While accepting the Outstanding Contribution to Music honor at the BRIT Awards on February 28, 2026, producer Mark Ronson recalled another honor in his life. During his speech, he acknowledged the 20th anniversary of the first time he met Amy Winehouse.
Ronson co-produced the 2006 album Back to Black, with Winehouse recording with Salaam Remi in Miami and Ronson in New York. In 2007, they recorded a cover of The Zutons’ “Valerie” for Ronson’s album Version, which became one of Winehouse’s most notable vocal performances after Back To Black.
“I realized on the way here that on Thursday, March 6, it’ll be twenty years to the day that Amy Winehouse came up to my studio in New York City,” Ronson addressed the crowd gathered at the BRIT Awards ceremony. “She came up to the steps, and she said, ‘I’m here to meet Mark Ronson.’ And I said, ‘That’s me.’ She goes, ‘I thought you were an old guy with a beard.’ Now I’m an old guy.”
Mark Ronson Recalls First Meeting Amy Winehouse 20 Years Ago in New York
Mark Ronson continued his speech, recalling how they wrote the title track for Amy Winehouse’s album that night.
“We went upstairs, and we talked for four hours,” he said. “And that night we wrote [title track] ‘Back to Black’ and that day changed my life forever.”
Working with Amy Winehouse essentially skyrocketed Ronson’s career. The album also brought Winehouse to a new level of international fame. Since then, Ronson has worked with some of the biggest artists of the 2010s who made lasting names for themselves. Ronson even admitted that he “can’t believe” some of the people he’s produced.
“Artists like Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Queens, Raye, the list goes on,” he said. “But I know the music I made with Amy is the reason any of them know who I am anyway, so that’s why I’ll always treasure her voice, her talent, our bond, all of it.”
As part of accepting the BRIT Award honor, Ronson performed a medley of hits he produced, joined on stage by Dua Lipa and Ghostface Killah. He was also joined by Amy Winehouse’s former backup singers as well as Sharon Jones’ former band, The Dap-Kings, who contributed to Back To Black. Ronson performed his hit with Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk”, along with Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night” and “Electricity”. He then continued to honor Winehouse with renditions of “Back To Black” and “Valerie”.
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