Sticking with producer Mark Ronson, I’ve selected a song from his most celebrated album, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.
This was a perfect match of producer and artist, with Ronson’s gift for modernizing old jazz and big band sounds complementing Winehouse’s old-school vocal chops and decidedly contemporary image. I’m not familiar with Winehouse’s first album, but I’m guessing this is a case where a producer is integral to an album’s success.
Not too long ago, artists who drank and drugged themselves to death were viewed romantically. I mean, there are at least two Janis Joplin films in production as I type. But now it’s a different story. It’s hard to be a figure of dark mystery when you’re on the front page of TMZ every day covered in your own vomit.
Such is the fate of Amy Winehouse, a supremely talented train wreck of a musician who appears hellbent on dying young but without any of the accompanying glamor.
Meet Me In Montauk 