Back to Black
Back to Black is the second and final studio album by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with then-ex-boyfriend and future husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who temporarily left her to pursue his previous ex-girlfriend. Their short-lived separation spurred her to create an album that explores themes of guilt, grief, infidelity, heartbreak and trauma in a relationship.
This article is about the album by Amy Winehouse. For the film, see Back to Black (film). Not to be confused with Back in Black by AC/DC.Back to Black
27 October 2006
2005–2006
- Instrument Zoo (Miami)[b]
- Daptone (New York City)[c]
- Allido (New York City)[d]
- Chung King (New York City)[e]
- Metropolis (London)[c]
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Influenced by the pop and soul music of 1960s girl groups, Winehouse collaborated with producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, along with Sharon Jones' band The Dap-Kings, to assist her on capturing the sounds from that period while blending them with contemporary R&B and neo-soul music. Between 2005 and 2006, she recorded the album's songs with Remi at Instrumental Zoo Studios in Miami and then with Ronson and the Dap-Kings at Chung King Studios and Daptone Records in New York. Tom Elmhirst mixed the album at Metropolis Studios in London.
Back to Black received unanimous critical acclaim from music critics, who praised Winehouse's songwriting and emotive singing style as well as Remi and Ronson's production. The album spawned five singles: "Rehab", "You Know I'm No Good", "Back to Black", "Tears Dry on Their Own" and "Love Is a Losing Game". It has also been cited as being a key influence to the widespread popularity of British soul throughout the late 2000s, paving the musical landscape for artists such as Adele, Duffy, and Estelle.
At the 2008 Grammy Awards, Back to Black won Best Pop Vocal Album and was also nominated for Album of the Year. At the same ceremony, Winehouse won four additional awards, tying her with five other artists as the second-most awarded female in a single ceremony. The album was also nominated at the 2007 Brit Awards for MasterCard British Album and was short-listed for the 2007 Mercury Prize. Back to Black sold 3.58 million copies in the UK alone, becoming the UK's second best-selling album of the 21st century so far. The album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide.
A deluxe edition of Back to Black was released in November 2007, containing a bonus disc of B-sides and live tracks. Winehouse's debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London, released that same month, includes a live set recorded at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and a 50-minute documentary detailing the singer's career over the previous four years. In 2020, Back to Black was ranked at number 33 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
Background[edit]
After signing with Island Records in 2002,[1] Winehouse released her debut album, Frank, on 20 October 2003. She dedicated the album to her ex-boyfriend, Chris Taylor, as she gradually lost interest in him.[2][3] Produced mainly by Salaam Remi, many songs were influenced by jazz, and apart from two cover versions, every song was co-written by Winehouse. The album received positive reviews,[4][5] with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics,[6] while her vocals drew comparisons to Sarah Vaughan,[7] Macy Gray and others.[6]
The album reached number 13 on the UK Albums Chart at the time of its release, and has been certified triple Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[8][9] In 2004, Winehouse was nominated for British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act at the Brit Awards,[10] while Frank made the shortlist for the Mercury Prize.[11] That same year, the album's first single, "Stronger Than Me", earned Winehouse and Remi an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.[12] In a 2004 interview with The Observer, Winehouse expressed dissatisfaction with the album, stating that "some things on [the] album [made her] go to a little place that's fucking bitter". She further notes that the marketing was "fucked", the promotion was "terrible", and everything was "a shambles".[13]
In 2003, Winehouse dated Blake Fielder-Civil, who was an assistant on music video sets. Around the same time, she rediscovered the 1960s music she loved as a girl, stating in a 2007 Rolling Stone interview: "When I fell in love with Blake, there was Sixties music around us a lot."[14] In 2005, the couple spent a lot of time in a local Camden bar, and during their time there, Winehouse would listen to blues, '60s girl groups, and Motown artists, explaining that "it was [her] local" and "spent a lot of time there [...] playing pool and listening to jukebox music."[14] The music heard in the bar appealed to Winehouse when she was writing songs for her second album.[14]
Around the same year, she went through a period of drinking, heavy drug use, and weight loss.[15] 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.[15] Her family believes that the mid-2006 death of her grandmother, who was a stabilising influence, set her off into addiction.[15] Fielder-Civil then left Winehouse to revert to his previous girlfriend. During their break, she would write the bulk of the album on the state of her "relationship at the time with Blake [Fielder-Civil]" through themes of "grief, guilt, and heartache".[14] Winehouse dated musician Alex Clare briefly in 2006,[16] and would later return to and marry Fielder-Civil in the following year.[3][17]
Commercial performance[edit]
Back to Black debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart on 5 November 2006 with first-week sales of 43,021 copies.[112] The album reached number one for the first time during the week ending 20 January 2007, its 11th week on the chart, selling over 35,500 copies.[113] The following week, it remained at number one with nearly 48,000 copies sold.[114] Five weeks later, it returned for a third week atop the UK chart, selling 47,000 copies.[115] Back to Black was the best-selling album of 2007 in the UK, having sold 1.85 million copies.[116] The BPI certified the album 13-times Platinum on 30 March 2018,[117] and by October 2018, it had sold 3.93 million copies,[118] making it the UK's second best-selling album of the 21st century so far,[119] as well as the 12th best-selling album in the UK of all time.[120]
Back to Black debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 in the United States with first-week sales of 51,000 copies,[121] becoming the highest debut entry for an album by a British female solo artist at the time—a record that would be broken by Joss Stone's Introducing Joss Stone, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 the following week.[122][123] Following Winehouse's multiple wins at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, the album jumped from number 24 to a new peak of number two on the Billboard 200 chart issue dated 1 March 2008 with sales of 115,000 copies.[124] The album was certified double-Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 12 March 2008,[125] and has since sold nearly three million copies in the US.[126]
Back to Black topped the European Top 100 Albums chart for 13 non-consecutive weeks,[127] while reaching number one in several European countries such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Ireland, and Switzerland.[128][129][130][131][132] The album was certified eight-times Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in late 2011, denoting sales of eight million copies across Europe.[133] By September 2018, the album had sold over 16 million copies worldwide.[134]
Following Winehouse's death on 23 July 2011,[135] sales of Back to Black drastically increased across the world. The album rose to number one on several iTunes charts worldwide.[136] On 24 July 2011, with fewer than seven hours sales after the announcement of her death counting towards the respective week's chart figures,[137] the album re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 49 with 2,446 copies sold.[138] The following week, it soared back to number one,[77] marking the fourth time the album had reached the top of the chart. Back to Black held the top spot for two additional weeks.[139][140] On 26 July 2011, Billboard reported that the album had re-entered the Billboard 200 chart dated 6 August 2011 at number nine with sales of 37,000 copies,[141] although that week's chart only tracked the first 36 hours of sales after her death was announced.[142] The following week, it climbed to number seven with 38,000 copies sold after a full week's worth of sales.[143] In Canada, the album re-entered the Canadian Albums Chart at number 13 on sales of 2,500 copies.[144][145] It rose to number six the following week, selling an additional 5,000 copies.[146] In continental Europe, Back to Black returned to the number-one spot in Austria,[147] Croatia,[148] Germany,[149] the Netherlands,[150] Poland[151] and Switzerland,[152] while reaching number one for the first time in Italy.[153]