FACE THE MUSIC
By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

A New British Invasion?

Amy Winehouse's Rise May Say
More About the Pervasive
Influence of American Music

May 9, 2007
Singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse was born on British soil but raised
on American music. Listeners may find that her songs have a haunting
familiarity about them -- most are originals, but they sometimes
sound like remixes of radio classics from the Motown Era. (Listen to
Ms. Winehouse singing "Me & Mr. Jones" -- Real1 | Windows Media2)

Is Ms. Winehouse's music an echo of the past or a sign of things to
come? Critics have embraced her as both -- and as the face of what
some see as a new trans-Atlantic trend. Though one could argue that
given her influences, Ms. Winehouse's ascension isn't really
evidence of the rise of a new British musical empire, but more proof
of the pervasive influence American music and culture have around
the world.

Every few years someone in the American media, like some pop music
Paul Revere, announces that the British are coming. Back in the
1960s, the first supposed British invasion was led by the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and Dusty Springfield. (Listen to Ms.
Springfield singing "Son of a Preacher Man" -- Real3 | Windows
Media4) A second so-called invasion was launched in the late 1970s,
with the Sex Pistols, the Clash and Elvis Costello.

Over the last few years, and increasingly in the last couple months,
a fresh crop of Brits including Ms. Winehouse has come to the fore.
Many in the new group are female singers, and several have made an
impact on the upper reaches of the U.S. music charts, including Lily
Allen (listen to Ms. Allen singing "Smile" -- Real5 | Windows
Media6), the Grammy-nominated Corinne Bailey Rae (listen to her
singing "Put Your Records On" -- Real7 | Windows Media8), and the
Grammy-winning musical prodigy Joss Stone (listen to her
singing "Fell in Love With a Boy" -- Real9 | Windows Media10).

But please don't call it an invasion. First off, there is no truly
distinct new sound shared by the newest crop of performers. The
individual styles of the singers actually vary quite widely, from
polite pop (Ms. Rae) to cheeky ska-lite (Ms. Allen) and retro-soul
(Ms. Stone).

In fact, the latest group of British performers may not even be all
that British. I was struck, when I talked to Ms. Stone a few months
ago, that she cited mostly American performers, not European ones,
as her main influences. In addition, an American R&B
performer/producer, Raphael Saadiq, produced her last CD.

All of which brings us back to Ms. Winehouse. Her album "Back to
Black" is a bestseller and her single "Rehab" is a hit. (Listen --
Real11 | Windows Media12) I interviewed her not long ago and found
her accent was much thicker talking on the phone than it is when
she's singing, making me even more conscious of how the American
music she loves may have shaped her vocal delivery. When she talked
about the music her family used to listen to when she was a child,
almost every act she listed -- Frank Sinatra, Thelonious Monk,
Charlie Parker, Michael Jackson -- was American. I don't think she
was simply catering to me because I'm an American -- she was blunt
about the American artists she didn't care for, such as Nina Simone.

Indeed, Ms. Winehouse's music owes much more to America than it does
to the U.K. On "Back to Black," her songs make lyrical reference to
Donny Hathaway and Ray Charles; her song "Tears Dry on Their Own"
features an interpolation of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by
American singer-songwriters Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
(Listen to Ms. Winehouse singing "Tears" -- Real13 | Windows
Media14) A bonus remix of the song "You Know I'm No Good" features
Ms. Winehouse dueting with American rapper Ghostface Killah.

Now, of course, if one is willing to argue that the newest British
influx, led by Ms. Winehouse, isn't really British and therefore
isn't really an invasion, then one could also contend that there
really never has been a British invasion -- not now, not in the 70s
and not even in the 1960s.

To say that British invasions aren't real isn't to say the acts
involved in them aren't important. Obviously the Beatles are one of
the greatest pop acts of all time and today, many critics are
embracing Ms. Winehouse's music as something serious and noteworthy.

Instead of British invasions, what if we said "British echoes"?
American listeners occasionally seem to need to hear foreign voices
singing American music back at them -- if only to remind them, or in
some cases show them for the first time, the worth of some of the
musical forms that have been developed on these shores.

When Americans hear Brits singing their music, it sends the signal
that the music has real value -- or why would a country with such a
rich cultural history be embracing it? It would be better if
Americans didn't need such outside reinforcement of their musical
opinions, but such reinforcement has been part of pop music for
decades.

In the 1960s and 1970s British acts, including Eric Clapton,
displayed a devotion for the blues that outstripped that of many
Americans -- and helped win the form new respect and listeners in
the country that invented it. And certainly Beatlemania in the 1960s
elevated rock in the American pop-culture pantheon to a place it had
never been before.

In the late 1980s, I remember going with some of my college
classmates to see a hot new British singer named Terence Trent
D'Arby. He was getting raves in the press and play on the radio, and
my friends were duly impressed by his live show. As it turned out,
Mr. D'Arby was originally from New York City and had lived abroad.
But his British connection helped give his import soul a leg up in
the American market. (Mr. D'Arby has since changed his name to
Sananda Maitreya.)

Hearing American echoes from abroad can offer some fresh insights.
There's been quite a lot of talk recently about what some see as the
vulgar and misogynist content in some hip-hop lyrics, with voices
across the political spectrum condemning the use of racist and
sexist language in rap.

But one thing that isn't discussed enough is that hip-hop culture
has also given rise to a wave of female vocalists melding hip-hop
with soul, including Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Beyoncé
and Alicia Keys. And these singer-songwriters have created songs
that celebrate the strength and resilience of women. (Listen to Ms.
Hill singing "Selah" -- Real15 | Windows Media16) The new wave of
British singers coming to American shores were deeply impacted by
the sounds of these American singers, as well as female American
performers from previous generations, such as Diana Ross.

The links between U.S. hip-hop and soul and the new British
vocalists are varied and deep. Ms. Hill makes a cameo on Ms. Stone's
new CD. And Ms. Winehouse's CD was produced, in part, by Salaam
Remi, who has worked with Ms. Blige and Ms. Hill. In my interview
with Ms. Winehouse, she cited Ms. Hill's debut album as having a
major impact on her when she was younger.

Trends come and go, but artists with talent outlast the musical
movements that initially brought them to the public's attention. Ms.
Winehouse has made the rounds of American talk shows (she recently
appeared on "The Tonight Show") and is now on a U.S. tour. She has a
rough, outspoken personality that's won her loads of press coverage.
Not all of the media attention has been welcome, no doubt, but she
seems to be solidifying her hold on lasting fame.

The British aren't coming. They're already here -- and they may be
staying for a while. (Listen to Ms. Winehouse singing "Just
Friends" -- Real17 | Windows Media18)

Write to Christopher John Farley at christopher.farley@...

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(19) mailto:christopher.farley@...

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