Amy Winehouse Records Quincy Jones Tribute

Amy Winehouse — who last month gave a surprise performance with her producer Mark Ronson at a London movie premiere — has taken another step closer to functional stardom, contributing a song to the upcoming Quincy Jones tribute album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra, due November 9th. Winehouse and Ronson covered Lesley Gore's 1963 song "It's My Party," one of Quincy's first hits as a producer. "I am thrilled that she and Mark wanted to be a part of this album and I absolutely love what they did to make the song their own," Jones said in a statement. "Amy's talents as an artist are undisputable and I am astounded not only by her voice but by her tremendous knowledge of and respect for music and its history."

Photos: A (Tumultous) Year in the Life of Amy Winehouse

"It's My Party" will be the first notable new song Winehouse has appeared on since her hit cover of the Zutons' "Valerie," which appeared on Mark Ronson's 2007 album Version. (It's the song she performed in London last month.) Winehouse, recently better known for her drug exploits than her music, has promised that her new album will be released by January 2011. Ronson admits, though, that the pair haven't started recording yet.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

More Song Stories entries »

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