Amy Winehouse: The Times obituary

Singer and songwriter with an astonishing voice and talent, her career was tarnished by drugs, alcohol and scandal
As her problems increased, the beehive hairdo grew bigger
As her problems increased, the beehive hairdo grew bigger
ANDY RAIN/EPA

Out of the chaos of a deeply troubled personal life and an unhealthy predilection for self-destruction, Amy Winehouse fashioned a rare artistry to become the most talented British female singer of her generation.

When she burst on to the scene in 2003, pop music was dominated by girl-next-door types such as Dido and Katie Melua. It was immediately evident that Winehouse came from a quite different tradition and her whisky-breathed, nicotine-stained bad-girl attitude, allied to a powerful and lived-in voice, revived the lusty, man-eating spirit of ball-busting but troubled divas of earlier eras such as Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin.

The image could have been contrived but sadly it was all too dangerously real. Almost from the outset, she cut a doomed figure who lived