Back to Black

Released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records, Back to Black is Amy Winehouse's second and final studio album. She wrote most of it about Blake Fielder-Civil, who had temporarily left her to return to an ex-girlfriend, and that rupture drives the record's themes of guilt, grief, infidelity, and heartbreak. Producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi split the sessions between Miami and New York, with members of Sharon Jones's band the Dap-Kings contributing horns and vintage-leaning arrangements; Tom Elmhirst mixed the album in London. Its 11 tracks include "Rehab," "You Know I'm No Good," and the title song.

Musically, the album is generally classified as rhythm and blues, though its deeper DNA is mid-1960s girl-group pop and Motown/soul filtered through modern production. The Dap-Kings' horn section gives the record its period warmth while Ronson's and Remi's production keeps it contemporary. Lyrically it is almost uniformly autobiographical, turning the Fielder-Civil breakup into songs about obsession, self-destruction, and loss. Five singles were issued, among them "Rehab," which became the album's signature hit and the song most associated with its Grammy success.

Commercially and critically, Back to Black was a career-defining success. It won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards, where Winehouse also collected four further awards that night, and it has sold around 20 million copies globally. The album's 20th anniversary in October 2026 prompted a wave of retrospective coverage and an all-star tribute concert at the BBC Roundhouse in London, with Mark Ronson among those celebrating Winehouse's legacy and Jessie Reyez among the performers. No new studio material has emerged, since Back to Black remains Winehouse's final album. [edit]