Even before the release of her heralded “Back to Black” album last year, Amy Winehouse’s reputation as a tortured soul threatened to overshadow her music.

Her subsequent litany of debacles, culminating in the visa denial that will keep her from attending Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, only added to the notion that Winehouse was another Janis Joplin in the making. Yet throughout it all, Winehouse’s commercial and critical success has not suffered. (more…)