Lily Allen dedicates new album to 'prisoner' Amy Winehouse

Lily Allen has revealed that her new album Sheezus is dedicated to Amy Winehouse, whose iconic Back To Black album was released in the same year as Allen's debut.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Allen revealed that the album will be dedicated to her musical contemporary, who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011.

"She was not in a great place when we knew each other, so I don't feel I knew Amy: I knew a version of Amy." she told the paper. "What she had to deal with was 10 times anything I had to deal with. She'd sold a hell of a lot more albums than me, and there was a lot more interest in her."

She added: "There were people outside her home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I know what that was like on a much smaller level, and I felt trapped. She couldn't do anything or go anywhere without there being a frenzy; and she was all about life and enjoying herself and socialising, and when that's taken away from you... she was a prisoner."

Winehouse released two albums in her lifetime, but found international fame with her second, Back To Black, which sold over twenty million copies worldwide. With fame though came high-profile battles with alcohol and drugs, and the singer remained a subject of intense tabloid speculation right up to her death in July 2011.

Allen has said in the past that she feels lucky to have escaped the fate of contemporaries such as Winehouse, explaining, "It's so easy to get caught up in that madness and I count my lucky stars I've been strong enough to walk away."

Allen's third album, Sheezus, is due for release on 5 May.