Nick Grimshaw spent the whole morning marking two decades since Back to Black with a day of Amy Winehouse Forever programming, and the real coup was landing her longtime producer Salam Remy for an extended chat. Remy was disarmingly honest about how he copes with the anniversaries, telling Nick he turns down most tribute requests because "I see a memorial where everyone else sees a tribute." He explained he still lives in the Caribbean partly to stay away from the UK's endless retrospectives, joking "England's cold, you won't see me again."
Listen: How Salam Remy and Amy Winehouse first met
Listen: Salam Remy on grief and legacy
Remy also told the story of how he and Amy first met, revealing it fell on the same date as the birthday of his friend Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, shortly after Lopes had died, which he called "a mystical thing." He described Amy as "not a faker," someone who sang "for the room" rather than the microphone, and said the pair never clashed in the studio because she had complete respect for the process, even when they argued over speeding up Tears Dry on Their Own.
Away from the interview, Nick played a recorded tribute from actor Steve Buscemi, who praised Amy's duet with Tony Bennett, saying "I think she was truly just one of the greats." Listeners shared their own Amy encounters too, including one who said she drew them a map to Camden pubs, and another who met her just before Back to Black's release in 2006.
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