In a full circle moment, The Zutons have released a cover of Amy Winehouse’s track “Back to Black”. Winehouse and producer Mark Ronson famously covered the bands song “Valerie” in 2007, with their Motown influenced version becoming a global hit. This new cover from The Zutons was born from a Live Lounge performance where they played their original version of “Valerie”, as well as their own rendition of “Back to Black”, a more stripped-down arrangement featuring breakbeat drums, indie instrumentation and softer vocals. Their take on the Winehouse hit was so well received, they decided to record and release it officially.
One of their most well-known tunes, the indie anthem “Valerie” was written while the Zutons were touring in Florida, after frontman Dave McCabe met a makeup artist named Valerie Star, who was undergoing legal troubles, referenced in the lyrics “Did you have to go to jail? Put your house up for sale? Did you get a good lawyer?”
On producing the seminal Winehouse cover, Mark Ronson told The Guardian “Valerie was a song Amy loved whenever they played it at her local. We cut a slowed-down version that got the cool, Stonesy swagger. But just as we were packing up, I said: “Guys, you’ll want to kill me, but could we do just another version with a Motown backbeat?”
Speaking with The Independent, Singer McCabe recalls meeting Amy for the first time at a house party in Camden – upon telling a drunken guest to stop bothering him, Amy jumped to the defence of the hanger-on, who was her friend. Both McCabe and Winehouse told each other to “f**k off”, with McAbe storming out of the party, before realizing he had no way to get back home.
Amy then ran out of the party after McCabe, telling him “Come back! I love that song “Valerie”! I didn’t realise it was you who wrote that!’ They then went back to the party on better terms, and the next thing they know Amy had made a cover of their song.
Similarly to Winehouse, the Zutons singer has been in the throes of substance abuse – now sober, he attributes his bands inactivity partly to his former habits: “I was in a world of drug addiction, basically – for a f***ing long time! I had a lot of fun. But then, you know, it got the better of me. And it wasn’t fun anymore. And I started to realise I couldn’t really function outside of that.”
Winehouse and Ronson’s version of “Valerie” was an international hit, reaching the top 40 in multiple countries. When Winehouse passed in 2011, the song caught a second wind of success – McCabe remembers people tastelessly texting him money emojis upon the news of her untimely demise.
17 years after Amy Winehouse covered their song ‘Valerie’, The Zutons have premiered a cover of the late singer’s huge anthem ‘Back to Black’
Watch the video here https://t.co/ONwYw3Op6w
— Absolute Radio (@absoluteradio) December 6, 2024
In an interview with NME, the band said of the cover: “We’ve always been proud of how Amy made ‘Valerie’ her own, and to have the opportunity to honour her in this way feels really special.”
The Zutons are currently on tour supporting singer-songwriter Paul Heaton and have their own UK headline tour scheduled for spring. Tickets are available here.
