[youtube id=”TJAfLE39ZZ8″]Amy Winehouse’s “Back To Black” was a part of her album of the same name that remixed her love of throwback sounds of the ’60s. Mark Ronson co-wrote the song about heartbreak with Winehouse and produced it using Motown, Phil Spector and Sharon Jones’ James Brown-influenced band the Dap-Kings. The British singer’s unflinching emotional honesty left her audience and a large part of the music press in awe. Veteran critic Robert Christgau believed that Winehouse’s popularity was owed to a mannered spectacle driven by 20th-century African-American musical platitudes. But several other writers compared her to singers like Sarah Vaughn and Macy Gray both recognized in their respected jazz and pop realms.
“Back To Black” became a signature song for Winehouse in her native England and in the United States. The third single from her sophomore album transported the girl-group sound into 2007 and accumulated the same amount of respect as the best songs from that period. Back To Black, the album made Winehouse the first British woman to win five Grammys in one night and it was the seventh biggest-seller in the world in 2008. Since her 2008 passing the single has been covered by many including Beyoncé and Andre 3000 for The Great Gatsby soundtrack. A video of Winehouse and Ronson recording “Back To Black” was featured in the 2005 documentary Amy.Â
