Her musical formation went through listening to such jazz divas as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan; she was later influenced by contemporary metropolitan popular music as well. She represents a union of these aesthetics: a happy fusion of '40s jazz, '60s soul and hard texts inspired by daily life.

Winehouse's 2003 debut album Frank did well - both commercially and critically - in her native Britain and was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album Back To Black led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the record for one of the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first singer from the United Kingdom to win five Grammys. On February 14, 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album. She has 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 has received significant media attention for aspects of her life other than her singing. Her distinctive style, most notably her signature beehive hairstyle, has spawned imitators and been the muse for fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld. Her drug and alcohol addiction, as well as her self-destructive behaviour, have become regular tabloid fodder since 2007.

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jazz, singer-songwriter, female vocalists, soul, british