Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Amy Winehouse · S1 E2
The Winehouse Family
Mitch drives a black cab, Janis is a pharmacist. A Jewish family in North London with music in the bloodline on both sides
A Friday evening in 1988, the Winehouse living room in Southgate. Mitch has Sinatra on the stereo and five-year-old Amy stands on the sofa, hands on hips, belting the same song louder than her father.
Amy Winehouse performing Help Yourself. Sharp, fearless, and able to read an entire room in the time it takes to order a drink. The sass and the accent are pure North London.
Help Yourself
From Frank (2003). Amy and producer Jimmy Hogarth wrote and recorded this in a single three-hour session. Over a jazzy, R&B-inflected groove, Amy tells someone to stop expecting others to fix their problems. The blunt delivery is pure Winehouse family dinner table energy: say what you mean, sort yourself out, and do not wait for a rescue.
Two Parents, Two Temperaments
Mitch is the performer: big personality, big voice, always the loudest person at the table. Janis is the steady one, a pharmacist who keeps the house running while Mitch works nights. Amy inherits something from each of them: her father's showmanship and her mother's quiet resilience.
TAP TO REVEAL: Which legendary singer's records did Mitch play so often that Amy knew every word before starting school?
Chase Farm Hospital, Southgate
The Ridgeway, Enfield, North London. The hospital where Amy Jade Winehouse was born on a Wednesday morning in September 1983.
Help Yourself
From Frank (2003). A no-nonsense track about refusing to carry someone who will not carry themselves. The blunt, straight-talking tone is pure Winehouse household energy: say what you mean and do not expect anyone else to do it for you.
What was Mitch Winehouse's day job while Amy was growing up?
Two parents who love music, a brother who adores her, and a house that never stops singing. Next: Nan Cynthia, the woman who hands Amy the key to jazz and shapes her voice forever.
0 XP earned this session