Amy Winehouse's Parents Accept Late Singer's BRIT Billion Award

Amy Winehouse's music has now reached an impressive one billion streams in the U.K., earning her the coveted BRIT Billion Award.

The late singer's parents, Mitch and Janis, accepted the award on their daughter's behalf. The two thanked listeners for continuing to celebrate their daughter while also lamenting that they wished that "Amy was here today accepting this award in person."

They acknowledged that it is "amazing that she is still winning awards for her incredible talent and achievements." The two find it "wonderful" that new audiences and younger listeners "love it just as much as her contemporaries."

"We are so proud of Amy. Thank you," they concluded.

"Back to Black," Winehouse's most popular tune which peaked at No. 8 in the Official Singles Chart, has garnered over 150 million streams. Her cover of the Zutons' "Valerie" has over 135 million, and at least four other tracks from her album, Back to Black, have been streamed over 50 million times.

Winehouse's legacy will be further remembered in a new biopic, Back to Black. The upcoming movie details the singer's rise to fame, turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, struggles with addiction and the making of her Grammy-award winning album of the same name.

Per director Sam Taylor-Johnson, Winehouse's parents had "no involvement" with the film, save for Mitch speaking with the actor who plays him, Eddie Marsan. Winehouse's father is reportedly portrayed in a less-than-favorable light in the movie.

Taylor-Johnson said that it was "It was important to meet with [her parents] out of respect," but that they "couldn't change things. They couldn't dictate how I was to shoot." She claimed that if this were the case she "wouldn't have done it."

Of Mitch, Marson said that he is "much more self-aware and candid than he's perceived." Winehouse's father has claimed that he sent the star to rehab "six or seven times" and that the public does not consider that he is a "grieving father."

Back to Black has received mixed reviews from film critics. Many critics have commended the performances of Marisa Abela and Jack O'Connell, but several have also critiqued the film as flattening Winehouse's character. One reviewer from The Standard said that the biopic "was so bad it made me gasp in horror" and awarded it one out of five stars.

Back to Black released in the U.K. in April and will be arriving in U.S. theaters on May 17.

In 2015, Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees released Amy, a documentary centered on the star. The acclaimed documentary would go on to win awards at the European Film Awards, British Academy Film Awards, Grammy Awards and Academy Awards.

Other BRIT Billion award winners include Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Mariah Carey, The Rolling Stones, ABBA, Lewis Capaldi and Bryson Tiller. Ed Sheeran alone boasts the BRIT Award for 10 Billion streams in the U.K.

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