Probably most famous for the interminable controversy that plagues her personal life, it’s easy to forget why the gutter press came to care so much about Amy Winehouse in the first place. The answer is just three words long: Back To Black.Capitalising on the promise of her critically-acclaimed, jazz-tinged debut, the North Londoner hooked up with producer Mark Ronson for its 2006 follow-up. What followed was a reinvention of herself as a beehive-d diva and a reconfiguration of her R&B sound, utilising sweeping strings and blasts of retro-brass to update 60s girl-group soul for the noughties. And, boasting the unrepentant, sassy shuffle of ‘Rehab’, the skank-soul of ‘Just Friends’ and the Spector-ish swing of the tear-stained title track, it’s an all-killer, no-filler pop masterstroke.Ronson’s superb arrangements aside, it’s Winehouse’s vocal range that’s truly astonishing here. Whether adopting a Lauryn Hill-esque, honeyed croon for the sepia-tinged, smoky bar room-jazz of ‘Love Is A Losing Game’, or channeling Etta James at her most impassioned on ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’, her deep, contralto drawl is never anything but utterly transfixing. Still AWOL at present, whether Winehouse will ever manage a follow-up, let alone match these heights again, is anyone’s guess. But with Back To Black she’s sealed her status as one of the all-time greats.