Amy Winehouse can be described in lots of different ways - unique, talented, addicted, troublesome - you name it, she probably is it. And it’s this that makes her so interesting and so newsworthy. If she was just an ordinary, everyday female singer without those huge negatives of hers on display then she’d be pretty damn boring.

I have maybe spoken about Amy Winehouse too much in the past. I admit that. But it was only because I knew people were interested by the sheer amount of traffic that headed towards the articles I wrote about her. There are a couple of people who speak about Winehouse even more than I do, and that is her parents. Her dad in particular seems to love having been thrust into the limelight because of his daughter.

Both Amy’s parents are participating in a forthcoming documentary about her, and ITV News has reported on some of what the pair say about their daughter during it. Both quotes are via Digital Spy because the ITV News Web site is a bit rubbish.

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I’m sure I’m not the only one eager to hear a new album from Amy Winehouse. In fact, I know I’m not the only one because her record label has been on at her for months about getting it finished and released. But Winehouse isn’t a lady (at all, arguably) to be rushed, and seems to be taking her sweet time over the follow-up to Back To Black.

Winehouse has been spending a lot of her time in St. Lucia, the Caribbean island where she has been living since December. So maybe it’s no surprise to hear that she’s been inspired by her new home when writing the new album. Although that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good move. Winehouse the reggae artist, anyone?

The Sun newspaper reports that Winehouse is basing the album not on her troubled love life or dalliances with substance abuse, but on island life and the folk stories surrounding St. Lucia. Not only that but she’s also hired three local musicians, who play traditional Caribbean instruments, to record the album with her.

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Booking tickets for an Amy Winehouse gig is becoming increasingly like playing the lottery. You pay your money, get your little slip of paper, and then anxiously wait to see the outcome. Unfortunately these days you’ll likely to be bitterly disappointed.

There’s a very real chance Winehouse will either pull the gig or not turn up. And even if she does manage to find her way to the venue she could then give a performance which leaves you and the rest of the crowd mystified and miffed.

Winehouse has had some time away from the spotlight recently, having a break from gigging to spend some time in her new adopted home of St. Lucia. But she’s due to start touring again very soon and would seem to need rehearsal time.

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Amy Winehouse has been a mess for a number of years now. As soon as she found fame and fortune it seemed to go straight to her head and set her off on a whirlwind descent into drink, drugs, and destruction.

She has spent the last six months or so relaxing in St. Lucia, having decided to take a break from performing live. She was meant to have written and recorded material for her new album in that time but that doesn’t seem to have happened.

Winehouse made her live comeback last night at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, an annual event now in its 18th year. Unfortunately, it all ended a little prematurely and her appearance wasn’t quite the return to form we’d all hoped for.

Winehouse did manage an hour-long set which included 14 songs. However, she forgot her words on a number of different occasions, constantly looked about to fall over, mumbled to herself throughout, and altogether failed to deliver the goods.

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Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse were, at one point, a kind of musical dream team. Ronson produced Winehouse’ ultra-successful Back To Black album, which made her a superstar the world over, and in return, Winehouse provided the vocals for Ronson’s Version version of The Zutons’ Valerie.

And then their relationship soured while the pair were working on a theme for the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. At the time, Ronson claimed that Winehouse wasn’t “ready to work on music yet.” The pair fell out and haven’t worked together since.

Circumstances look to have thrown the pair back together, with the demos of new material Winehouse gave the record label being reportedly rejected. Island Record bosses were thought to be unhappy with the direction Winehouse was taking the new album.

Enter Mark Ronson, who The Sun claims is now going to work his magic on the tracks Winehouse has prepared in order to make them more viable for inclusion on her next album.

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You won’t believe this, no seriously, you’ll think I’m winding you up or something. But it’s true, no joke, no hoodwinking - Amy Winehouse is in hospital again, this time on the island of St. Lucia. Well, I suppose it makes a change from spending time in London hospitals.

Amy Winehouse has been in St. Lucia for what seems like months after deciding to give up performing live for a while. But even a six-month holiday doesn’t look to have been enough to solve her many problems.

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Is Amy Winehouse set for a premature death? That is at least the opinion of Brit Music Scene readers who responded to me recent poll asking where Amy Winehouse was likely to end up.

I’m a huge fan of Winehouse’ music but her personal life keeps getting in the way and leaves a lot to be desired. And that saddens me because it means one of the most talented and world-renowned British artists this generation could end up messing her life up badly.

After reading about Winehouse’ activities on holiday in St. Lucia, I asked the question: What is Amy Winehouse’ ultimate fate? The answers were very much skewed in favor of the one none of us want for her but most of us seem to fear will happen.

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Is your record company giving you grief over your hard-partying, drugs and drink-fueled lifestyle? Or is it constantly on your back about it being high time you deliver a new album after two years without any new material being released?

If so, your name is probably Amy Winehouse, and you’re likely getting increasingly annoyed about the record company trying to tell you what to do. How dare they? So why not set your own label up instead and see how you cope with being a media mogul.

According to the News Of The World, Winehouse is doing exactly that, spending £1 million ($1.6 million) of her own hard-earned (sort of) cash to do so. The business is called Lioness and Winehouse has even signed her first act.

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What’s the first thing that springs to your mind when you think about Amy Winehouse? Drugs probably, then Blake Fielder-Civil, and then possibly music? But it seems all three of those things have now gone out of her life and been replaced by just one: love.

Love can conquer all, this is true, but I’m dubious as to whether it can make someone well known to be hooked on drink and drugs to give turn their back on substance abuse. But that is exactly what Amy Winehouse is claiming.

In a new interview with the News Of The World, Winehouse claims to have turned her back on drugs. The newspaper claims to have had exclusive contact with Winehouse while she’s on holiday in St. Lucia. She is pictured above with a News Of The World reporter.

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2008 was a great year for British music, as you can see by reading my review of the year (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4). But which British artist had the best year? That was the question I asked in my most recent poll and Brit Music Scene readers decided that 2008 was the year of Coldplay.

This was, of course, a very non-scientific poll and the results could be skewed somewhat. Even though this is a blog solely about British music, the majority of my readers are actually American. So no surprise then that the artist who won was the one likely to be most well known in the States.

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