Blake Remembers The Real Amy Winehouse "She Was My Best Mate”

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0:53in your 20s uh can we talk about a rendezvous at a pub oh yeah okay at a pub which uh it's interesting i think is the well i want to say i think i might have gone to this pub or i I don't know if it's closed down. A good mix of? Yeah, yeah, I think so. It should still be there. Yeah, okay, still be there. Can you take me to that day, that evening, when you met Amy? So it really was a case of I'd been to watch a horse race. I'd won some money. And so I had that cockiness. So I was a bit flash. So I walked into the pub giving it lunch. Yeah. But I mean, I was a 20-odd-year-old man and full head of hair and, you know, a pocket full of money.

1:43So all of that felt really good. I think looking back, yeah, I was starting to get to a stage of enjoyment in my life for the first time. And a bit of security. Not in a sense of a mortgage and a job. Just in a, that's who I want to be. That's the type of person I'm. That's what I'm going to do. She was playing pool, if I remember. and I was quite good at pool so obviously I asked for a game of pool you did yeah I said I'll play next and then from there you know by that time don't you you do so you see her playing pool which believe it or not there's a few few little things I have for you okay I want to show you this is yeah yeah exactly it looks something like this exactly like that yeah yeah with that hair that type of top Yeah.

2:35Yeah. She loved pool. And I didn't realize that. So she was good at pool. Yes, she was. Amy was good at pool. Not as good as me, but she was good. Okay. So she could beat me quite often. Oh, she could? Yeah, she was that good. And she played a lot. All right. All right. So she's playing. You see her and you decide to play. Yeah. Do you remember the first words that you uttered to each other? As much as it would be nice to say it was something great? No, it would have just been, do you want a drink? Okay, okay. Do you want a drink? If it's not broken, you don't have to fix it. I think, but you've got to remember dating in 2002 or 2001, whatever it was when we first met, I think it was 2001.

3:17It was slightly different climate to today. It wasn't quite the same. It was perhaps more expected and common to chat to someone in a pub, to chat someone up. Yes. to talk to somebody that you meet rather than, you know, to rent a date or to just a different climate. It was. It was. You're right. So I was able to say, what do you fancy a drink or do you want a game? Just something like that. And then from there we were just doing our thing. You were just doing your thing, talking back and forth. What was it about her that really caught your eye in those first few moments? I've always maintained that she was a beautiful, beautiful woman.

3:57and i know that amy had self in image issues um again i i could elaborate on that in the sense that the media weren't always kind about amy's appearance even before the addiction i remember an article describing her as a plump jazz star this is like years and years so years before back to back was was written okay so there was always that kind of narrative again the press i'd like to think they're kinder nowadays i know they're not but um it was fully accepted and able to say oh this person's fat there was those things called a ring of truth on the cover of a celebrity magazine and they would highlight a picture of say a celebrity and it would be something about them like if they had like if they had hair under their arm or hair on the face or like you know dry skin on their feet and they would zoom it up to make it massive and they did one of amy having like some some kind of baby hair on the side of her face okay and just made a real thing of it and her acne so i think that was a part of our thing at first was that she thought i was good looking i knew she was so she got a validation in a sense from me saying you're hot i see it like you know i see it because she she didn't really believe that she was attractive exactly that okay and i think i would challenge the people that you'll have had on there as well you'll have had that where you can have a hundred people saying nice things then one or two people that for some reason you know they're the ones that you're remembering that can keep you up at night sometimes especially then take into account being in your 20s yes young so 2004 okay so you so you Meet 2004, at this point Frank, her album Frank is already out Yes, yeah So did you recognize her as a musician When she told me that she was a musician I was like because it was in Camden and everyone was a musician but then she said no I'm actually good

6:14She was like no I'm a real musician Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not saying it. You know, like, I was like, all right. And then when we first sort of chilled indoors and she got a guitar and singing to me, I was like, oh, yeah. Amazing. Ah, then she was real. Okay. But I didn't know the music. It wasn't my music per se. I've been into hardcore punk for 30 years. That's all I really tend to listen to. But Amy's music was something, you know, anyone could appreciate it. Anyone could hear it and go, oh, that's really, really different and unusual and beautiful. And, you know, her voice was obviously special.

6:54So I had an appreciation for it as soon as I knew it. But no, one of our first dates, we went into McDonald's and she went, oh, this is one of my songs. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I was like, oh. Look at that. Look at that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I think also it's important for everyone to understand that when Frank came out, this is her first album. Yeah. and it charted but it was nowhere near the mass success yeah i don't know the back to black was yeah yeah yeah as far as i'm well no i know back to black obviously did yeah huge numbers because that was you know i was i was around at that part by the time i met amy yeah frank had come out that we weren't followed everywhere by the press it was it was there there was an element of it but It was no way how it got.

7:42How good. So now with meeting Amy as well, what I saw in all the film's reading is that she had a boyfriend, you had a girlfriend. Is that accurate? Plan B is a backup birth control option that's there for you when things don't go according to plan. It specifically works after unprotected sex and before pregnancy occurs by temporarily delaying ovulation. Plan B is available nationwide at all major retailers and through delivery apps like DoorDash. No ID, prescription, or age requirement. It's the number one OBGYN-recommended brand of emergency contraception, and it won't impact your future fertility.

8:25That's freedom to be. Use as directed. Or no. Semi, I did have, yes, it is accurate. I did, we were seeing other people, but in a sense, I always thought I was at least in my head I thought I was quite up front in that sense I didn't try and deceive Amy I didn't say you know this isn't my situation but at the same time yeah I was seeing somebody else she was seeing somebody else it was not ideal the funness of like oh it's sounds scummy but they the illicitness of being like oh it's an affair it it's not fun it's not it's not sexy it's you just want to be with that person you don't want to do that and you don't want to carry that in your soul because it went to that relationship yes but now in the first um what was it the first it well feel you tell me you tell us okay is that the first month or so you two were together all the time all the time because didn't she this is where she got the tattoo of your name.

9:30Oh, yeah. Straight away. Was it within the first, like, straight away, within a couple of weeks? She came to see me at work. She used to come in maybe three, four times a week to come and sit with me, like, have a drink. And she came in one day. It was like an afternoon. We went upstairs. It was a really nice cafe in Camden. We went upstairs to the balcony. She goes, I've got something to show you. And then she showed me. Yeah. Two weeks, 10 days. It was cool. obviously you know you're like whoa for me that's me yeah two weeks in she has your name she then can't be in the other relationship you think yeah i was thinking you can't unless she is it's just a friend yeah um no obviously i think there was no hiding it on her side from that point but amy could be ruthless she would just tell you she was a lot a lot braver than me she would just say she'd be like no i'm i'm with this i'm with him i'm with it in in that first nine to ten months right yeah what are some of the things that you two would enjoy doing um you know what what was life like between the two of you um well we were young so we were in our 20s in camden so it was a good social scene that amy didn't do drugs at this stage she liked she liked smoking cannabis so our lives were at that stage going to the pub playing pool watching a lot of films okay sitting on the balcony of the front porch like just sitting there drinking bottles of doolies or baileys yes horribly sweet liquors and liqueurs yes um occasionally getting stoned together um yeah what would you all talk about because one of the things that i um just have been so impressed by is amy's writing ability yeah and how definitely yeah how incredible of a songwriter she is yeah which tells me that her thought when her heart was in it yes yeah she would she could write amazing i mean when i say that when art was in it there's times when Amy could have had the opportunity to write the music for the Bond film.

11:49Yeah, yeah, they asked her to do... Really? The second Daniel Craig one. It's a Quantum of Solace, I believe. They asked her to do that, and she couldn't do it at that stage. Her heart wasn't in it. That's what I mean when I say she was brave. So if she wanted to do something, it would be done. It would be done. I see it. I see it. I know she loved singing. I know she loved performing, but I also know there was a side of Amy that would have loved to have been able to just be somebody completely anonymous, okay? In a sense, I don't mean that as in she didn't want to have her talent. She did. She loved it.

12:24It was what she was born to do. But there were times in the first nine, ten months where even though, as I've said earlier, the press wasn't as bad, there were still occasions when she would be out shopping and she wasn't able to shop because people would come up to her and it would get quite, intense there was no bodyguards around she was just like out shopping in sainsbury's um and she yeah i remember that quite quite vividly she came back one time really really upset just before back to black after frank just said you know i i don't know if i want this this is i want to be able to go and do normal things but i i feel like obviously if she would still be around she would definitely have worked out how to do both by now how to imagine yeah i didn't realize that at that period that she was already beginning to have a adverse reaction to yeah to people recognizing her not just people recognizing unkind comments in newspaper articles or just it would sometimes affect people's perceptions so amy was quite from this especially from back to back after that stage with the rehab song it was almost accepted that it was a part of the it was a part of um the tabloids week they'll get a picture of amy drinking you know or partying uh so i think yeah i think there was an advert there was always an awareness i think amy used to work for a newspaper as well so she knew full well what she was dealing with all right all right fair so she she wrote I fell in love with somebody who I would have died for.

14:05We were in love and we were together and that's like a real drug. Would you say that you two fell for each other too fast? With Amy and I, we were in love, no doubt about it, and most definitely would have died for each other and would have done anything for each other. it wasn't a case that it was more too intense, too fast. Can I show you a photo? Most certainly. That I believe is one of the coolest photos I think I've ever seen of a couple. And to me, this represents the epitome of London during this time. That's it. That's a happy picture, that, isn't it? Yes. Can you describe what's happening there?

15:05Yeah, I'm doing... I think what's going on there. Sorry, that's an ace picture. It's funny seeing these pictures. These aren't things I look at. Yeah. These are memories which are hard for me to revisit. You understand that? Yeah. It's hard for me because she's not here still. I hear you. and that was my best mate yeah and you know we were happy and the drugs was a side of it eventually but there was also just the day-to-day couple live just feeling safe together watching a film having a laugh together maybe having a meal normal stuff that love was built on our love had nothing to do with addiction and addiction had nothing to do with our love that's where it went it wasn't who we were in that I'm with you and and that's why this for me and I won't even I know I know it's it's it's you know it's interesting I didn't realize how heavy looking at some of these images would be for you but now hearing what you're saying especially because you haven't looked at these no I don't quite some time for for me this embodied I think the love that you two had you know a bit cheeky it's a bit silly it's silly cheeky um yeah so when you think about how fast that love was so you said that you really it was it was fast it was intense is that what led to the first breakup yeah obviously the drinking was creeping up and then And I said, this is getting a bit much, and we're saying horrible things to each other when we don't mean.

16:55Let's give it a little rest. It was after that she was the first attempt at rehab, yeah. Okay. For alcohol, not for drugs. Exactly, for alcohol. And this is also during this period, she's writing Back to Black. That's right, yeah. So this gave her the experiences. um so yeah so me essentially obviously there's been so many people that have said it i remember this is me being a name dropper you ready yes i was at coachella festival and drew barrymore came into the dressing room and i just loved you barrymore great actress yes amy too she came into the dressing room and said back to black's the best breakup album ever she goes i broke up with my boyfriend recently and i've just been driving around listening to it in the car and just it's helped me so much yes yes so back but that came from a real place because it was our breakup it was so so you know when i think about this is that back so back to black let's just look at the the sheer reach of it yeah so over eight times platinum in the uk well i know she did very well I've been with her when she was presented lots of discs.

18:04I remember lots of discs. So Back to Black was certified eight times platinum in the UK, three times platinum in the US. It sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of the 2000s. It spent over 170 weeks on the UK albums chart. Went on to win five Grammys. Yeah. All right. Now, I happen to have right here next to me. Yeah. If this is OK. I'm not sure if it's too much. I got thanked on this. Oh, you did? Yeah, I think so. I think my name's on here at the back. So it's definitely in the thanks. Let's see if it's inside. I'll show you it because I remember she brought it to the pub to show me.

18:49I was laughing. So I just get one little. Oh, here it is. Yeah. oh oh wow i know you were just can you see now why i was a little bit i see it thank you yeah you're just kind of mixed in there but i think she was at the time when this was asked to be off to write her thanks she was still in seeing the person that she'd been seeing over our break so she was trapped in a bit of a position of i can't really release this album and then thank the person it's about because you know it's yes yes more i mean it is it's a genuinely authentic up upset breakup album sorry it is genuinely yeah to to to the point where you recommend it to people when they're oh my goodness listen to this do do you have do you have a favorite track yeah i liked i like um well like when i was seeing a live my favorite track's not on there my favorite track was on frank so my favorite track of amy's ever is called me pumps which is the best song on frank in my opinion my favorite song on this one i loved the beat of you know i'm no good yes i went to see that music video that was a i had a real you know trip because she's like this that guy's you that's you that yeah it's the first time i knew that she'd written any song about me at all was when she said oh blake i'm i'm doing a video do you want to come and see me i was like yeah course i'll come and see you i went there i had no idea what the album was she hadn't played it to me really and i'm stood there and and then i was like listening things i'm hearing lines like jamaica and spain and i'm like well i went to jamaica and you went to is this about i said is this about me and and she went it's all about you so the whole album's about you so it's like when when i was in the blake tattoo i was like what what you know that kind like i'm happy and proud and and like but blown away as well like how it's such a strange feeling to have somebody write you know not just songs beautiful amazing songs about you yes even if some of it's like you were a bit of a bit of a bastard bit of a player a bit of a you know like that kind of amy liked that sound that kind of 60s girl group sound she liked um she liked that kind of feeling which was obviously more you know acceptable maybe 20 30 years ago she she liked the idea of being like hopelessly in love yes of being you know almost old-fashioned in a sense she said to me many times i want to just be a wife just make you dinner and just you know that to be us that's i'm just your wife yes get your beer after work type thing yeah you know Quite honestly, it's an album that you just can play.

21:40There's no skips. Do you know, funnily enough, when me and Amy used to be, we were in, last time it happened, I think I can remember, it was in Cannes or Nice or whatever, and we'd gone to a bar and they were playing it, and she always said, can you turn that off? Yeah. She would never want to hear it out and about. Why do you think that is? I don't know. I think maybe it contained a lot of memories for her that went deeper than just somebody, you know, maybe singing along to rehab. Okay. Okay. I think that's part of why Amy, aside from the music, aside from the actual genius of the songs, is that people can relate to it because she's writing about things that most people have felt you know like just being in love with somebody and it not working out for whatever reasons and how that feels and how it hurts and yes love's a real dark commotion at times it can make you do some really crazy things yes so how quickly do you two come back together i remember clearly that the the confirmation of let's just do this again let's just get back together i'd gone to see her in a pub called the Hawley Armstead Camden the guy that she was previously seeing uh showed up and she said yeah I'm with Blake obviously I'm going to be with Blake I know I've always loved Blake you knew that when I met you so you can't really be too upset about it she was that a matter of fact yeah and the guy got photographed it was a story there were journalists everywhere they knew it they said oh Amy gets rid of yeah her ex-frived of Alex and yeah was was that really the moment that you two were back together?

23:23From then on, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that was, that was, uh, I'd say we were married about maybe seven, eight months, so yeah. Like a bit. And if you want to hear the full unfiltered stories from today's guest, you can check them out on the We Need to Talk page. Drop a like, leave a comment, and hit subscribe. See you next week.

23:51Bye.