It may be the last recording we hear of Amy Winehouse: a 45-second snippet of Amy Winehouse”s duet with Tony Bennett on “Body & Soul” from his Sept. 20 set “Duets II.” The project commemorates the legendary singer”s 85th birthday. The set also includes Carrie Underwood, k.d. lang, and Michael Buble.
Winehouse sounds clear and strong here. We”ve heard the entire track and she sounds like she”s channeling some of her influences, including Billie Holiday. If it’s the last thing we ever hear from her (although I doubt that), it will be a fitting send off.
[More after the jump…]
The track was recorded earlier this year at London”s Abbey Road studios. If this album was recorded in the same manner as 2006″s “Duets,” the artists are with Bennett in the studio and everything is recorded live. That means if you can”t sing or get through the song in its entirety, you are not on the album. Maybe out of respect for Bennett, Winehouse was able to pull it together. We wrote about Bennett”s advice to Winehouse here.
(I was lucky enough to be in the studio in 2006 when Bennett and Elton John recorded “Rags To Riches” and it was a throwback to an earlier time. Bennett”s trio was in the studio with them and everything was recorded live all at once. Three takes and they were done).