Frank is the debut studio album by the English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse. It was released on 20 October 2003, by Island Records. Production for the album took place during 2002 to 2003 and was handled by Winehouse, Salaam Remi, Commissioner Gordon, Jimmy Hogarth and Matt Rowe. Its title alludes to the nature and tone of Winehouse's lyrics on the album, In July 2000, she became the featured female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra; her influences were to include Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, the latter whom she was already listening to at home.

Winehouse's best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an artists and repertoire (A&R) executive. While being developed by the management company, she was kept as a recording industry secret, although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club.</blockquote>

Release and promotion

In the liner notes for Winehouse's 2011 album Lioness: Hidden Treasures, producer Salaam Remi wrote about the track "Half Time", an outtake from the recording sessions for Frank, and revealed that Franks title refers partly to Frank Sinatra, an early influence on Winehouse.

Frank was first released in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2003 through Island Records.

Critical reception

Frank received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 11 reviews. AllMusic's John Bush called Winehouse "an excellent vocalist possessing both power and subtlety". Nate Chinen of The New York Times complimented her original lyrics and called the music a "glossy admixture of breezy funk, dub and jazz-inflected soul". The A.V. Clubs Nathan Rabin commended its loose, organic songcraft and wrote that it "features languid, wide-open neo-soul grooves and jazzy vamping". Beccy Lindon of The Guardian described Winehouse's sound as "somewhere between Nina Simone and Erykah Badu ... at once innocent and sleazy". Entertainment Weeklys Chris Willman found its musical style reminiscent of Sade. MusicOMHs John Murphy said that her lyrics are "commendably feisty and, as the album title suggests, frank". Dan Cairns of The Times called Frank "a staggeringly assured, sit-up-and-listen debut, both commercial and eclectic, accessible and uncompromising". Robert Christgau, writing for MSN Music, was less enthusiastic and graded the album a "dud".

Winehouse was nominated for British Female Solo Artist and British Urban Act at the 2004 BRIT Awards, while Frank was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize that same year. The album earned Winehouse an Ivor Novello Award. In retrospective reviews for both Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, critic Douglas Wolk was ambivalent towards Winehouse's themes and felt that they are relevant to her public image at the time, writing in the former review, "in the light of her subsequent career, Frank comes off as the first chapter in the Romantic myth of the poet who feels too deeply and ends up killing herself for her audience's entertainment". The Washington Posts Bill Friskics-Warren noted most of its content as "sultry ballads and shambling neo-soul jams", while writing that it "more than confirms what the fuss over Winehouse – then just 19 and with a lot fewer tattoos – was originally all about... her attitude and command were already there. And then some". The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2019, the album was ranked 57th on The Guardians 100 Best Albums of the 21st Century list.

Commercial performance

thumb|upright|Winehouse performing in July 2004

Frank entered the UK Albums Chart at number 60 before climbing to number 13 in late January 2004. Following Winehouse's death on 23 July 2011, the album re-entered the UK chart at number five, before reaching a new peak position of number three the following week, with 19,811 copies sold. The album was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 22 May 2026,

Frank debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling 22,000 copies in its opening week. In the wake of Winehouse's death, the album sold 8,000 copies to re-enter the chart at number 57 on the issue dated 6 August 2011. The following week, it rose to a new peak of number 33 with sales of 12,000 copies. The album had sold 315,000 copies in the US by July 2011.

Elsewhere, the album charted inside the top five in Austria and Poland, and the top 10 in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal.

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| title14 = Fuck Me Pumps

| note14 = Mylo Remix

| writer14 =

| extra14 = Remi

| length14 = 4:50

| title15 = In My Bed

| note15 = Bugz in the Attic Vocal Mix

| writer15 =

| extra15 = Remi

| length15 = 6:00

| title16 = Take the Box

| note16 = Seiji's Buggin' Mix Mix

| writer16 =

| extra16 =

| length16 = 7:50