Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi celebrated two decades of Amy Winehouse’s landmark album at London’s Roundhouse, as a new anniversary edition adds unreleased demos, rare B-sides and a complete 2007 Amsterdam concert.
Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black reaches its 20th anniversary on 27 October 2026, marking two decades since the album established the London singer as one of the defining songwriters and vocalists of her generation. The anniversary is being marked by a Camden tribute concert and an expanded reissue that offers a closer look at the music behind one of the most commercially successful British albums of the 21st century.
Released by Island Records on 27 October 2006, Back To Black was Winehouse’s second studio album and her final collection of original studio recordings. Its combination of unvarnished songwriting, soul arrangements and contemporary production helped distinguish her from the prevailing pop sound of the period.
The 20th anniversary edition, released on 23 October 2026, brings together the original album, four previously unreleased demos, rare B-sides and bonus recordings, alongside the complete live performance recorded at Paradiso in Amsterdam on 8 February 2007.
The anniversary celebrations began with a concert at London’s Roundhouse on 21 October, bringing Winehouse’s music back to Camden, the neighbourhood closely associated with her life and career.
Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, the two producers who shaped the album, were central to the event. The Amy Winehouse Band, led by longtime musical director Dale Davis, performed the record with a succession of guest vocalists taking on its songs.
Corinne Bailey Rae opened with the title track, while Lianne La Havas performed “You Know I’m No Good” and Jorja Smith took on “Some Unholy War”. Jessie Reyez, Yebba, FLO, Baby Rose, Terri Walker, Sasha Keable, Nia Smith and Skye Newman also joined the line-up.
The concert was recorded for BBC Two and BBC Radio 2, extending the anniversary beyond the audience gathered in Camden.
For Ronson and Remi, the occasion returned attention to the creative partnership that helped translate Winehouse’s songwriting into a distinctive sound. Ronson’s sessions drew on the live musicianship of the Dap-Kings and the production approach associated with Daptone Records in Brooklyn. Remi recorded his contributions with Winehouse in Miami, with the two producers bringing different musical influences to the same collection of songs.
Ronson described the original sessions as “six songs made in a fit of furious musical infatuation” that continue to matter 20 years later. Remi remembered Winehouse as a singular artist whose talent, spirit and personality were inseparable from her music.
Back To Black took its emotional direction from the breakdown of Winehouse’s relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. Across the record, she wrote about infidelity, regret, grief, addiction and the complications of romantic attachment without disguising the uncomfortable details.
The songwriting was matched by arrangements that drew on 1960s girl groups, Motown and classic soul, but avoided treating those influences as a nostalgic exercise. Winehouse’s phrasing, conversational delivery and distinctive voice gave the material a contemporary identity.
The album’s production was divided between Ronson and Remi. Ronson produced songs including “Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good” and “Back To Black”, while Remi worked on tracks including “Me & Mr Jones”, “Just Friends” and “Tears Dry On Their Own”. Tom Elmhirst mixed the album at Metropolis in London.
The five singles released from the album were “Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good”, “Back To Black”, “Tears Dry On Their Own” and “Love Is A Losing Game”. Each revealed a different aspect of Winehouse’s writing, from the defiance of “Rehab” to the restrained melancholy of “Love Is A Losing Game”.
“Rehab” became the international breakthrough. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, Winehouse won five awards, including Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for “Rehab”, Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album for Back To Black.
Back To Black became a major international success, topping the UK albums chart and finishing as Britain’s best-selling album of 2007. Its audience expanded further in the United States, where the album reached number two on the Billboard 200 following the Grammy Awards.
The record’s influence extended beyond its chart performance. Winehouse’s success helped bring renewed attention to British soul and R&B, providing a prominent reference point for a generation of singers who followed, including Adele and other artists working across soul, pop and contemporary R&B.
Her death in July 2011, aged 27, prompted a renewed wave of interest in her catalogue. Back To Black returned to the top of charts in several territories, while the songs continued to circulate among audiences who had not experienced the album at its original release.
In 2025, the United States Library of Congress selected Back To Black for preservation in the National Recording Registry, recognising its cultural, historical or aesthetic significance. The selection placed Winehouse’s work among recordings considered important to the nation’s recorded-sound heritage.
Original album tracklisting
Rehab
You Know I’m No Good
Me & Mr Jones
Just Friends
Back To Black
Love Is A Losing Game
Tears Dry On Their Own
Wake Up Alone
Some Unholy War
He Can Only Hold Her
Addicted
The expanded collection also includes the previously unreleased demos “Rehab (Demo Version)”, “I’m No Good”, “Fuckery”, “Back To Black (Original Demo)” and “Love Is A Losing Game (Original Demo)”, alongside additional alternative demos, B-sides and bonus recordings. The full Paradiso performance documents Winehouse on stage during the Back To Black tour in February 2007.
Twenty years after its release, Back To Black remains a record defined by the specificity of its writing and the musical choices that gave those songs their character. The Camden tribute recognises the musicians and singers who helped shape its sound, while the anniversary reissue makes more of the recording process available to listeners.
Winehouse’s story has often been revisited through the circumstances of her life. Back To Black endures on its own musical terms: an album whose honesty, arrangements and performances continue to reward listening beyond the headlines that surrounded its creator.
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