100-Proof Voice

And then sometimes, as is the case with her quasi-autobiographical "Back to Black," the record literally speaks, loudly, about what's going on in her life. In "Rehab," she sings about "they" -- her former management company -- wanting her to seek treatment for alcoholism, but she refused.

"They were like, 'You're in a bad place, let's pack you off.' And I'm like, '[expletive].'

"That's pretty much it."

(Brilliant/19 did not respond to a request for comment.)

Winehouse says of various published reports about her alleged bulimia, anorexia and bipolar disorder, "It got blown out of proportion." She does say that she suffers from depression, and that she's not the most secure person in the world. But then, she says, neither is any other musician she knows.

Crossing the Pond

Other soulful British chanteuses have tapped the U.S. market, among them Corinne Bailey Rae, whose eponymous debut album was released in 2006 and sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide; and Joss Stone, she of the Gap ads and the platinum sales, who is set to release her third album this spring.

So how do you sell another old-school soul record these days? It helps to have a controversial "story." It also helps, in a way, to be known as a train wreck with talent.

"She's got a great voice; she's got great songs, she's already coming with a larger-than-life persona," says Bill Bragin, director of Joe's Pub, a 160-seat venue known for showcasing musicians with breakthrough potential. "She's got all the elements of a star. She's got the talent, but she's got something that gets her into Perez Hilton when she doesn't even have an album in the U.S. She's the real deal."

Perezhilton.com is a gossip site that traffics in Winehouse sightings; another blogger, Tofuhut, offers footage of Winehouse on acoustic guitar with this review: "The little Cockney-voiced white girl with the piercings and the crazy hair can more than sing; she can SANG . . ."

By the time Winehouse landed in the United States, interest was stoked. Tickets to the sold-out concerts were being hawked on Craigslist for upward of $200. "She's the perfect sort of 'spread the word' artist," says Kim Garner, senior vice president of marketing and artist development at Universal Republic Records. "You can't buy it. If we could bottle it, we'd all be rich."

Her label is launching a marketing offensive calculated to break Winehouse across musical genres. The rapper Ghostface Killah did a remix of "You Know I'm No Good." The label is in talks with Starbucks to do in-store marketing. Already, Winehouse is getting airplay on such diverse, tastemaking stations as New York's hip-hop station Hot 97 and Los Angeles's alternative KCRW."We're going to blow this thing wide open," predicts Monte Lipman, president of Universal Republic Records.

Striking a Pose

For Winehouse, the day after her Joe's Pub appearance requires a different sort of performance -- an exhausting photo shoot in a midtown Manhattan loft. There are a half-dozen sessions crammed into a seven-hour slot, with stylists and photographers from different publications standing at the ready: Racks of clothes line the walls, hip little fitted numbers that speak to Winehouse's '60s aesthetic.

Winehouse arrives an hour late with her tour manager, looking frail and pale, politely apologizing again and again for her lateness. There's none of her trademark bravado on display. She's shy, and she's shaking. She stutters as she talks and searches for words, her eyes welling with tears.

Her left arm is abraded and raw. Something caused the injury, but she isn't sure what. "I got drunk and I don't remember."

The day wears on, with Winehouse trying on -- and rejecting -- one outfit after another. Crew members roll their eyes and mutter under their breath. Nerves are fraying. But as the clock pushes past 7, Winehouse, fortified with a glass or two of champagne, warms up, laughing and giggling and making small talk. But five minutes later, as a photographer snaps her picture, she starts smacking herself in the face -- hard -- and then abruptly bolts from the room in tears. (Later, she will say that she just didn't feel pretty enough and was worried about disappointing everyone who'd come to the photo shoot.)

She huddles with her managers. A bit later she returns and finishes the photo shoot, posing like a pro, perching on a prop bathtub, all studied attitude.

When she finishes, she hugs the photographer.