Dale Davis, long-time band leader for Amy Winehouse, is reminiscing about the last week of the singer’s life. Davis had bumped into Winehouse at the Camden Roundhouse, where she made her last-ever public appearance, briefly joining her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield onstage. “She said, ‘Let’s hang out,’” Davis says. “But the weird thing about that evening, it was July, and we were outside the Roundhouse and she said, ‘Dale, can you cuddle me? I’m cold.’ And Amy was never cold. So I cuddled her for the whole time, and just held her chatting.”
Winehouse died three days later. The night before, she rang Davis at 11.15pm. “We spoke for about 15 minutes. We had a wonderful chat. And maybe it was a realisation that it was the end for her. She said, ‘Dale, I’ve just been watching myself on YouTube. I can sing, can’t I?’ And I’m glad that she took the time to realise that because she never boasted about herself at all. I said, ‘Yeah, of course you can. You’re the best.’”
Davis was in Winehouse’s band from the very start in 2003, first as bassist before becoming musical director in late 2004. He saw it all through Winehouse’s all-too-short career: the staggering music and generational talent as well as the drink and drugs and the tabloid intrusion that came with her rise to notoriety. He now leads The Amy Winehouse Band, touring this autumn with singer Beth Morris, and into next year for the 20th anniversary of Winehouse’s mega-selling masterpiece, Back to Black. He’s on call with bandmate Ade Omotayo, the backing vocalist who joined her band in 2006.
