Rolling Stone's Artists to Watch: The Rockers and Rappers Who Will Dominate 2007

I should just be my own best friend," Amy Winehouse sings on her vintage-soul album, Back to Black. "Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men." Unfortunately for Winehouse, without her failed relationships — and her ongoing bout with the bottle — there would be no Back to Black. "The black refers to being in a black mood, in a dark hole," says Winehouse, 23, who was raised in North London, surrounded by hip-hop. Back to Black veers away from the jazzy tone of her debut, 2003's Frank, as the singer indulges in her latest infatuations: Motown, doo-wop and Sixties girl groups. "All I listen to now is soul," she says.

THE FORMULA (Aretha Franklin x Janis Joplin) - Food = Amy Winehouse

SOUND While Winehouse's gritty delivery — recalling Sarah Vaughan and Etta James — belies her young age, it's a gift for writing about personal demons with a blunt, brutal and, at times, amusing honesty that gives Black its edge. On "Rehab," which is already a smash hit in the U.K., Winehouse refuses to get help for her alcohol dependency, singing, "I don't never want to drink again/I just, ohh I just need a friend." In addition to Winehouse's pipes, what sets the album apart from today's other soul projects is its vintage feel. "It's one of the best recordings ever," says Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson. "She's coming from Fifties and Sixties doo-wop, and they nailed that sound exactly."

MUST-HAVE TRACK "Tears Dry on Their Own"
Winehouse channels her inner Smokey Robinson to deal with a nasty breakup on this sould gem.

WINEHOUSE, SOUSED In early March, Winehouse abruptly canceled two big London gigs. Though the shows were officially nixed due to "unforeseen circumstances," Winehouse says it was because she'd fallen down drunk. "I broke a big tooth," she says. "I had a massive gap in the front of my mouth." It's one of Winehouse's many alcohol-induced lapses. In January, in New York, she tore up her left arm after a drunken spill. That month, she also vomited midsong during a club gig in London. And during a visit to the U.K.'s Charlotte Church Show, she boozily stammered her way through a televised version of "Beat It." (Watch the clip on YouTube.) She is unapologetic about her taste for alcohol, but she hopes that a breakthrough record in the States will keep her busy enough to lay off the bottle. "I love going on tour more than anything else," says Winehouse. "It keeps me off the streets." AUSTIN SCAGGS

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