Keith Richards has described Amy Winehouse as a “sad story” and believes the late singer “had so much more potential”.
The Rolling Stones recorded a version of Amy’s You Know I’m No Good for their newest album, Foreign Tongues. Keith praised the artist, who died from alcohol poisoning in 2011 after drinking heavily following a period of sobriety, as “one of the best to come out of England”.
Speaking with Billboard, he said: “Loved the song. Always thought that Amy was a sad story in many ways, but she was one of the best to come out of England, and probably had so much more potential. I’m not sure who kicked the idea off, whether it was Mick or Andrew [Watt, producer], but we said, ‘Well, you know, we used to, we started off, we were a cover band, basically, so if there’s one you wanted to cover now, what would it be?’ And Amy came out on top.”
The Rolling Stones had previously joined Amy onstage to perform the Temptations’ Ain’t Too Proud to Beg at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2007. Singer Sir Mick Jagger said choosing You Know I’m No Good for Foreign Tongues felt “organic”.
He shared: “We were looking for a good song to cover from a female vocalist, and we were thinking of early people, and then we said, ‘Let’s do something a bit more recent.’ We alighted on that song. I always liked that song. I could have written it, you know what I mean? Almost. I felt that I could have written that song, because it’s like a minor-key harmonica lead. I just copied the horn lead and played it on harmonica, so it felt very organic.”
Amy was discovered dead inside her apartment in Camden, north London, on Saturday, July 23, 2011. She was 27 years old.
Dr Shirley Radcliffe, the St Pancras coroner, recorded a verdict of misadventure and stated: “She voluntarily consumed alcohol, a deliberate act that took an unexpected turn in that it caused her death.”
The Guardian reported that Winehouse had 416mg of alcohol per decilitre in her bloodstream, a level capable of causing unconsciousness and suppressing the respiratory system.
Paramedics found Winehouse unresponsive in her bed, with empty vodka bottles lying on the floor.
