Take a look back at the late singer’s brightest moments, on what would have been her 40th birthday

Amy Winehouse in London.Credit : Ben Dome/Pacific Coast News

The rise and fall of Amy Winehouse happened so quickly.

The talented singer with the velvety voice exploded onto the scene with her 2006 album Back to Black; it swept the 2008 Grammys, earning the singer five awards.

However, she grappled with addiction, entering rehab and canceling a planned 2011 tour.

She died at just 27 years old in July of 2011, from accidental alcohol poisoning.

“Amy was a girl in her 20s suffering from addiction, and everybody was a part of it. Everybody was watching it. When you go to rehab, you have to be the strongest you’ve ever been in your life, when you are the weakest you’ve ever been in your life. And she had to go through that in front of people,” Winehouse’s best friend Tyler James told The Times in 2021.

In the years since her death, fans have continued to celebrate her music and her family has honored her legacy with a new biography about the singer, Amy Winehouse: In Her Words, which features never-before-seen photos and notes from the late star.

Here, on what would have been her 40th birthday on Sept. 14, 2023, remember her life in photos.

01of 11

 

Tiny Dancer

A young Amy Winehouse.Rex USA

Stepping into the ballet flats that would later become her trademark, a 5-year-old Amy Winehouse posed in her ballerina finest as a child. But her aspirations weren’t to take the stage: wee Winehouse wanted to be a roller-skating waitress.

02of 11

 

School Days

Amy Winehouse at age 8.Rex USA

Winehouse, at age 8, smiled for a school photo. “She was always very self-willed,” her father, Mitch, once recalled. “Not badly behaved but … different.”

03of 11

 

Guitar Hero

Amy Winehouse in 2004.Rex USA

One year after her critically acclaimed 2003 debut album, Frank, hits stores, Winehouse took the stage at a Birmingham, England, HMV to promote the bluesy disc.

04of 11

 

Shining Star

Amy Winehouse in 2004.Dave Benett/Getty

The accolades started pouring in for Winehouse in 2004, and she won a prestigious Ivor Novello Award, which recognizes outstanding songwriters. She became part of an exclusive club that includes past winners John Lennon, Sir Elton John and David Bowie.

05of 11

 

Fabulous Friend

Amy Winehouse and Kelly Osbourne.Rodrigo Marques/Splash News Online

A giddy Winehouse enjoyed a girls’ night out in L.A. with fellow Brit Kelly Osbourne in 2007. “I cant even breath[e] right my now im crying so hard i just lost 1 of my best friends,” Osbourne Tweeted after Winehouse died in July 2011. “I love you forever Amy & will never forget the real you!”

06of 11

 

Power Couple

Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.JMEnternational/Redferns/Getty

Winehouse rocked out in 2008 with Mark Ronson, who produced her critically acclaimed 2006 breakthrough album, Back to Black. “She was my musical soulmate,” Ronson Tweeted after her death.

07of 11

 

A Big Night

Amy Winehouse at the Grammy Awards.Richard Young/Startraks

An emotional Winehouse embraced her mother, Janis, after sweeping the 2008 Grammy Awards.”For London! This is for London!” Winehouse cheered, keeping her arm around her mom for her entire acceptance speech.

08of 11

 

All That Razz

Amy Winehouse in 2008.Ben Dome/Pacific Coast News

The cheeky singer mugged for the camera with a throng of admiring fans in London in 2008.

09of 11

 

Proud Moment

Amy Winehouse and goddaughter Dionne Bromfield.Xposure

A beaming Winehouse posed with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield in 2010. Nine months later – just days before the troubled star’s death – Winehouse surprised the crowd at the teen singer’s London gig by joining her on stage for a cover of “Mama Said.”

10of 11

 

The Voice

Amy Winehouse in 2010.Samir Hussein/Getty

In October of 2010, Winehouse gave an impromptu – and stellar – performance at a 150-capacity club in London, singing her hit “Tears Dry on Their Own” as well as some new material. “Amy just whispered to me, ‘I know I’m not on the lineup, but do you mind if I play?'” club manager Izzy Lawrence told the BBC. “Obviously I wasn’t going to say no, and she got up and played and it was amazing.” Of the new tunes, Lawrence added, “If those songs are going to be on the new album, it’s going to be huge.”

11of 11

 

Remembering Amy

Dave Hogan/Getty

Despite the talent and accolades, Winehouse’s later years were filled with substance abuse struggles and an on-again, off-again relationship with equally troubled Blake Fielder-Civil. On July 23, 2011, she was found dead at home in London; the coroner deteremined her cause of death was the “unintended consequence” of drinking too much alcohol.

Ruling that it was “death by misadventure,” the coroner stated that Winehouse, 27, was more than five times over the legal limit, according to the inquest, and two large bottles and one small bottle of vodka were found in the bedroom of her London home.

Winehouse was an “intelligent, determined young woman who, at times, was able to successful abstain from alcohol,” the coroner said while announcing the cause of death as “alcohol toxicity.”