20 Years of 'Frank' by Amy Winehouse

October 20th marks two decades since the release of Frank, the debut album by Amy Winehouse, one of the brightest stars in British music since the Millennium. Frank – its title both an homage to Sinatra and a description of the album’s lyrical tone – won Winehouse critical praise and an Ivor Novello Award. Its cover was captured by Iconic Images photographer Charles Moriarty, on an autumn night in East London in 2003.

A friend of hers – Tyler James – introduced us. 

Tyler said: “Can you take some photos of my friend?” I was like, “fine, whatever.” My experience then was really just photographing my friends out partying. I would never at that point have considered myself a “photographer".

So, we sat in my kitchen and Amy brought over some of her music for me to listen to – I wanted to get an idea of who I was trying to photograph. She pulled out her make-up box and did up her face.

We headed out – I remember grabbing a bottle of wine from the off-licence – and went down to Princelet Street. I think within about 20 minutes, we’d done the cover for Frank. Then we wandered along Brick Lane, across Grimsby Street and then up to Old Street. That was the day I met Amy.