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Profile: Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse is nominated for six prestigious Grammy Awards

Singer Amy Winehouse has won five trophies at the Grammy Awards, reminding the world that she is much more than just a tortured tabloid tearaway.

In recent months, she has become as well known for her high profile personal problems as her music.

When she performed for the Grammys by satellite from London, she was accompanied by medical staff from a rehabilitation clinic where she has been treated for the past two weeks.

She was admitted after video footage emerged of her apparently smoking a crack pipe.

It is not the first time the singer has sought medical advice.

Last year, she was admitted to a London hospital suffering from "severe exhaustion" amid reports she was being treated in a rehabilitation clinic.

And following a succession of cancelled gigs, her father Mitch spoke out about her drug use.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live his daughter and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil had "serious problems" but said neither was in "imminent danger of death".

Her father-in-law, Giles Fielder-Civil, announced publicly he believed they were both "drug addicts".

Rebellious streak

Brought up in Southgate, north London, Winehouse's rebellious streak became evident early when she was expelled from the capital's prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School for piercing her own nose.

She went on to study at the Brit performing arts school in Croydon, south London.

The singer burst onto the pop scene in 2003

The fresh-faced singer burst onto the British pop scene in 2003 with her jazzy voice and unique dress sense.

Her debut album Frank won Winehouse comparisons to jazz legends Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughn and was described by The Times newspaper as "earthy, warm, lived-in and astonishingly versatile".

It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for album of the year in 2004 and Winehouse won the Ivor Novello songwriting award for best contemporary song with Stronger Than Me.

But it was the critical praise that followed the release of her follow-up album in October 2006 that propelled her to international stardom.

Amy Winehouse's debut album was released when she was 20

Rehab, the first track released from Back to Black, reached number seven in the UK singles chart.

The song, about her refusal to attend an alcohol rehabilitation centre, generated huge publicity, with Winehouse frequently being photographed drinking on stage and in pubs.

In February 2007, she scooped the title for best British female at the Brit Awards and, four months later, she picked up song of the year at the Mojo Awards.

Winehouse was again nominated for the Mercury Prize and went on to be named artist of the year at the MTV Europe Music Awards in November.

Self-harming

But as her popularity soared, her health began to suffer and her behaviour became more erratic.

She appeared to be drunk on Channel 4's The Charlotte Church Show in 2006, and took part in Never Mind The Buzzcocks in a similar state.

Her weight plummeted during an exhaustive schedule of promotional appearances and concerts in the UK and US, while she admitted punching a female fan at a gig in London and attacking her own boyfriend when he tried to calm her down.

Winehouse and Fielder-Civil married secretly last year

She confessed to self-harming and spoke of battles with eating disorders.

And she shocked a journalist from US magazine Spin when she carved then-boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil's name into her stomach with a shard of mirror during an interview.

It was a break-up with Fielder-Civil that inspired much of Back To Black.

But she surprised fans, and her own family, when she secretly married him during a trip to Florida in May 2007.

Since then, and despite lurid reports of public rows, the couple have been inseparable.

But in November 2007, her world was thrown into further turmoil when Fielder-Civil was arrested.

He remains in custody, accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on the landlord of a pub in Hoxton, London, and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The trial is due to begin in June.

Winehouse recently dyed her trademark black beehive blonde

Winehouse herself was arrested and released on bail in December. No charges have been brought against her.

But she is due to face a court in Norway in February to appeal against a fine for cannabis possession. She spent a night in police cells in Bergen in October, but was released after paying a fine.

And police have interviewed the singer under caution in relation to the "crack pipe" video, but have not arrested her.

The personal troubles have, though, gone hand-in-hand with huge commercial success and critical acclaim.

Her album Back To Black was the biggest-selling album of 2007 in the UK, shifting more than 1.85 million copies, and has sold another 1.5 million in the US.

The Grammys will remind the public of the talent that put her in the public eye.