Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr

A London-born singer whose contralto voice and blunt, autobiographical lyrics fused 1960s soul and girl-group pop into something distinctly her own. Back to Black (2006), recorded with the Dap-Kings and producer Mark Ronson, became one of the best-selling albums of all time and its single "Rehab" made her the first British woman to win five Grammys in one night, at the 2008 ceremony. She died in 2011 at 27, but the album's influence on a generation of soul-inflected pop singers has outlasted the tabloid coverage of her final years.