POL EMILE/SIPAAmy Winehouse's music was always destined to find new life after her death. Now even more so.
An all new, full-length album of never before heard recordings sung by the Grammy winner will be released Dec. 6, her record label, Island Records, announced today.
And rather than just fall back on the usual eponymous trope, this album will be roaring into stores with quite the title…
Mightily dubbed Lioness: Hidden Treasures, the album will contain 12 songs, and be comprised of new tunes she was working on prior to her death, previously unreleased tracks, cover versions of classic songs and alternative versions of her many hits, including a demo version of "Wake Up Alone" and mellower versions of "Tears Dry on Their Own" and "Valerie"—her final single, "Body & Soul," with Tony Bennett, will also be included.
Two new songs will be included, "Halftime" and "The Girl From Ipanema," and the former had never even been heard by her family. Her father, Mitch, called it "just incredibly beautiful...I spent so much time chasing after Amy, telling her off, that I never realized what a true genius she was."
The idea came about not just for the obvious moneymaking potential (one would hope), but after her longtime collaborators, producers and friends Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi noticed upon listening to her many recordings in the wake of her death by accidental alcohol poisoning, that she never repeated a melody or a take while recording.
"It quickly became apparent to Salaam and Mark that they had a collection of songs that deserved to be heard, a collection of songs that were a fitting testament to Amy the artist and, as importantly, Amy their friend," the label said.
Naturally, the Winehouse family was consulted and gave their blessing for the album's release.
"If the family had felt that this album wasn't up to the standard of Frank and Back to Black, we would never have agreed to release it and we believe it will stand as fitting tribute to Amy's musical legally," Mitch said of the posthumous third album.
A portion of each album sold in the U.K. will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, set up by her family to assist disadvantaged youth.