Until now Amy Winehouse's gravity-defying brunette beehive has been as much a part of her image as the sweeping black eyeliner and sultry singing voice. The jazz sensation has started the New Year with a dramatic image change, though, swapping her dark tresses for a striking platinum blonde hue.
The slender singer, who has just returned from a festive break at the Mustique villa of rock icon Bryan Adams, caused a stir when she nipped out to a corner shop close to her Camden home displaying the new golden 'do swept up in a patterned headscarf.
"Amy decided she wanted to bleach her hair at the beginning of the week," says a friend of the 24-year-old, who was later spotted shopping in central London with her cabbie father Mitch. "She sees it as a new year and a new start. A change of image seemed a good way to mark it."
There is one aspect of Amy's hairstyle she's decided to stick with, however. "It hasn't been all cut off," explains the pal. "She's still got long hair."