Amy Winehouse vs Dmitri Shostakovich
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Amy Winehouse | Dmitri Shostakovich | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Jazz | Composer |
| Born | 1983 | 1906 |
| Died | 2011 | 1975 |
| Country of birth | United Kingdom | Russia |
| Star sign | Virgo | Libra |
Who they are
Amy Winehouse
On February 10, 2008, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a twenty-four-year-old British singer stood in front of a satellite feed from London — she had been denied a U.S. work visa due to pending drug charges — and accepted five Grammy Awards. Five. In a single night. The record for most Grammys won by a female artist in one evening, tied that night, had been held by Beyoncé. The artist collecting the awards remotely, surrounded by her family in London, wearing an enormous beehive hairdo and a skin-tight dress, was Amy Winehouse, who…
Full biography of Amy Winehouse →
Dmitri Shostakovich
In January 1936, Josef Stalin attended a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Bolshoi Theatre and left before the final act. Two days later, Pravda published an unsigned editorial — almost certainly authorized at the highest level — titled "Muddle Instead of Music." The article attacked the opera as "formalist" and "bourgeois," its dissonances described as deliberate assaults on Soviet socialist culture. Shostakovich was twenty-nine years old, the most celebrated composer in the Soviet Union, and now suddenly in danger. He had a new symphony nearly finished —…
Full biography of Dmitri Shostakovich →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: United Kingdom and Russia.
- 77 years separate their births (1983 and 1906).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Amy Winehouse or Dmitri Shostakovich?
- Dmitri Shostakovich. Amy Winehouse was born in 1983, Dmitri Shostakovich in 1906.
- What field is each of them in?
- Amy Winehouse is filed under Music (Jazz). Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.