut album, ''Real Girl''.

Continued success and acclaim

By year's end Winehouse had garnered numerous accolades and awards. The singer won 2008 Grammy Awards in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab", while her album ''Back to Black'' was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Best Pop Vocal Album award. Producer Mark Ronson's work with her won the award in the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category. The singer also earned a Grammy in the Best New Artist category. This earned Winehouse an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. She performed "You Know I’m No Good" and "Rehab" at the awards ceremony via satellite, as her visa approval came through too late for her to travel to the US. She said "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down", in reference to the Camden Market fire. After the Grammy Awards, the album's sales increased catapulting ''Back to Black'' to number two on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 after initially peaking at number seven. On 13 January 2008, ''Back to Black'' held the number one position on the ''Billboard'' Pan European charts for the third straight week. In January 2008 Universal Music International said it believed that there was a correlation between number of albums sold and the extensive media coverage the singer had received.

thumb|left|Performing at Eurockéennes in Belfort, Territoire de Belfort, France on 29 June 2007 A special deluxe edition of ''Back to Black'' topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. The original edition of the album resided at the number 30 position, in its 68th week on the charts, while "Frank" charted at number 35. By 12 March the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies, 318,350 of those in the previous 10 weeks, putting the album on the UK's top 10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time. On 7 April, ''Back to Black'' was residing at the top position on the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. ''Back to Black'' was the world's seventh biggest selling album for 2008. These sales helped keep Universal Music's recorded music division from dropping to levels experienced by the overall music market.

At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards, Winehouse became the first artist to receive two nominations for the top award, best song, musically and lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good". "Rehab", a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was nominated for a MTV Europe Award in the ''Act of The Year'' category. ''Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review'', a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, helped her gain success, jazz music experts, as well as music and pop culture specialists. A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday continued with Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and finished with Winehouse. In a poll of United States residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive that was released in March 2009, one fifth of those polled indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. Winehouse performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song "Cupid" for an ''Artists Project Earth'' benefit album that was released on 13 July 2009.

On the week of July 26, after Winehouse's death, ''Frank'', ''Back To Black'', and the ''Back To Black'' EP re-entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 57, number 9, and number 152 respectively with the album climbing to number 4 the following week. ''Back To Black'' also topped the ''Billboard'' Digital Albums chart on the same week and was the second best seller at iTunes. "Rehab" re-entered and topped the ''Billboard'' Digital Songs chart as well, selling up to 38,000 more digital downloads. As of August 2011 "Back to Black" was the best selling album in the United Kingdom in the 21st Century.

Final projects

Winehouse and Mark Ronson contributed a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" to the Quincy Jones tribute album ''Q Soul Bossa Nostra'' released 9 November 2010. Winehouse and drummer ?uestlove of the Roots had agreed to form a group. Winehouse's problems obtaining a visa delayed the still unnamed group from working together. Producer Salaam Remi had already created some material with Winehouse as part of the project. According to a newspaper report, Universal Music pressed her regarding new material in 2008. According to that same report Winehouse as of 2 September had not been near a recording studio. It was noted that she had touring obligations during the summer and also that if an album was quickly recorded, it would be at least a year before an album could be released. In late October Winehouse's spokesman was quoted as saying that Winehouse had not been given a deadline to complete her third album, for which she was learning to play drums.

During her 2009 stay in Saint Lucia, Winehouse worked on new music with producer Salaam Remi. Island claimed that a new album would be due in 2010; Island co-president Darcus Beese said, "I've heard a couple of song demos that have absolutely floored me". In July 2010 Winehouse was quoted as saying her next album would be released no later than January 2011, saying "It’s going to be very much the same as my second album, where there's a lot of jukebox stuff and songs that are... just jukebox, really." Mark Ronson said in July 2010 that he had not started to record the album.

Winehouse's last recording was a duet with American singer Tony Bennett for his latest album, ''Duets II'', which was released on September 20, 2011. Their single from the album, "Body and Soul," was released on 14 September 2011 on MTV and VH1 to commemorate what would have been her 28th birthday. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, launched The Amy Winehouse Foundation with the goal of raising awareness and support for organizations that help vulnerable, young adults with problems such as addiction. Proceeds from "Body and Soul" will benefit The Amy Winehouse Foundation. The song received the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12th, 2012. Winehouse's father, Mitch Winehouse, picked up the award at the awards ceremony with his wife Janis, saying, "We shouldn't be here. Our darling daughter should be here. These are the cards that we're dealt."

When interviewed by Jon Stewart on ''The Daily Show'' on 29 September 2011, Bennett stated that in hindsight, he believed Amy: ::was in trouble at that time because she had a couple of engagements that she didn't keep up. But what people didn't realize at that time, that she really knew, and in fact I didn't even know it when we were making the record, and now looking at the whole thing; she knew that she was in a lot of trouble; that she wasn't going to live. And it wasn't drugs. It was alcohol toward the end. . . . It was such a sad thing because . . . she was the only singer that really sang what I call the 'right way' because she was a great jazz-pop singer. . . . She was really a great jazz singer. A true jazz singer. And I regret that because that's the 'right way' to sing.

An album of previously unreleased material, entitled ''Lioness: Hidden Treasures'', was released on December 6, 2011.

Artistry

Influence

British singer Adele has credited Winehouse's success in the United States for making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother". American singer Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts. She appeared to be using a metaphorical analogy to explain that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton, and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect".

After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by VV Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In February 2010 rapper Jay-Z credited Winehouse with revitalising British music, saying, "There's a strong push coming out of London right now, which is great. It's been coming ever since I guess Amy (Winehouse). I mean always, but I think Amy, this resurgence was ushered in by Amy." In March 2011 the ''New York Daily News'' ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. ''Spin'' magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion". According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for ''Billboard'', "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie."

Live performances

Winehouse toured in conjunction with the ''Back to Black'' album's release. She performed headlining gigs in September and November 2006, including one of the ''Little Noise Sessions'' charity concerts at the Union Chapel, Islington. On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots & the Maytals' "Monkey Man". She began a run of another 14 gigs beginning in February 2007. At his request, Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Winehouse made awards organizers nervous when she went on a Las Vegas jaunt in the hours before the show. During the summer of 2007, Winehouse performed at various festivals, including UK's Glastonbury Festival, Chicago's Lollapalooza festival, Rock Werchter and Baltimore's Virgin Music Festival.

Winehouse's tour, however, did not go as well. In November 2007 the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A music critic for the ''Birmingham Mail'' said it was "one of the saddest nights of my life...I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience." Other concerts ended similarly, with, for example, fans at her Hammersmith Apollo performance saying that she "looked highly intoxicated throughout", until she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of 2007, citing doctor advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision.

On 20 February 2008, Winehouse performed at the 2008 BRIT Awards, performing "Valerie" with Mark Ronson, followed by "Love Is a Losing Game". She urged the crowd to "make some noise for my Blake." In Paris she performed what was described as a "well-executed 40 minute" set at the opening of a Fendi boutique. Although her father, manager and various members of her touring team reportedly tried to dissuade her, Winehouse performed at the Rock in Rio Lisboa festival in Portugal in May 2008. Although the set was plagued by a late arrival and problems with her voice, the crowd warmed to her. In addition to her own material she performed two Specials covers. Winehouse performed at Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Party concert at London's Hyde Park on the 27 June, and the next day at the Glastonbury Festival. On 12 July at the Oxegen Festival she performed a well-received 50 minute set which was followed the next day by a 14 song set at T in the Park. On 16 August she played at the Staffordshire leg of the V Festival, and the following day played the Chelmsford leg of the festival. Organizers said that Winehouse attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Audience reaction was reported as mixed. On 6 September she was the headliner at Bestival. She performed what was described as a polished set which ended with her storming off the stage. Her hour late arrival caused her set to be cut off at the halfway point due to a curfew.

In May 2009 Winehouse returned to performing at a jazz festival in Saint Lucia amid torrential downpours and technical difficulties. During her hour long set it was reported she was unsteady on her feet and had trouble remembering lyrics. She apologised to the crowd for being "bored" and ended her set by walking off the stage in the middle of a song. To a cheering crowd on 23 August at the V festival, Winehouse sang with The Specials on their songs "You're Wondering Now" and "Ghost Town".

In July 2010 she performed "Valerie" with Mark Ronson at a movie premiere. She sang lead but forgot some of the song's lyrics. In October Winehouse performed a four song set to promote her fashion line. In December 2010 Winehouse played a 40 minute concert at a Russian oligarch's party in Moscow. Guests included other Russian tycoons and Russian show business stars. The tycoon hand picked the songs she played.

During January 2011, she played five dates in Brazil, with opening acts of Janelle Monáe and Mayer Hawthorne. On 11 February 2011, Winehouse cut short a performance in Dubai following booing from the audience. Winehouse was reported to be tired, distracted and "tipsy" during the performance.

On 18 June 2011, Winehouse started her 12-leg 2011 European tour in Belgrade. Local media described her performance as a scandal and disaster, and she was booed off the stage due to her apparently being too drunk to perform. It was reported that she was unable to remember the city she was in, the lyrics of her songs or – when trying to introduce them – the names of the members of her band. The local press also claimed that Winehouse was forced to perform by her bodyguards, who didn't allow her to leave the stage when she tried to do so. She then pulled out of performances in Istanbul and Athens which had been scheduled for the following week. On 21 June it was announced that she had cancelled all shows of her European tour and would be given "as long as it takes" to sort herself out.

Winehouse's last public appearance took place at Camden's Roundhouse, London on 20 July 2011, when she made a surprise guest appearance on stage to support her goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield, who was singing "Mama Said" with The Wanted.

Club nights

On 10 July 2008, Winehouse launched her own club night, ''Snakehips at the Monarch'', in the Camden Monarch venue in London. Although billed as a DJ battle between her and another DJ, she stayed behind the decks swaying as another person actually played 1960s music. She appeared at another ''Snakehips'' event at the Monarch on the night of 11 September. After reportedly arriving two hours late, she spun music and played a short acoustic set.

Other ventures

Winehouse joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern, a famous London East End music venue. Campaign supporters feared the residential development would end the spot's lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive. As part of a breast cancer awareness campaign, Winehouse appeared in a revealing photograph for the April 2008 issue of ''Easy Living'' magazine. Winehouse had an estimated £10m fortune, tying her for tenth place in the 2008 ''Sunday Times'' listing of the wealth of musicians under age 30. The following year her fortune had dropped to an estimated £5m. Her finances are run by Mitch and Janis Winehouse. It was reported she earned about £1m singing at two private parties during Paris Fashion Week. as well as another £1m to perform at a Moscow Art Gallery for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Winehouse loaned a vintage dress used in her video for "Tears Dry on Their Own" as well as a DVD to the British Music Experience, a new museum dedicated to the history of British pop music. The museum, located in The O2, opened on 9 March 2009.

In January 2009, Winehouse announced that she was launching her own record label. The first act on her Lioness Records is Winehouse's 13-year-old goddaughter, Dionne Bromfield. Her first album, featuring covers of classic soul records, was released on 12 October 2009. Winehouse is the backing singer on several tracks on the album and she performed backing vocals for Bromfield on the television programme ''Strictly Come Dancing'' on 10 October.

Winehouse and her family are the subject of a 2009 documentary shot by Daphne Barak titled ''Saving Amy''.

Winehouse entered into a joint venture in 2009 with EMI to launch a range of wrapping paper and gift cards containing song lyrics from her album ''Back to Black''.

On 8 January 2010, a television documentary, ''My Daughter Amy'', aired on Channel 4.

''Saving Amy'' was released as a paperback book in January 2010.

Winehouse collaborated on a 17 piece fashion collection with the Fred Perry label. It was released for sale in October 2010. According to Fred Perry's marketing director "We had three major design meetings where she was closely involved in product style selection and the application of fabric, colour and styling details,” and gave "crucial input on proportion, colour and fit”. The collection consists of "vintage-inspired looks including Capri pants, a bowling dress, a trench coat, pencil skirts, a longline argyle sweater and a pink-and-black checkerboard-printed collared shirt". At the behest her family three forthcoming collections up to and including autumn/winter 2012 that she had designed prior to her death will be released.

Personal life

With the paparazzi taking photographs of her wherever they could, Winehouse obtained an injunction against a leading paparazzi agency (Big Pictures) under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the resultant court order banning them from following her. Photographers were also banned from following her within 100 metres of her home and photographing Winehouse in her home or the home of her friends and family. According to a newspaper report, sources close to the singer said legal action was taken out of concern for the safety of Winehouse and those close to her.

Relationships

Winehouse dated chef-musician Alex Clare (sometimes referred to as Alex Claire) in 2006, while on the outs with her on-off boyfriend and future husband, Blake Fielder-Civil. Clare famously sold his story to the ''News of the World'', which published it under the headline “Bondage Crazed Amy Just Can’t Beehive in Bed”.

She married Fielder-Civil (born August 1978), a former video production assistant, on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida. Fielder-Civil was a "dropout" of Bourne Grammar School, who moved to London at aged 16 from his native Lincolnshire. In a June 2007 interview, Winehouse admitted she could sometimes be violent toward him after she had been drinking, saying "if he says one thing I don't like then I'll chin him". In August 2007, they were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight, although she contended her injuries were self-inflicted. American men's campaigner Glenn Sacks condemned Winehouse for what he called her "bragging" about abusing her husband, saying that "a male abuser would have been locked up, stigmatised, and vilified".

Winehouse's parents and in-laws publicly reported their numerous concerns, citing fears that the two might commit suicide, with Fielder-Civil's father encouraging fans to boycott her music. Fielder-Civil was quoted in a British tabloid as saying he introduced her to crack cocaine and heroin. During a visit with Mitch Winehouse at the prison in July 2008, Fielder-Civil reportedly said that they would cut themselves to ease the pain of withdrawal.

From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice as well as a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent. The incident, in July 2007, involved an assault on a pub landlord that resulted in a broken cheek. According to the prosecution the landlord accepted £200,000 as part of a deal to "effectively throw the [court] case and not turn up". The prosecution testified that the money used to pay off the landlord belonged to Winehouse, but that Winehouse pulled out of a meeting with the men involved in the plot, because she had to attend an awards ceremony.

Winehouse was spotted with aspiring actor Josh Bowman on holiday in Saint Lucia in early January 2009, saying she was "in love again, and I don't need drugs." She commented that the "whole marriage was based on doing drugs" and that "for the time being I've just forgotten I'm even married." On 12 January, Winehouse's spokesman confirmed that "papers have been received" for what Fielder-Civil's solicitor has said are divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. On 25 February, Blake Fielder-Civil was quoted as saying that he planned to continue divorce proceedings to give himself a drug-free fresh start. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, "I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me – that was my plan all along ... I won't let him divorce me. He's the male version of me and we're perfect for each other." Uncontested, the divorce was granted on 16 July 2009 and became final on 28 August 2009. Upon his request Fielder-Civil received no money in the settlement. She dated director Reg Traviss for approximately two years before her death.

Substance abuse and mental health issues

Winehouse's battles with substance abuse were the subject of much media attention. In 2005, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, violent mood swings and weight loss.; people who saw her during the end of that year and early 2006 reported a rebound that coincided with the writing of ''Back to Black''. Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction. In August 2007, Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health. She was hospitalised during this period for what was reported as an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. In various interviews, she admitted to having such problems with self-harm, depression and eating disorders.

Winehouse told a magazine that the drugs were to blame for her hospitalisation and that "I really thought that it was over for me then." Soon after, Winehouse's father commented that when he had made public statements regarding her problems, he was using the media because it seemed the only way to get through to her. In an interview with ''The Album Chart Show'' on British television, Winehouse said she was manic depressive and not alcoholic, adding that that sounded like "an alcoholic in denial". A U.S. reporter writes that Winehouse was a "victim of mental illness in a society that doesn't understand or respond to mental illness with great effectiveness".

On 2 December 2007, images of the singer outside her home in the early morning hours, barefoot and wearing only a bra and jeans, appeared on the internet and in tabloid newspapers. In a statement, her spokesman blamed paparazzi harassment for the incident. The spokesman reported that the singer was in a physician-supervised programme and was channelling her difficulties by writing a lot of music. The British tabloid ''The Sun'' posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. Winehouse's father moved in with her, and Island Records, her record label, announced the abandonment of plans for an American promotion campaign on her behalf. In late January 2008, Winehouse reportedly entered a rehabilitation facility for a two-week treatment program.

On 23 January 2008, the video was passed on to the Metropolitan Police, who questioned her on 5 February. No charges were brought. On 26 March 2008, Winehouse's spokesman said she was "doing well" and denied a published report in a British tabloid that consideration was being given to having her return to rehab. Her record company reportedly believed that her recovery remained fragile. By late April 2008, her erratic behaviour, including an allegation of assault, caused fear that her drug rehabilitation efforts have been unsuccessful, leading to efforts by Winehouse's father and manager to seek assistance in having her sectioned. Her dishevelled appearance during and after a scheduled club night in September sparked new rumours of a relapse. Photographers were quoted as saying she appeared to have cuts on her legs and arms.

According to Winehouse's physician Winehouse quit illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, Winehouse speaking of her decision to quit drugs said "I literally woke up one day and was like, 'I don’t want to do this any more”. Drinking alcohol emerged as a problem with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks then lapsing. The physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety, and underwent psychologist and a psychiatrist reviews in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.

Violence and legal difficulties

In 2006, Winehouse admitted punching a fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch.

In October 2007, Winehouse and her then-husband were arrested in Bergen, Norway for possession of seven grams of marijuana. The couple were later released and fined 3850 kroner (around £350). Winehouse first appealed the fines, claiming she was "duped" into confessing, but later dropped the appeal.

On 26 April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned after she admitted to police she slapped a 38 year-old man in the face, a "common assault" offence. She voluntarily turned herself in and was held overnight. Police said, at her arrival she was "in no fit state" to be interviewed. Winehouse was arrested on 7 May 2008 on suspicion of possessing drugs after a video of her apparently smoking crack cocaine was passed to the police in January, but was released on bail a few hours later because they could not confirm, from the video, what she was smoking. The Crown Prosecution Service considered charging her with possessing a controlled drug and allowing her premises to be used for the supply by others of a controlled drug, but she was cleared when the service could not establish that the substance in the video was a controlled drug. In reaction to the decision, former police commander John O’Connor said it is an "absolute scandal that nothing could be done" about Winehouse "cocking a snook at the law". Some members of Parliament also reacted negatively. Two London residents were subsequently charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and ecstasy to Winehouse. One of the pair was sentenced to two years in prison on 13 December 2008, while the other received a two-year community order.

On 5 March 2009, Winehouse was arrested and charged with common assault following a claim by a woman that Winehouse hit her in the eye at a September 2008 Prince's Trust charity ball. At the same time, she was reported to have spat at the English socialite Pippa Middleton and to have headbutted a photographer. Winehouse's spokesperson announced the singer cancelled a scheduled United States Coachella Festival appearance in "light of current legal issues". Swearing in under her legal name of Amy Jade Civil, Winehouse appeared in court on 17 March to enter her plea of not guilty. On 23 July her assault trial began with prosecutor Lyall Thompson charging that Winehouse acted with "deliberate and unjustifiable violence" while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol or another substance. The woman, Sharene Flash, testified that Winehouse "punched me forcefully in my right eye. She used a fist, her right one.” Winehouse testified that she did not punch Flash, but tried to push Flash away from her because she was scared of Flash. Winehouse cited her worry that Flash would sell her story to a tabloid, Flash's height advantage, and Flash's "rude" behaviour as reasons for her fear of Flash. On the 24 July, District Judge Timothy Workman ruled that Winehouse was not guilty of the charge. Workman cited the facts that all but two of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the incident and that medical evidence did not show "the sort of injury that often occurs when there is a forceful punch to the eye".

On 19 December 2009, Winehouse was arrested again on charges of common assault, plus another charge of public order offence. Winehouse assaulted the front-of-house manager of the Milton Keynes Theatre after he asked her to move from her seat. On 20 January 2010, she admitted common assault and disorderly behaviour. She was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 court costs and £100 compensation to the man she attacked.

Respiratory problems

On 23 June 2008, Winehouse's publicist corrected earlier misstatements by Mitch Winehouse that his daughter had early stage emphysema, instead claiming she had signs of what could lead to early-stage emphysema. Mitch Winehouse had also stated that his daughter's lungs were operating at 70 percent capacity and that she had an irregular heartbeat. Mitch Winehouse said that these problems had been caused by her chain smoking crack cocaine. The singer’s father also reported that doctors had warned Winehouse that, if she continued smoking crack cocaine, she would have to wear an oxygen mask and would eventually die. In a radio interview, Mitch Winehouse said the singer was responding "fabulously" to treatment, which included being covered with nicotine patches. British Lung Foundation spokesman Keith Prowse noted this type of condition could be managed with treatment. Prowse also said the condition was not normal for a person her age but "heavy smoking and inhaling other substances like drugs can age the lungs prematurely". Norman H. Edelman of the American Lung Association explained that if she stopped smoking, her lung functions would decline at the rate of a normal person, but continued smoking would lead to a more rapid decline in lung function. Photographs of the singer with a cigarette in her mouth, taken 23 June 2008, were widely published.

Winehouse was released from The London Clinic 24 hours after returning from a temporary leave to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday and at a concert in Glastonbury, and continued receiving treatment as an outpatient. In July, 2008 Winehouse stated that she had been diagnosed with "some areas of emphysema" and said she is getting herself together by "eating loads of healthy food, sleeping loads, playing my guitar, making music and writing letters to my husband every day". She also kept a vertical tanning bed in her apartment. Winehouse began precautionary testing on her lungs and chest on 25 October 2008 at the London Clinic for what was reported as a chest infection. Winehouse was in and out of the facility and was granted permission to set her own schedule regarding home leave. She returned to the hospital on 23 November 2008 for a reported reaction to her medication.

Death

Winehouse's bodyguard said that he arrived at her residence three days before her death and felt she was somewhat intoxicated. He observed moderate drinking over the next few days. He observed her "laughing, listening to music and watching TV at 2am the day of her death". According to the bodyguard at 10AM he observed her lying on her bed and tried unsuccessfully to rouse her. This did not raise much suspicion because she usually slept late after a night out. According to the bodyguard shortly after 3pm he checked on her again and observed her lying in the same position as before leading to a further check in which he concluded she was not breathing and had no pulse. He claimed he subsequently called emergency services. At 3:54pm BST on 23 July 2011, two ambulances were called to Winehouse's home in Camden, London. Winehouse was pronounced dead at the scene. Shortly afterwards, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that she had died. After her death was announced, media and camera crews appeared, as crowds gathered near Winehouse’s residence to pay their respects. Forensic investigators entered the flat as police cordoned off the street outside.

Police recovered one small and two large bottles of vodka from her room.

A coroner's inquest reached a verdict of misadventure. The report released on 26 October 2011 explained that Winehouse's blood alcohol content was 416 mg per decilitre at the time of her death, more than five times the legal drink-drive limit. According to the coroner, "The unintended consequences of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden death." Winehouse's record label, Universal Republic, released a statement that read in part: "We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer." Many musical artists have since paid tribute to Winehouse including U2, M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Mutya Buena, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Keisha Buchanan, Rihanna, George Michael, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Courtney Love, and the American punk rock band Green Day, who wrote a song in her tribute titled "Amy." Family and friends attended Winehouse's funeral on 26 July 2011 at Edgwarebury Lane cemetery in north London. Her mother and father, Janis and Mitch Winehouse, close friend Kelly Osbourne, producer Mark Ronson and her boyfriend Reg Traviss were among those in attendance at the private service led by Rabbi Frank Hellner. Her father delivered the eulogy, saying "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much." Carole King's "So Far Away" closed the service with mourners singing along. She was later cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. The family planned to sit a two-day shiva. Winehouse's parents set up a foundation in her name, to help those affected by drug addiction.

Controversy

Winehouse's dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil proved to be controversial. ''The New Statesman'' called Winehouse "a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva," while ''Newsweek'' called her "a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control." Karen Heller with ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' summarised the maelstrom this way:

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By 2008, her continued drug problems threatened her career. Even as Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse "to deal with her problems", he remarked on her talent, saying, "It’s a reflection of her status [in the U.S.] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it’s her image they use." Post-Grammys, some questioned whether Winehouse should have been honoured with the awards given her recent personal and drug problems, including Natalie Cole, who introduced Winehouse at the ceremony. Cole (who battled her own substance-abuse problems while winning a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1975) remarked, "I think the girl is talented, gifted, but it's not right for her to be able to have her cake and eat it too. She needs to get herself together." In an opinion newspaper commentary, Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said that the alleged drug habits of Winehouse and other celebrities send a bad message "to others who are vulnerable to addiction" and undermine the efforts of other celebrities trying to raise awareness of problems in Africa, now that more cocaine used in Europe passes through Africa. Winehouse's spokesperson called Costa a "ludicrous man" and noted that "Amy has never given a quote about drugs or flaunted it in any way. She's had some problems and is trying to get better. The U.N. should get its own house in order." Following Winehouse's death William Bennett a former director of the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy criticised the Grammy Awards nominating committee along similar lines. Graeme Pearson, the former head of Scotland's drug enforcement agency, criticised Winehouse and Kate Moss for making going to rehab a badge of honour, thus giving the false impression that quitting drugs is easy, because many cannot afford to go to clinics.

Winehouse became a staple in popularity polls due not to her musical contributions, but her lifestyle. The 2008 NME Awards nominated Winehouse in the categories of "Villain of the Year", "Best Solo Artist", and "Best Music DVD"; Winehouse won for "Worst Dressed Performer". In its third annual list, ''Glamour'' magazine named Winehouse the third worst dressed British Woman. Winehouse was ranked number two on Richard Blackwell's 48th annual "Ten Worst Dressed Women" list, behind Victoria Beckham. In an April 2008 poll conducted by Sky News, Winehouse was named the second greatest "ultimate heroine" by the UK population at large, topping the voting for that category of those polled under 25 years old. Psychologist Donna Dawson commented that the results demonstrate women like Winehouse who have "a certain sense of vulnerability or have had to fight against some adversity in their lives” receive recognition. Winehouse was voted the second most hated personality in the United Kingdom in a poll conducted one month later by ''Marketing'' magazine.

Speaking at a discussion entitled ''Winehouse or White House?: Do we go too big on showbiz news?'' Jeff Zycinski, head of BBC Radio Scotland, said the BBC and media in general were complicit in the destruction of celebrities like Winehouse. He said that public interest in the singer's lifestyle does not make her lifestyle newsworthy. Rod McKenzie editor of the BBC Radio One program ''Newsbeat'' replied that "If you play [Amy Winehouse's] music to a certain demographic, those same people want to know what's happening in her private life. If you don't cover it, you're insulting young license fee payers." The British artist M.I.A. was quoted in ''The Guardian'' in 2007 as saying she found Winehouse "really interesting", saying "I once saw her in the street and she was really out of it, so I guess she is really living it out. I think Amy's thing is feeling really weird about what she does and dealing with that." British singer and songwriter Lily Allen was quoted in a Scottish newspaper as saying

Artistic impressions

London's Mall Galleries opened an exhibition in May 2008 that included a sculpture of Winehouse, entitled ''Excess''. The piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass. Another piece, a print entitled "Celebrity 1" by artist Charlotte Suckling, was exhibited in the same exhibition. A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008. The singer did not attend the unveiling, although her parents did. A sculpture by Marco Perego, entitled "The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star", that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot by American novelist and beat poet William S. Burroughs (in a recreation of the accidental killing of his wife Joan Vollmer), was scheduled to go on display in New York’s Half Gallery on 14 November 2008. The sale price for the sculpture is listed at US $100,000. Perego said of the sculpture "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society." Winehouse’s spokesperson said "It’s a funny kind of tribute. The artist seems in thrall to a tabloid persona that is not the real Amy. People often use her image to sell their work."

Discography

;Studio albums:

''Frank'' (2003)

''Back to Black'' (2006)

; Posthumous albums:

''Lioness: Hidden Treasures'' (2011)

Awards and nominations

Among the awards and recognitions for ''Frank'', Winehouse earned an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song ("Stronger Than Me"), a BRIT Award nomination for Best Female Solo Artist, and an inclusion in Robert Dimery's 2006 book, ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. ''Back to Black'' produced numerous nominations, including two BRIT Awards (Best Female Solo Artist and Best British Album), six Grammy Awards (including five wins), four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize (Album of the Year) and a MOBO Awards (Best UK Female). During her career, Winehouse received 23 awards from 60 nominations.

Further recordings

Other than the rare songs on her third album, there are a few extra possible songs that could be released that weren't on her apparent final album. These are the cover versions of 4 songs, 3 of which were performed live on Jools Holland's xmas hootenanny show prior to 2010. The BBC also broadcast another cover song called "Monkey Man". There is also a guitar solo version of "No Greater Love" available via P2P sharing. There was also a song that Bryan Adams wrote for her after they met in a hotel several years before her 3rd album was released, which then may or may not have been recorded - with the interesting connecting point being that Bryan Adams apparently took the photo of his friend Amy that became the cover picture for her 3rd album, as going by the related comment in a section further above. This information comes from a Channel 4 documentary which it covered her rise to fame, leading to her drug abuse an relationship problems - and was first shown on UK tv possibly 1 or 2 years ago before she died, [circa 2010].

See also

27 Club

References

Further reading

;General

Lewis, Pete. "A Blues & Soul Classic Interview With Amy Winehouse Before 'Rehab'" ''Blues & Soul''. April 2004 (reprinted February 2008).

Anderman, Joan. "Of course she should go to rehab." ''Boston Globe''. 15 December 2007.

Gould, Lara; Bull, Sarah; & Satherly, Jessica. "Sordid final hours of a troubled star: Amy Winehouse had 'bought ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine' on the night before tragic death". ''Daily Mail''. 24 July 2011.

Grimwood, Ben. CollegeNews.com. 29 November 2007.

Gundersen, Edna. "Amy Winehouse's sobering transformation could hurt her musical credibility." ''USA TODAY''. 28 January 2008.

Hill, Emily. "Amy Winehouse: her own woman." ''The Guardian''. 31 July 2008

Pareles, Jon. "In Real Time, Amy Winehouse’s Deeper Descent." ''New York Times'' 24 January 2008.

Rosen, Jody. "Dark Star." ''Slate''. 12 February 2008.

Smith, Joan. "There's nothing poetic about Amy's self-destruction" ''The Independent''. 26 June 2008.

The Smoking Gun. BACKSTAGE RIDER: Divas: Amy Winehouse 12 May 2006.

Tyrangiel, Josh. "Trouble Woman." ''TIME''. 24 January 2008.

Vernon, Polly Amy Winehouse: Unplugged ''Harper's Bazaar'' October 2010

July 2009 Mitch Winehouse interview with ''Daily Mirror'' covering a variety of her personal issues

;Books

Barak, Daphne. ''Saving Amy''. New Holland Publishers, 25 January 2010. ISBN 9781847736703

Johnstone, Nick. ''Amy Amy Amy: The Amy Winehouse Story''. Omnibus Press, 1 April 2008. ISBN 9780825636028.

Newkey-Burden, Chas. ''Amy Winehouse: The Biography''. John Blake Publishing, 7 April 2008. ISBN 1844545636.

External links

[ Amy Winehouse] at the All Music Guide

Amy Winehouse collected news and commentary at ''The New York Times''

New York Times fashion retrospective

Slide Show at ''Rolling Stone''

Videos at Island Records on YouTube

Official Video Of Amy Winehouse performing 'Back To Black' Live and Acoustic at SXSW

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name	Tarrus Riley
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Omar Riley
born	1979The Bronx, New York City, United States
instrument	Vocalist, Guitar
genre	Reggae
years active	Mid-1990s–present
label	VP, Cannon Productions
website	http://tarrusriley.com/
notable instruments	}}

Tarrus Riley (born Omar Riley, 1979, The Bronx, New York City, United States) is a Jamaican-American reggae singer, the son of Jimmy Riley.

Biography

Riley is the son of veteran singer Jimmy Riley and nurse Lavern Tatham-Riley. He was born in the Bronx and grew up in South Florida. He began his musical career as a deejay working with Busta Rhymes, taking his birth sign as his stage name at his mother's suggestion (the spelling later changed from Taurus to Tarrus), and recorded his first singles for his father's Love & Promotion label.

Despite his father's fame, Riley has credited his mother's influence on his career as much as his father and, along with his initial ambition to be a reggae deejay rather than singer, credits this factor for his unique singing voice when compared to his father. He was guided in his early career by Dean Fraser, who also performs in his band and produces much of Riley's work.

Riley has released three albums, ''Challenges'' (2004), ''Parables'' (2006), and ''Contagious'' (2009). ''Contagious'' features guest appearances from Damian Marley, Vybz Kartel, Etana, Konshens, Demarco and Duane Stephenson. His commercial breakthrough came in 2006 with the ''Parables'' album and the Jamaican number one single "She's Royal".

Riley was awarded the Reggae Runnins Caribbean Heritage Award at the 2009 HOT 105 FM Caribbean-American Heritage Awards. He was nominated in the Best Reggae category of the 2009 MOBO Awards.

Awards & nominations

2007 - Jamaica Observer Artiste of the Year 2008 - Excellence in Music & Entertainment (EME) Awards - Cultural Artiste of the Year (nominated), Male Vocalist of Year Award, Song of The Year ("She's Royal") 2008 - Reggae Academy Awards - Best Reggae Song, Most Popular Song (both for "She's Royal"), Best Solo Male Vocal Performance, Breakthrough Reggae Artiste

2009 - Caribbean-American Heritage Awards - Reggae Runnins Caribbean Heritage Award

2009 - MOBO Awards - Best Reggae (nominated)

2009 - Soul Train Music Awards - Best Reggae Artist (nominated)

Discography

''Challenges'' (2004), VP

''Parables'' (2006), VP

''Contagious'' (2009), VP

References

External links

Fan Page

[ Tarrus Riley] at Allmusic

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Jamaican reggae singers