In honour of the 15th anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s iconic ‘Back to Black’ album, Apple Music’s Zane Lowe speaks with Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi about her continuing impact on their lives and the lives of millions.
Salaam Remi, close friend and collaborator of Amy’s, explains that Amy had a humour that she carried with her throughout her career and private life, which is something he particularly misses about her. Mark Ronson displays the piece of scrap paper that Amy used to write “Back to Black,” while they were in the studio together, and discusses the major impact she had on him in the early days of his career.
Mark Ronson Reflects on ‘Back To Black’ 15 Years Later…
It's weird. If I wasn't sitting in the room where we made it, it might feel really distant as well, but it doesn't feel like 15 years ago. That's for sure... because it's like, I know it was a long time ago. I know it just started my career, and there was things... Strangely, Amy's passing seems further away than us meeting if that makes any sense, first because that's more present in my mind, and those are the memories that I've probably carried with me more than the other stuff.
Salaam Remi Tells Apple Music About Amy Winehouse’s Legacy…
The reality is that what we've done, her inspiration. She was inspired by people that arrived before she was born. She will inspire people that are born after she's gone. And that's why we do this. We plant seeds for shade that we'll never see or shade that we'll never feel and food that we'll never eat. This is for the future.
Mark Ronson Tells Apple Music About The Origins of Amy Winehouse’s Hit “Rehab”…
When we came out with '"Rehab" too, it was because she was just telling me the story about how her family came over and tried to make her go to rehab. And she was like, "No, no, no." And I just saw the way she said it and delivered it, it had a cadence, it sounded like a song. So we went back to the studio, but she was really together. She wasn't doing any drugs... If this was a person who looked like they were in a bad way or whatever, I would definitely not be saying like, "Hey, let's make a funny song about not going to rehab." It felt like such a closed chapter in the past that obviously now that's why that song... I don't know what the numbers are, but I'm curious, that's not one of her biggest songs, even though it's essentially her biggest hit, because now it's a little more painful to listen to that message very specifically. It's too on the nose or direct.
Salaam Remi Tells Apple Music About Working With Mark Ronson and Revisiting ‘Back To Black’ 15 Years Later…
Mark's production and my production came from two different angles. We never even saw each other until the award shows. We didn't even speak, no. So it was totally no communication. The communication was via Amy and what she wanted to get done. So I give all of the vision to where she was at with it and our interpretation of what she wanted to do.
Mark Ronson Tells Apple Music About The Lyrics To “Back To Black”…
The first day she came up here and played me a bunch of songs on a nylon string guitar. And on the second or third day, the first day we wrote 'Back to Black' and 'Back to Black' was the first time that we wrote together. But really for that one, I gave her the piano thing on a little CD discman. And she took that in the headphones and went in the backroom and just kind of scribbled for an hour. I think I got the scribble somewhere.
