The last couple of years have seen British female solo artists emerge like never before. At one point, we boasted of Annie Lennox and that was about it. Now, the UK has Amy Winehouse (for all her flaws), Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Leona Lewis, Duffy, Adele, and many others. And now there’s a new singer to add to the list: Pixie Lott.

Pixie Lott scored a huge debut number one last Sunday when she topped the British singles chart with Mama Do. In doing so, she became the first British female solo artist who hasn’t emerged from a reality TV show to do so. It’s an annual occurrence for someone from The X Factor to do so - Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke - but here is a gem of a singer not to have taken that route.

Lott has a very similar Pop/R’n'B sound to her as Duffy and Adele. She’s like a combination of the two, with a little Winehouse thrown in for good measure. Which is quite a heady mix. Mama Do shows off her style really well, allowing her to sing around a catchy bassline which accentuates rather than overbears her voice.

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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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There is so much crap being written about swine flu at the moment. Yes, it’s a serious problem, yes, it could turn into a pandemic, and yes, it’s sad that people are dying from it. The rest? Pure conjecture on the part of scientists and health organizations.

What proved this for me was the news that N-Dubz singer, Tulisa Contostavlos, fell ill on a flight to Greece last week and was immediately suspected of having swine flu. Why - was she flying from Mexico? No. Was she on the verge of death? No, she merely had the sniffles.

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Amy Winehouse seems to be intent on delaying working on her new album until either one of two things happen: her record label get tired of waiting and cut her loose; we all forget who she is, what she sounds like, and the fact she even exists.

Most artists try to release new material every two years, although some, especially in the rap genre, tend to release an album every year. Amy Winehouse’s last record, Back To Black, which made her a household name around the world, was released in October, 2006 - two-and-a-half years ago.

Her record company knows it’s been too long and is desperate for her to hurry up and record the next album. There’s obviously some selfishness there because Universal knows it can make a load of money from it. But even I think Winehouse should get on with it.

Amy seems to have fallen in love with something other than Blake Fielder-Civil recently, spending all her time in St. Lucia. So her record company sent her back over there to lay down some tracks for the next album.

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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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Lily Allen, the gorgeous and talented British singer-songwriter, and Perez Hilton, the fat, publicity-seeking, celeb-obsessed blogger have never been what I’d exactly call friends. But their long-running feud has just taken a turn for the worst on Twitter.

For the uninitiated amongst you, Twitter is a micro-blogging social network that allows to to keep in touch with friends and strangers alike, all by using updates of 140 characters or less. It’s also becoming increasingly popular amongst celebrities.

The Twitter fight between Lily Allen and Perez Hilton began when Hilton tweeted:

Is casting the music video for her next single, which she’s shooting in LA. Tell her U think she should have Perez in it!

Allen replied:

oh , I’m sorry , we’ve already cast the jealous and bitter lonely old queen role. Next time eh ?

And then the bitchiness from both sides went into overdrive.

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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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