The Amy Winehouse Business Is Booming

Thirteen years after the retro-soul singer’s death, tribute bands, album reissues, and a new biopic are keeping her rebel spirit alive

- DAVID BROWNE

As anthony d’amato preps backstage at Sony Hall in midtown Manhattan, it’s hard not to notice his six-foot height, horn-rimmed glasses — and the name “Amy” in large black letters on the side of his head. It’s not a tattoo, just black liquid eyeliner easy to wash off, but it suits the occasion. In a few minutes, the New Jerseyan and his 12piece band will walk onstage, take their places beneath an LED sign lit up with Amy Winehouse’s first name and a simulation of her signature beehive, and play her Back to Black album start to finish — and hardly for the first time, either. “I really never imagined that it would become something that I would have done maybe 200 times at this point,” says D’Amato, who uses the stage name Remember Jones. “My queer friends, all people of color, my mom — everybody knew who Amy Winehouse was.”

In July 2011, Winehouse was found dead of alcohol poisoning at her home in the Camden neighborhood in London. She left behind a mere two albums (including the 2006 retro-pop classic Back to Black) and a checkered personal life plagued by addiction, marriage, divorce, and a million paparazzi photos documenting it all. In the years since, her musical and cultural influence have only grown. Lana Del Rey, Adele, Lady Gaga, and Future have all cited her as an influence; Miley Cyrus and Måneskin have covered her songs onstage. D’Amato’s show is merely one of many tribute acts working around the world, from the U.S. and the U.K. to Serbia and Slovenia, many featuring Winehouse lookalike singers sporting her trademark hairstyle, winged eyeliner, pumps, and miniskirts.