Salaam Remi Details Last Days With Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse supporters are all too familiar with producer Salaam Remi, the man who crafted more than a handful of her soulful hits, namely 'Tears Dry On Their Own' and 'Me & Mr. Jones,' off the deceased star's sophomore LP 'Back to Black.' The veteran beatmaker opened up about his relationship with the fallen singer as well as his last days with her, in Vibe magazine's August/September Juice issue, on which Amy is featured on the cover.

Remi, who bears production credits for her debut album, 'Frank,' as well, looked at the British performer as more than a music industry colleague; he considered her a friend and sister, one he called "Cherry." When he caught wind of her initial passing, he took to Twitter to express his sorrow. "i Didnt hear a gunshot, n i dont see any blood, but i Feel a DEEP PAIN in my heart. A part of ME died today RIP CHERRY [sic]," he tweeted.

In the interview, Remi shares details of what he and Winehouse planned before her untimely death. "I'm in London now. I'm out here because [Amy and I] were supposed to go to a wedding today. And before I could get to her yesterday she passed. We were going to the wedding of Nick Symansky, who is the person who really found her. He found her when he was a scout at 19. And he was the manager before they got the Universal deal.

They went ahead with the wedding. All I could do was sit there and imagine how many jokes she would have been cracking with me. We were in the middle of working on the album. She finished writing the record. We just hadn't recorded.

For the last couple of weeks we were video chatting regularly. I was just talking to Nas. Both her and Nas were born on September 14, so we were going to Barbados with all of them for her birthday. She really doesn't look forward to her birthday, you know what I'm saying?"

Amy Winehouse's Vibe cover story debuts on August 16.