First published 2018
In 2007, American photographer Blake Wood arrives in London at age 22. A mutual friend introduces him to Amy Winehouse, fresh from her five Grammy wins for Back to Black. The soul singer with the emotionally charged voice stands at her career peak, but battles her troubled relationship and relentless media pressure. Wood and Winehouse forge an immediate bond that grows into an inseparable friendship lasting two years. Wood documents their time together through his camera, capturing Winehouse performing in Paris, playing drums in her Camden Town home studio, relaxing during portraits in St. Lucia, and playfully posing for candid shots. The 85 color and black-and-white photographs, mostly unpublished, reveal a different side of the celebrated artist. Pop culture critic Nancy Jo Sales provides the accompanying text. Through Wood's lens, readers encounter Winehouse as a typical young London woman, comfortable with her friend behind the camera, embracing life fully during her most famous period.
Genres: biography, art, popular-science, music, 21st-century, photography
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: celebrity, friendship, portrait
Setting: Camden Town, London, Paris, St. Lucia
Period: 2007
176 pages · Hardcover · TASCHEN
Content warnings: addiction, mental-illness