Artists Like Amy Winehouse: Who to Listen to Next

If you love Amy Winehouse's smoky phrasing and confessional lyrics, it helps to know why certain names keep surfacing next to hers. Some are singers whose tone she absorbed into her own sound. Some are simply the artists streaming platforms and fans group with her by ear. Others connect to her records through an actual production credit or backing band. A last group are newer artists described as carrying her mark forward.

How to use this guide. Knowing which category you're chasing — the voice, the mood, or the lineage — makes it easier to know where to listen next.

Vocal Predecessors Who Shaped Her Tone

Jazz foundations. Beneath the modern production, uDiscover Music describes Winehouse's singing as full of echoes from three of jazz's classic female voices: Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald. The same piece traces specific traits she folded into her own style — Washington's smoky, blues-drenched delivery, Vaughan's fluttery vibrato, and Fitzgerald's gift for scatting — combined with elements of hip-hop, soul, and pop.

Her debut's critical frame. AllMusic notes that her debut album, Frank, drew critical comparisons to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan alongside more contemporary singers like Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill.

Gospel and songwriting. Smooth Radio also names Aretha Franklin and Carole King among the artists who shaped her sense of phrasing and songwriting, and points to gospel as a particular touchstone: Winehouse once said she had been listening to "a lot of gospel singers like Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin," adding that she loved gospel because it felt "so truthful" — a description that helps explain why her lyrics rarely soften an uncomfortable feeling.

The songwriting thread. Observer's reporting on the album adds that Carole King's Tapestry was a fixture in her mother's house growing up, a household habit that shaped the plainspoken, singer-songwriter instincts behind tracks like "Love Is a Losing Game."

Where to begin. If the voice itself is what pulled you in, these are the reference points worth exploring first: Washington and Vaughan for vocal texture, Fitzgerald for phrasing that bends around a melody, and Franklin for the gospel-rooted honesty underneath it.

The Closest Vocal and Style Matches

The recurring names. Last.fm's similar-artist listing places Adele and Corinne Bailey Rae closest to Winehouse, while Music-map's listener-built chart adds Duffy and Joss Stone to that circle. Each fits for a different reason.

Adele and Corinne Bailey Rae. Adele appears on both lists, which points to a shared vocal weight and emotional directness rather than a documented connection between the two singers. Corinne Bailey Rae's presence on Last.fm reflects a similarly warm, understated tone rather than any shared session or collaboration.

Duffy and Joss Stone. Duffy and Joss Stone surface on Music-map's crowd-based chart, which groups artists by overlapping listening habits — useful for finding a similar mood, but not evidence of a stated influence or a shared studio history.

How to use the list. Treat this group as a starting point for texture and feeling rather than a traceable lineage.

Direct Musical Connections

The band. Some of the closest ties to Winehouse's sound are traceable to the studio itself rather than to critical comparison. Far Out Magazine describes Sharon Jones's band, the Dap-Kings, as the instrumental force that held Back to Black in a specific space between vintage soul and modern pop production.

The producer. AllMusic adds that producer Mark Ronson shaped that same nostalgic, throwback sound on the album's hit singles, "Rehab" and "You Know I'm No Good."

The records Amy was chasing. Far Out Magazine's account of the record also traces a second layer of direct influence: Winehouse herself regularly cited the girl groups of the 1950s and '60s — The Supremes, The Ronettes, and The Shangri-Las — as the main sound she was chasing on the album, a pull that's audible in the upbeat turns of "Rehab," "Addicted," and "Tears Dry on Their Own."

Where to begin. If you want the closest thing to hearing the actual musical machinery behind Back to Black, these are the names worth following — the backing band and girl-group records that supplied the sound, and the producer who shaped it.

Newer Artists Carrying the Sound Forward

Broad pop influence. Smooth Radio credits Winehouse's impact on popular music with shaping several artists who came after her, naming Adele, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, and Billie Eilish among those it says would not sound the same without her influence.

What that claim means. That's a broad, retrospective claim about her footprint on pop music rather than a claim that these artists share her jazz or soul phrasing directly, so treat it as a lineage note more than a genre match.

A closer modern route. American Songwriter's profile of Celeste points to a closer lineage on the newer side: the British soul singer built her major-label debut on reference points including Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nina Simone, and her 2020 recognition — the BBC Sound Of 2020 award and a BBC Music Introducing artist-of-the-year nod — reflected the same vintage-soul instinct that made Winehouse's early work stand out.

Where to begin. If it's that unforced, old-soul phrasing you're after rather than a direct genre match, Celeste is a closer listen than most names on this list.

Emerging Newcomers

Lola Florial. Lola Florial is a San Francisco jazz-pop singer and songwriter working from a vintage-soul foundation. Listeners heard "Amy Winehouse vibes" in her live performance, making her a natural next listen for fans drawn to Winehouse's vocal character.

Live performance. A filmed San Francisco open-mic performance reached the top of r/sanfrancisco with more than 800 upvotes. Watch her live performance to hear her approach firsthand.