"Valerie" | ||||
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Single by the Zutons | ||||
from the album Tired of Hanging Around | ||||
Released | 19 June 2006 [1] | |||
Recorded |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 3:56 | |||
Label | Deltasonic | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Stephen Street | |||
The Zutons singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Valerie" on YouTube |
"Valerie" is a song by English indie rock band the Zutons from their second studio album, Tired of Hanging Around (2006). The song was later covered by Mark Ronson, with lead vocals provided by Amy Winehouse, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart in 2007.
In an interview with The Scotsman in May 2008, lead singer Dave McCabe described the writing process of the song: "I could tell you I was inspired by gazing out across the Mersey or walking past Macca's old house, but the truth is I got the idea in a cab on the way to my mum's. The whole song was written before I got there, so 20 minutes, max[imum]." [2]
The song's title and theme refer to a then-unnamed American friend of McCabe's who was in trouble for driving under the influence. The band's drummer, Sean Payne, called it a "musical postcard to her, saying he is having a hard time and can she come over and see him". [3] In an interview with Vice magazine in June 2019, the subject of the song was revealed to be celebrity makeup artist Valerie Star. [4] She explained that she met McCabe and how she got arrested for driving on a suspended license. [5]
The song was used by ITV during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, alongside Primal Scream's "Country Girl" and Kasabian's cover of David Bowie's 1977 song "Heroes". The song was also featured as a playable track in Lego Rock Band.
Both the original and the Mark Ronson version featured in British soap opera Emmerdale during the wedding of Eric and Val Pollard in 2008.
The music video was directed by Scott Lyon. It is set in a prison and shows the Zutons trying to escape.
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [11] | Gold | 400,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
"Valerie" | ||||
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Single by Mark Ronson featuring Amy Winehouse | ||||
from the album Version | ||||
B-side |
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Released | 15 October 2007 | |||
Recorded | 2007 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:37 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Mark Ronson | |||
Mark Ronson singles chronology | ||||
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Amy Winehouse singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Valerie" on YouTube |
English musicians Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse covered "Valerie" for Ronson's second studio album Version (2007). Released as the album's third single on 15 October 2007,the track was first performed by Winehouse on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge show on BBC Radio 1. Singer and director Jordan Galland plays the electric piano on this single. Rolling Stone called the cover Winehouse's only "notable recording" after Back to Black . [14] Winehouse had previously recorded a slower-tempo version of the song,which appeared as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Back to Black. The song has been featured in 27 Dresses and Amy (2015),a documentary film biography of Winehouse,a U.S. advertisement for Amazon Echo, [15] and the demonstration launch video for the Google Nest Audio. [16]
After "Valerie" became a success in the summer of 2006,it found an unlikely fan in Amy Winehouse,who was invited to contribute to a new project with Mark Ronson. He claimed Winehouse did not listen to anything written after 1967 and that she was struggling to come up with something that would fit the sessions for Ronson's upcoming album Version. After Ronson explained that the album would consist of soul covers of guitar records,Winehouse told him that she might try "Valerie",but Ronson found it very difficult to hear her voice singing that song in his head. "I wasn't sure how it would work,but she went into the studio and tried it. I loved it," he said. [3]
Ronson's production of the cover is based around the beat from the Jam's 1982 song "Town Called Malice". Winehouse also recorded a jazzier,acoustic version for Radio 1's Live Lounge ,which was issued at the same time as the Ronson collaboration and a success in its own right,possibly due to download confusion,though it was the Ronson version that got airplay. [3]
The single peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart,where it spent 19 consecutive weeks inside the top 20. With sales of 329,490,it became the UK's ninth biggest-selling single of 2007. [17] The single spent 36 consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart between September 2007 and May 2008. It re-entered the chart in late June 2008 to take its total to 39 weeks.
The song was released in early 2008 in the Netherlands,quickly gaining airplay and sales. It is Winehouse's most successful song in that country,peaking at Number 1 for four consecutive weeks. [18] [19]
As of January 2015,Ronson and Winehouse's version of "Valerie" had sold 658,353 copies in the United Kingdom,according to the Official Charts Company. [20]
The song has become something of a mixed blessing for McCabe. He said,"I certainly have to try hard sometimes to not think about 'Valerie'. The days it's in my head are when I have to put down the guitar and just forget about writing." [2]
The single's music video,directed by Robert Hales,was filmed in London on 28 August 2007. [21] It shows Ronson and a group of jazz musicians playing the intro,halting when they notice that Winehouse is not present,then inviting a woman from the audience –an Amy fan sporting her famous beehive hairstyle –onto their stage to "sing" the song,soon joined by other similarly coiffed women,in the style of group karaoke,all lip synching to Winehouse's voice.
Weekly charts
Solo Amy Winehouse version
| Year-end charts
Solo Amy Winehouse version
Decade-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales | ||
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Australia (ARIA) [70] | 3×Platinum | 210,000‡ | ||
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [71] | Platinum | 60,000‡ | ||
Germany (BVMI) [72] | Platinum | 300,000‡ | ||
Italy (FIMI) [73] | Gold | 50,000‡ | ||
New Zealand (RMNZ) [74] | 5×Platinum | 150,000‡ | ||
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [75] | Platinum | 60,000‡ | ||
United Kingdom (BPI) [76] | 3×Platinum | 1,800,000‡ | ||
Solo Amy Winehouse version | ||||
Italy (FIMI) [77] | Gold | 25,000‡ | ||
United Kingdom (BPI) [78] | Platinum | 600,000‡ | ||
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2014) |
James Morrison and Panic! at the Disco both covered the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge in 2008.
It was sung by Niamh Perry on the fourth round of BBC's I'd Do Anything in 2008.
It was covered in a parody on Today FM's Gift Grub , prior to Munster's appearance in the 2008 Heineken Cup final, as "Flannery", after Munster hooker, Jerry Flannery.
The Zutons' version of the song is referenced in the 2010 song "She Said" by Plan B.
Glee covered Winehouse's version of the song in the episode "Special Education", as one of the two songs for the season 2 Sectionals, with Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) singing the lead and Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris) and Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.) performing a choreographed dance duet. During the 100th episode of the series they redo the song as a duet with Santana and Brittany singing, backed up by the dancing of Mike and new New Directions member Jake Puckerman (Jacob Artist).
Singer Bruno Mars paid tribute to Winehouse by performing her version of the song at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.
Louis Tomlinson of boy band One Direction covered the song during a concert of their 2011 Up All Night Tour. [79]
Dionne Bromfield (Winehouse's goddaughter), Aura Dione, Ivy Quainoo, Caro Emerald and Ina Müller performed the song as a tribute to Winehouse at the 2012 Echo Awards Presentation in Germany.
EastEnders actress Rita Simons sang the song on Children in Need 2013.
American bluegrass band the Brothers Comatose covered the song for their 2016 album City Painted Gold.
Argentine jazz singer Karen Souza covered the song on her 2017 release Velvet Vault .
Covered by Smith & Myers on their EP Volume 1 in 2020.
Japanese R&B singer iri included a cover of the song on her first compilation album 2016-2020, released in 2021.
Filipino group Lola Amour covered the song with Leanne and Naara during their Looking Back online concert in 2022. The band often performs the song live, using a break in the song to introduce the members during their concerts.
"Oh My God" is the debut single of English indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs. It was initially released by the Drowned in Sound label on 17 May 2004, reaching number 66 on the UK Singles Chart. It was re-released on 21 February 2005, two weeks before the release of their debut album, Employment. This time, it peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, which earned the band their first top-10 hit as well as their highest-charting single at the time until it was succeeded by UK chart-topper "Ruby" on 25 February 2007. The song also appeared on the soundtrack for the video game Driver: Parallel Lines.
Mark Daniel Ronson is an English-American musician, DJ, singer, songwriter, record producer and remixer. He has won eight Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album Back to Black (2006), as well as two for Record of the Year with her 2006 single "Rehab" and his own 2014 single "Uptown Funk". He has also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for co-writing "Shallow" for the film A Star Is Born (2018). Ronson served as lead and executive producer for the soundtrack to the 2023 fantasy comedy film Barbie, on which he also composed and co-wrote several of its songs with his production partner Andrew Wyatt. The soundtrack won three Grammy Awards—"What Was I Made For?" won Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media, while the parent album won Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media—from 11 nominations, as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song from two nominations.
"Just" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, included on their second album, The Bends (1995). It features an angular guitar riff played by Jonny Greenwood, inspired by the band Magazine. It was released as a single on 21 August 1995 and reached number 19 on the UK singles chart. In 2008, "Just" was included in Radiohead: The Best Of. The English producer Mark Ronson released a cover version on his 2008 album Version.
"Our Day Will Come" is a popular song composed by Mort Garson with lyrics by Bob Hilliard. It was recorded by American R&B group Ruby & the Romantics in early December 1962, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Back to Black is the second and final studio album by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with then-ex-boyfriend and future husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who temporarily left her to pursue his previous ex-girlfriend. Their short-lived separation spurred her to create an album that explores themes of guilt, grief, infidelity, heartbreak and trauma in a relationship.
"Rehab" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, from her second and final studio album Back to Black (2006). Produced by Mark Ronson, the lyrics are autobiographical and address Winehouse's refusal to enter a rehabilitation clinic for alcohol. "Rehab" was released as the lead single from Back to Black in 2006, and it peaked at number 7 in the United Kingdom on its Singles Chart and number 9 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Winehouse's only top 10 hit in the US.
"You Know I'm No Good" is a song written and performed by English singer Amy Winehouse from her second and final studio album, Back to Black (2006). "You Know I'm No Good" was released as the second single from Back to Black on 8 January 2007. Originally recorded as a solo track, it was remixed with guest vocals from the Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. The original appeared on Winehouse's album, while the version with Ghostface Killah appears on his album More Fish. On the recap of The Best Songs of 2007 by Entertainment Weekly magazine, this song ranked at number two.
"Back to Black" is a song by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 26 April 2007 by Island Records as the third single from her second and final studio album of the same name (2006). The song was written by Winehouse and Mark Ronson, and produced by the latter. "Back to Black" was inspired by Winehouse's relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, who had left her for an ex-girlfriend.
Version is the second studio album by British producer Mark Ronson, first released on 16 April 2007 through Allido and Columbia Records. It is an album of cover versions with a retro-inspired sound that Ronson considers to be reminiscent of Motown and Stax releases. The album cost more than £870,000 to launch. Version reached number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and has sold 105,584 copies as of January 2015.
English-American musician, DJ, singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive Mark Ronson has released five studio albums and twenty-two singles.
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