Amy Winehouse & Tony Bennett

Amy Winehouse’s last music video - “Body and Soul” - a duet with Tony Bennett recorded at Abbey Road studios in London was released today, on what would have been her 28th birthday.

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Dionne Bromfield + Mark Ronson sing Valerie @ V Festival

We are glad to see that Dionne Bromfield is recovering after the passing of her godmother who launched her career and aided her throughout. This is a lovely little rendition of the Mark Ronson cover of “Valerie” at the V Festival.

Jack's Mannequin - Amy, I

Jack's Mannequin is a side-project of Andrew McMahon, who is the vocalist, pianist and main songwriter of the band Something Corporate. The band is based in Orange County, California. The name Jack’s Mannequin originated from one of McMahon’s songs called Dear Jack, which was written about a friend of his whose brother was diagnosed with childhood leukemia. Andrew himself was diagnosed with leukemia on June 1, 2005 and cancelled a show for the first time ever when he received the call from his doctor.

The initial impulse behind McMahon’s new project Jack’s Mannequin was “Locked Doors”, a song he recorded in December 2003, which he felt was too different from previous Something Corporate material to be one of their songs. He realized that, if he would ever decide to release it, it would be on a solo album rather than a Something Corporate record. The idea seemed to be off the table, until in late summer 2004 both McMahon and his band mates were exhausted from months of touring. They decided to take a temporary break. During his time off, McMahon started writing songs, knowing they would not see the light of day as Something Corporate songs. These songs were a more therapeutic approach McMahon took, and therefore a more personal and intimate testament of his songwriting.

Over the next couple of months, McMahon began recording the newly written songs with producer Jim Wirt, who would play guitar and bass over sampled drum tracks, while McMahon contributed vocals and piano. They later brought in additional musicians such as Bobby Anderson (formerly of River City High) and Tommy Lee to add to the mix.

Amy Winehouse’s autopsy results say there were no drugs involved!

Amy Winehouse’s autopsy results showed no signs of drug overdose. “Toxicology tests showed there were no illegal substances in Amy Winehouse’s body when she died last month at age 27, her spokesman said Tuesday. In a statement, he added that alcohol was present, but that it could not be determined what part if any it played in her death.”

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A pill portrait of Amy Winehouse

By artist Jason Mercier.

R.I.P Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London apartment. Winehouse’s discography is a short one containing only two albums, 2003′s Frank and 2006′s Back to Black. Back to Black spawned the international hits “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good”. It won five Grammy awards and sold 10 million albums worldwide. Her retro Motown sound mixed with contemporary and often raunchy lyrical content made for an explosive combination, one that captured the attention of fans and critics alike.

While right now the focus will be on Winehouse’s very public decline into drug and alcohol abuse, it is ultimately her music which will live on.

Here is the original Icemen track that Mark and Amy sampled for this jam. It features a young James Marshall (a.k.a. Jimi Hendrix). Sadly Jimi was another brilliant artist that died at 27 (Club 27).

The Icemen – My Girl She’s A Fox