While the James Bond film series is renowned for its action, adventure, and record-breaking ticket sales, the movies have also grown in popularity for their enduring, iconic theme music.
Longtime producer Barbara Broccoli shed light on the Amy Winehouse's song that sadly never materialized in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that was published on Friday (Sept. 30).
Broccoli also discussed Amazon Prime's new documentary "The Sound of 007," which examines the creation of the James Bond themes throughout the years.
Winehouse and Broccoli met to discuss writing a theme song for Quantum of Solace in 2008, however the producer claimed that due to Winehouse's emotional state at the time, the idea fell through.
"Well, that was a very very distressing meeting, she was not at her best and my heart really went out to her. She was very fragile emotionally and, you know, you understood how she could create such moving material, because she has a great depth of feeling and it was very very tragic. What an incredible talent, what an incredible voice, what an incredible person she was and it was very very sad," Broccoli said.
Winehouse received five Grammy Awards in 2008, the year Quantum of Solace was released, for her work on the sophomore album Back to Black, including best new artist, song and record of the year for "Rehab," and she passed away at the age of 27 in July 2011 from an alcohol overdose.
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Even though Winehouse's situation did not work out, the Bond film series has recently enjoyed enormous success because to the Oscar-winning theme songs by Adele ("Skyfall"), Sam Smith ("Writing's on the Wall"), and Billie Eilish ("No Time to Die").
"It's really pleasing to us," Broccoli said of the award wins. "It was so great when Adele won, and then Sam Smith, and then Billie and Finneas - so we couldn't be more pleased, really. It's been a fantastic time at the Oscars for our music."
Although well-documented, the tale of Amy Winehouse's attempts to obtain the title tune for Quantum of Solace still needs to be clarified. 2008 news reports claimed that Beyoncé and Winehouse were vying for the role, which still seems like a very potent pairing. Although the exact reason for Amy Winehouse's failure to land is unknown, it is speculated that her well-known struggles with addiction and mental health played a role.
According to Jack White's comments from prior interviews and Broccoli's remarks from above, a picture of what Amy Winehouse might have done with the opening number of Quantum of Solace emerges. The statements presented here alone seem to suggest that the producers likely preferred a more emotionally stirring ballad.
In another story, the title track from Amy Winehouse's second and tragically final studio album, Back to Black, was recorded in March 2006 at Chung King Studios and Daptone Records in New York before being finished at Metropolis in London.
The album nearly missed out on Album of the Year, although it did win multiple accolades, including Grammys for Record of the Year, Pop Vocal of the Year, and Song of the Year (for Rehab). Mark Ronson was voted Producer of the Year, and Winehouse won the award for Best New Artist of the Year (Non-Classical).
Over 16 million copies of Back to Black have been sold as of this writing.
The producer Mark Ronson reflected on the title track's fast composition in an interview with NME (opens in new tab) earlier this year. He said, "The six songs that we did on Back to Black together, we did in five to seven days. "I always think, 'Damn, I wish it did take longer' because I would have more memories... it was just so quick."