Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back To Black’ Bolstered For 20th Anniversary

Twenty years after Amy Winehouse turned heartbreak, bravado and old-school soul into her sophomore effort Back to Black, the album is getting a definitive anniversary reissue that digs deeper into the sessions and the era that made her an international star.

Republic/UMe will release the expanded collection on Oct. 23, just four days before the Oct. 27 anniversary of the album’s original 2006 release. The campaign spans a 3LP clear-vinyl set, 3CD edition and digital deluxe release, along with limited-edition versions of the original album, including “Chalkboard Marble” vinyl and a webstore-exclusive Zoetrope pressing featuring moving footage of Winehouse.

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The centerpiece is the material that illuminates the making of Back to Black: four previously unreleased demos, rare B-sides and a full live performance recorded at Amsterdam’s Paradiso on Feb. 8, 2007, during the Back to Black tour. The package will also include previously unseen photographs by the album’s original photographers, Mischa Richter and Alex Lake, an image from producer Mark Ronson’s archive of Winehouse’s handwritten lyrics, alternative cover art and new liner notes from Ronson and fellow producer Salaam Remi.

When SPIN profiled Winehouse in 2007, she had gone from the relatively unknown singer behind 2003’s Frank to one of the most talked-about artists in the world almost overnight. Her Coachella appearance that spring generated enormous buzz, while Back to Black was already climbing the U.S. charts after debuting at No. 7. SPIN’s cover story captured an artist who seemed almost bemused by the speed of her transformation.

The album itself grew out of that collision of musical instinct and personal upheaval. Winehouse had moved away from the jazz and hip-hop influences of Frank and immersed herself in ’60s music. Meeting Ronson provided the sonic framework for what would become Back to Black, with New York band the Dap-Kings supplying much of the album’s aggressive retro-soul backdrop while Remi produced four tracks. As Winehouse told SPIN at the time, “I write songs because I’m fucked in the head and need to get something good out of something bad.”

The result was an album that turned the intimate messiness of Winehouse’s life into something both musically timeless and culturally seismic. SPIN’s 2007 reporting noted the way “Rehab” had already reached near-“Hey Ya!” ubiquity, while the album’s mixture of ’60s girl-group sonics and blunt contemporary confessionals made Winehouse feel radically different from the polished pop around her.

Two decades later, the numbers have only underscored that impact. Back to Black has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, according to the anniversary announcement, including more than 4.5 million in the U.K., where it eventually reached No. 1 and became the best-selling album of 2007. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 after Winehouse won five Grammys in 2008.

Winehouse would have turned 28 in September 2011. Instead, she was found unresponsive at her Camden home on July 23 of that year, three days after appearing with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield at the iTunes Festival. Her death was later ruled “misadventure,” with the coroner determining that excessive alcohol consumption was the cause.

The aftermath only reinforced the extraordinary weight of her catalog. Back to Black returned to the Billboard 200 at No. 9 immediately after her death, while the posthumous Lioness: Hidden Treasures led SPIN to observe that Winehouse’s most important legacy remained “her gift.” Winehouse’s story has also been revisited on screen through several documentaries and the 2024 bopic Back to Black, which starred Marisa Abela.

As Ronson puts it in the new anniversary notes, “It’s crazy that six songs made in a fit of furious musical infatuation would matter so deeply to so many people 20 years later.” Added Remi, “Amy was one of one. One-of-a-kind artist. One-of-a-kind spirit. One-of-a-kind soul. Experiencing that level of talent, passion, humor, honesty and love for what she created was a gift.”

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