Leona Lewis isn’t the only famous alumn of the BRIT School, a London arts academy.
Amy Winehouse Class of 2001Winehouse landed at the BRIT School after being expelled from another arts academy. In 2006 she paid a return visit but refused to perform. “Amy was in such a state and kept crying,” says a school insider. Now students call her MMB Wino—for “mad, manic bitch.”
Kate Nash Class of 2005The Un-Winehouse. Nash dreamed of acting but ended up honing her songwriting skills at the BRIT School. Last October, the MySpace success story returned for a surprise visit. “She’s extremely nice,” one BRIT staffer said. “The students love her.”
Imogen Heap Class of 1995A self-proclaimed oddball and loner, Heap was also a bona fide child prodigy, mastering the piano, cello and clarinet before 12. The six-foot-tall Heap headed to the BRIT School and transformed into a synth-happy future soundtracker of
The O.C. and
Six Feet Under.
Luke Pritchard Class of 2003One of Pritchard’s former BRIT teachers remembers the frontman of current U.K. sensations the Kook as “incredibly focused—he always knew what he wanted to do.” Which was apparently to become
a skinny-jeaned rocker.