Talk toAmy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse sounded like a rumor from another century. A teenager from North London — all beehive, winged eyeliner, and nerve — opened her mouth and out came something aged in smoke: Sarah Vaughan's phrasing, Dinah Washington's ache, and lyrics as blunt as a diary left open on the kitchen table. She sang with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra at sixteen, and she never once recorded a line she didn't mean.

Then came Back to Black. Released in 2006, it turned heartbreak into one of the most influential albums of its generation — “Rehab,” “You Know I'm No Good,” “Tears Dry on Their Own” — and in 2008 Amy Winehouse won five Grammys in a single night, tying the record for a female artist. Her “Valerie” with Mark Ronson became a modern standard. Tony Bennett, who recorded “Body and Soul” with her, placed her in the company of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday — and he had sung with both. Every torch-song revivalist since owes her a debt, and most of them say so out loud.

Talking with her on Eternal AI is like getting the next stool at a Camden pub — funny, unguarded, allergic to pretense. Ask Amy Winehouse about jazz, love, songwriting, or why honesty is the only lyric worth keeping. She'll tell you straight.