Amy Winehouse_ The Biography - Chas Newkey-Burden [66]
Soon, the US media were really buzzing. Indiana’s newspaper, the Star Press, told its readers, ‘Winehouse will seduce you with her voice and suck you in with her wicked words. Don’t fight it.’ The Rockford Register Star’s Melissa Westphal added,
I’m going to need a 12-step program if my obsession with the new Amy Winehouse CD continues. Seriously, folks. I’m talking about a don’t-skip-a-track format here. Winehouse tackles love, breakups and exes with humor and a deep, soulful voice that’s part blues singer, part ’60s girl group lead singer. Let’s just say it’s more unique than anything you’ve heard lately.
The leading UK music critic Garry Mulholland has told the author that Amy has – to all intents and purposes – already made it in America. ‘As far as I can see, she’s cracked America – maybe not every single part of the Midwest but the major cities,’ he said. ‘She’s cracked it – and the big TV shows, too. There’s a long tradition of British artists selling American music back to them. That’s precisely what she’s done so of course they love her.
‘It’s cyclical. New York and LA and the college towns become obsessed with Britishness – hence “a British invasion”. Then people move on and get bored and move on to something else. At this moment we’re having a good period in America, whether it’s middle-of-the-road things like James Blunt or whether it be edgy things like Lily Allen and Lady Sovereign. What she has, which a lot of those acts don’t have but which Radiohead have, hence their success in America, is absolutely inarguable quality.’
However, Mulholland stops short of saying Amy can completely dominate in America. He argues that the level of slogging and sycophancy required to become a mega-artist in America is not something Amy would be well suited to. Quite, the opposite, he argues. ‘To break America, the whole enormous country, involves a very great deal of trekking around the whole of America glad-handing anyone who is put in front of you. This is what stops an awful lot of British acts from breaking America because they’re not prepared to spend months of their time not playing or writing, just wandering around America sticking their tongues up the arses of minor radio executives. But that’s what people are expected to do to become enormous in America. Amy is absolutely un-designed to do that, I can’t think of an artist less designed to do that. So, no, she probably won’t sell as many records as Garth Brooks, but who needs to?’
Amy herself would concur with Mulholland’s assessment. ‘America’s a big place. There’s a lot of people here that aren’t worth insulting. That sounds even worse than saying a direct insult… but there’s bad music everywhere. I don’t talk about it. I’m very passionate about music, but usually I can be a diplomat and that is what I’ll be doing while I’m here – hopefully.’
However, Amy’s proudest moment in America was yet to come. The most prestigious music awards there – and arguably the most prestigious in the world – are the Grammys. The Grammys originated in 1957 when top record executives from Los Angeles decided to create an association where recording professionals could be rewarded for their artistic creativity. The Grammys ceremony is the time when everyone in the music industry comes together to commemorate the year’s best musical achievements and highlights.
Down the years there have been plenty of memorable moments at the Grammys. In 1971, the Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year categories were won by Simon and Garfunkel with Bridge Over Troubled Water. The following year saw the first Grammys to be televised and first held in New York. Since then, the broadcast of the ceremony has become a major event in the television calendar. Other years that might have caught Amy’s attention include 1996, when her hero Frank Sinatra won Best Traditional Pop