Island Records is set to release a posthumous collection, titled Lioness: Hidden Treasures, featuring 12 tracks of previously unreleased and rare recordings from the late singer, who died in July at 27.
According to a report in Britain’s The Sun, at an emotional family gathering last week, the singer’s dad, Mitch Winehouse, wept as he listened to the music, some of which he had never heard before.
“It wasn’t until I sat down with the rest of the family and listened to this album that I fully appreciated the breadth of Amy’s talent. From jazz standards to hip-hop songs, it really took my breath away,” he said in a statement. “I never realized what a true genius she was.”
Among the offerings on the album: a brand new song, “Between the Cheats,” a slower tempo version of her hit “Valerie” and “A Song For You,” a cover of the Leon Russell song also performed by Winehouse’s musical idol, Donny Hathaway. She recorded it solo in the spring of 2009.
Produced by friends Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi over the last few weeks, the album will be Winehouse’s third release. A donation from the sale of each album will also go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which her family established after her death to help those battling addiction.
At the inquest into her death last week it was revealed that Winehouse died after an alcohol binge at her North London home that left her five times over the legal alcohol limit.
By Monique Jessen
