By Rajveer Kathwadia
Today’s release of the Amy Winehouse biopic, ‘Back to Black’ inspired me to go digging in the crates...
Way back in September 2006, whilst working as a staff writer for the fabled RWD Magazine, the then-editor, forever iconic, Hattie Collins casually asked me if I’d be up for speaking to Amy for the next issue. I coolly agreed. Sure, I was a fan of her debut album, ‘Frank’, but I was naive to the fact as to just how significant this opportunity would turn out to be. Idiot.
Perhaps it was because we’d relegated the interview to the ‘Last Word’ feature at the back of the mag rather than pushing it as a feature, or maybe it was because Hattie had passed the assignment over to me, a part-time member of staff, still stumbling my way through uni - though she always did give young talent opportunities that others ordinarily wouldn’t, so maybe not.
Anyway, in preparation for my chat with Amy I listened to the music supplied by the label and instantly knew that it was special. Soulful, witty, emotive and open - that six track album sampler held me captive and the full length LP has never let me go. If the music was mesmerising, the interview itself was even more so. An uninhibited 20 minutes or so of candid conversation. Hilarious at times, warm, sweet, charismatic and unguarded throughout. I wish it had been more profound and considered, but then again, maybe that it wasn’t is why it was so special.
She was in the pub of course and I love the fact that she revealed that ‘Valerie’ by The Zutons was just a song she loved to play on the jukebox at the Hawley Arms. She had a show the following week at the Bloomsbury Ballroom which she invited me to come to, but for some bizarre, most likely mundane reason, I didn’t go. I never saw her live after that. Probably won’t go to see the film either. I’d rather just have this little memory of her.
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