Last weekend brought the tragic death of Amy Winehouse, one of the most talented performers of the last decade. Q magazine described her thus:

Billie Holiday crossed with ball-busting rapper Eve, Camden’s Amy Winehouse is easily the most entertaining product of the Sylvia Young stage school – admittedly she was expelled for not applying herself. Instead she immersed herself in jazz, hip hop and soul, and for her debut album comes out fighting like a vintage diva with an attitude problem.

It is tragic that her reputation for drug use almost outweighed her amazing talent. But listening to her albums makes you realise how important she was in bringing good soul/R&B back into mainstream popularity.

Read interviews & reviews in Rock's Backpages, through the Digital Library.

And check out her albums here.

After suffering a stroke last week, Big Man Clarence Clemons, the iconic saxophonist of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, died on Saturday.

A former football player, and one of the few men to make saxophone cool, Clemons' characteristic sound helped Springsteen to create a number of rock music's greatest albums, especially Born To Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town.

Read a bit about him in this Rolling Stone interview.

There's an urban myth that Clemons' show rider frequently included a whole roast chicken. Who knows how true it is, but this might be proof.

So in Clarence's honour, here's a recommended list: