With their penchant for tattoos and distinctive grunge-inspired look British jazz chanteuse Amy Winehouse and her fiancé Blake Fielder-Civil have plenty in common in the style stakes. And the couple, who got engaged this month, certainly looked perfectly in tune as they took a stroll in Miami.
Enfield-born Amy, who is currently in America with her beau after completing her first US tour, started dating the 23-year-old music video assistant over two-and-a-half years ago. The couple split up briefly last year when Blake started seeing someone else. But their relationship seems on firmer ground this time around with American newspapers reporting that they could even tie the knot while Stateside.
Whether her romantic future is cemented or not, Amy's professional one is certainly going from strength to strength, with her contemporary blend of hip-hop and cocktail-style jazz and her heartfelt lyrics winning her fans on both sides of the pond. She made her debut in 2003 with the album Frank and the follow-up, Back To Black helped her scoop the award for best female solo artist at this year's Brit Awards in February.
The daughter of a cabbie father and pharmacist mother, Amy grew up listening to an eclectic combination of sounds ranging from Fifties crooner Frank Sinatra to US hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa. At age 12 she won a scholarship to a theatre school and later sang with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, landing her first record deal aged 17.
Despite the often introspective nature of her lyrics the 23-year-old beehive-coiffed siren says: "I'm a positive, happy person, generally. The songs I've written are about some bad times in my life. I needed to make something good out of something bad."
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