Amy Winehouse vs Jacqueline du Pré
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Amy Winehouse | Jacqueline du Pré | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Jazz | Classical |
| Born | 1983 | 1945 |
| Died | 2011 | 1987 |
| Country of birth | United Kingdom | United Kingdom |
| Star sign | Virgo | Aquarius |
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 →
Jacqueline du Pré
There is a recording made in 1965, when Jacqueline du Pré was nineteen years old, that classical musicians still use as a reference point for what the cello can express. She was performing Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor — a late, elegiac work that Elgar wrote in 1919, after the destruction of the First World War, and which had been considered a minor piece of his output until du Pré played it. Her performance — large-scaled, deeply personal, technically sovereign — transformed the concerto's reputation overnight. It is now considered one of the great…
Full biography of Jacqueline du Pré →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United Kingdom.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- 38 years separate their births (1983 and 1945).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Amy Winehouse or Jacqueline du Pré?
- Jacqueline du Pré. Amy Winehouse was born in 1983, Jacqueline du Pré in 1945.
- What field is each of them in?
- Amy Winehouse is filed under Music (Jazz). Jacqueline du Pré is filed under Music (Classical).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.