Amy Winehouse by Chas Newkey-Burden Read Free Book Online Page B

Girls to promote their reunion worldtour. Worth £450 million, Fuller has been described as ‘the man who wants to rule the world’. Well, if that’s true then he’s pretty close to realising his ambition.
    For Amy’s part, she was not a fan of Fuller’s Pop Idol franchise. ‘I never wanted any of this and that’s the truth,’ she says of her fame, adding, ‘I would have been happy to sing in a covers band for the rest of my life. And I wouldn’t have gone on one of those shows in a million billion years, because I think that musicality is not something other people should judge you on. Music’s a thing you have with yourself. Even though the people who go on those shows are shit, it’s really damaging to be told that you are.’
    There are conflicting reports on how Amy came to Fuller’s attention. One story has it that Sylvia Young arranged for two of his colleagues to come and watch her perform with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; the other has it that James, who was already signed up to a subsidiary of 19 Management called Brilliant 19, put a word in for her with his managers.
    Whatever the case, once at Brilliant 19, Amy was managed by Nick Godwin. A sharp music man, Godwin had been involved with the Spice Girls. He followed the tried-and-tested Brilliant 19 path of honing and nurturing talent. Amy had not long since stopped working as an entertainment journalist, writing for a music magazine and a fledgling showbiz news agency. Now, however, she was ready to step onto the other side of the showbiz divide.
    Amy puts the link with 19 down to her friend Tyler James. ‘I had one gig with the National Jazz Orchestra and my friendTyler, he was with his A&R guy Nicky [Shamansky], and Nicky said to him, “I heard this girl singing jazz on the radio,” and Nicky said, “Well my friend Amy sings jazz and she’s great.” I think I must have been about sixteen. So I think Nicky was the one who convinced me to make a tape.’
    As with the BRIT School, Amy is now keen to distance herself somewhat from the 19 Management experience. ‘I met Simon Fuller, like, two times!’ she once sighed when an interviewer asked her about her involvement with him. Indeed, she once also claimed that the extent of Fuller’s involvement with her was that he happened to share a building with her management company Brilliant 19. In fact, Fuller funded that company. When asked what impression he made on her, she says haughtily, ‘Businesspeople don’t leave an impression with me. They go out of my head straightaway.’
    When pressed on her time under Fuller’s guidance, she says, ‘It was never right. My manager on paper was not the person doing the day-to-day stuff. He was a lovely fellow but he didn’t care about music. He was definitely one of those people who left their work in the office. I needed someone else. I needed someone who really cared.’
    However, Fuller insists, ‘Music is my first love. I have hundreds and hundreds of CDs! And I understand it. Music is a positive force.’ Fuller was said to be horrified by Amy’s increasingly bitchy remarks about other artists, including Madonna, of whom she said, ‘She’s an old lady. She should get a nice band, just stand in front of them and fucking sing.’ Reportedly, he was unimpressed by her bitchy remarks aboutother pop stars, including his artist Rachel Stevens. A source said, ‘Amy is under the wing of Pop Idol’ s Simon Fuller and he is upset about her remarks on his stars.’ Was she under pressure to sell a certain number of records? ‘I don’t think he cares if he gets a return on me. He’s got Pop Idol and his empire. He’s a smart man.’ Amy has also been asked whether she was really uninterested in making money at this stage of her career. ‘No. Well, I am. Everyone’s interested in money. But if someone offered me three million pounds to make a Rachel Stevens cover record, I’d take it. Ha-ha! No.’
    ‘When I was eighteen, I wasn’t banging