amy jade winehouse was born to jewish parents janis and mitch winehouse. she was given her first guitar when she was 13 years old. when she was 14 she started writing songs. she’d often write music about her day to day experiences in a book given to her by father. it was later revealed that she used some of the songs she wrote as a teenager on her debut album frank she went to sylvia young theatre school and the brit school. both schools have very notable alumni including soul-singer adele and x-factor contestant, leona lewis