Posthumous Amy Winehouse album to be released: report

LONDON - Agence France-Presse

Amy Winehouse. AFP Photo.

An album containing previously unheard material by British soul singer Amy Winehouse is to be released just months after her death from alcohol poisoning, The Sun newspaper reported Monday.

 "Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures" includes a track recorded by the "Rehab" singer while she was on heroin, as well as a song documenting her turbulent relationship with her ex-husband, it said.

 The tabloid said the posthumous album will go on sale on December 5 and £1 (1.14 euros, $1.60) from every copy sold will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which supports vulnerable young people in Britain and abroad.

 Island Records, which released her debut album "Frank" and 2006's Grammy-award winning album "Back to Black", was unavailable for comment.

 Winehouse, 27, was found dead at her north London home on July 23. An inquest into her death revealed the troubled singer had suddenly drunk heavily after abstaining for three weeks and was poisoned by alcohol.

 She was more than five times over the British drink-drive limit when she died, the inquest heard.

 The singer's family, record label and management all agreed to release the album, produced by Winehouse's close friends Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, The Sun said.

 "Had the family felt this album wasn't up to the standard of Amy's others, we'd never have agreed to release it. We believe it will stand as a fitting tribute to her musical legacy," Winehouse's father Mitch told the tabloid.

 "I never realised what a true genius she was... it took my breath away," he added.

 According to The Sun, some of the album tracks were recorded as far back as 2002, before Winehouse began her well-documented struggle with alcohol and drug addiction.

 It also includes the last ever song she recorded, "Body and Soul", a duet with legendary singer Tony Bennett. The pair recorded their cover of the 1930s jazz tune at London's famous Abbey Road studios in March.

 Following her death, "Back to Black" became Britain's highest-selling album of the 21st century.