Dionne Bromfield: Winehouse Was a Caricature

One record deal, two back-to-back albums, multiple TV appearances and the backing of a Award winning godmother - all before the age of 16. 

As an introduction to the music industry it doesn't get much better, but hindsight is 20-20 and Dionne Bromfield - older, wiser and some two months into her thirtieth year - now has pause to reflect on her tumultuous teens. 

The singer was 13 years old and a student at the Sylvia Young Theatre School when she was signed to Lioness Records, the label founded by and inspired by her love of Motown and neo-soul in 2009. 

Bromfield's godmother through a close friendship with the young singer's mother, Julie Din, Winehouse was instrumental in winning her the exposure she needed to develop a foothold in the industry.

'She opened doors that most people would never get, so I’m forever grateful for that. And I’m aware of that - I’m not one of these people who are like, I would have got it regardless,' Bromfield told Sunday Times Style.  

'I know what got me through the door. But then you have to almost over prove - I actually can hold my own. 

'So that was the battle within myself, trying to be, like, that is always going to be part of my story, making peace with that to be able to move forward with other things.' 

September 14 will be the fifteenth anniversary of Winehouse's death, aged just 27, and Bromfield has fond memories of her godmother - despite the devastating addiction issues that blighted her final years.     

'The Amy that everybody knows, I almost feel like I don’t know that Amy,' she said. 'If I see pictures of her now, sometimes it almost feels like the caricature of Amy.' 

To Bromfield, the Winehouse she remembers is the one 'without the beehive, the woman with a top knot hoovering or complaining about something,' or 'Amy cooking, and we’re just chatting about absolutely nothing. 

'She was a huge Countdown fan - Countdown would be on the telly and she would be trying to work out the numbers.' 

Winehouse would also serve as a mentor to Bromfield, offering guidance on song selection and even acting as an emotional outlet for her goddaughter.   

'Musically, if I were to be like, "Oh my God, Amy, listen to this song, tell me it’s a pile of cr*p." And she’d be like, "This is cr*p,"' she recalled.  

'And picking up the phone and being able to say, "Guess what this boy has done to me."' 

Almost twenty years on from the release of her first album and fifteen years since recording her second, and currently last, Bromfield adopts a philosophical view of the entertainment industry.  

'I’ve seen the highs of the highs, I’ve seen the lows of the lows,' she said. 

'Someone asked me recently, "What was the biggest life lesson you would take from being a child star?" I said, ‘Thinking everyone was my friend."

'When things slow down, the friendships go as well.' 

Bromfield recently hit out at BRIT Awards organisers after being left out of a tribute to her late godmother at this year's ceremony. 

Record producer Mark Ronson paid homage to the later singer, who died in 2011, by sharing a clip of Winehouse. 

But Bromfield said the tribute was 'another reminder of what I've been dealing with for many years' as she claimed people in the music industry had been trying to put a stop to her career.

'To see so many of the people she loved musically included while I wasn't felt like an insult not just to me, but more importantly to Amy and her legacy,' she said.

'I want to be clear, this was never about me being on stage for the sake of being seen or "the look". This is much deeper than that. 

'Since Amy's passing, I've spent years of specific people within the industry and surrounding it, making it incredibly difficult for me to move forward and progress in my career. 

'Amy championed me musically in ways that didn't always align with others around her, and after she passed, that was made clear, opportunities for me were blocked and doors were deliberately closed.'

She added: 'Last night at The BRITs wasn't about one moment, it was another reminder of what I've been dealing with for many years. 

'To see so many of the people she loved musically included while I wasn't felt like an insult not just to me, but more importantly to Amy and her legacy. 

'I'm not one to air my dirty laundry, but there's only so much someone can take and sometimes things need to be called out.'