Lady Gaga and Mary J. Blige hail Winehouse's 'Masterpiece' album

Lady Gaga, Mary J. Blige and Florence Welch paid tribute to Amy Winehouse as her breakthrough album Back To Black was played in full on U.K. radio on Tuesday (22Nov11).

A host of stars offered up their memories and impressions of the tragic singer's 2006 record as it was played from start to finish during the Masterpiece series on the BBC's Radio 1.

Soul queen Blige told how she fell in love with Winehouse's voice the first time she heard Back To Black, calling the Brit "an inspiration".

She explains, "When I first heard Back To Black, I thought it was an automatic, instant classic. The voice - it had so much pain in it but it (also) had so much soul and warmth and texture. It was incredible, you don't hear voices like that all the time. The album is amazing. She definitely became an inspiration to me right away..."

Gaga adds, "It's interesting that celebrities sometimes get such a bad rap for being sad but in truth Amy was incredible at singing the blues - she lived the blues, she lived jazz. I believe she will be remembered as a musical legend."

Meanwhile, Florence and the Machine star Welch recalled seeing Winehouse perform at Britain's legendary Glastonbury festival and being impressed by her "raw and real" persona.

Winehouse's producer Mark Ronson, Take That frontman Gary Barlow and singer Frank Ocean also praised the star on the programme.

The Rehab hitmaker died in July (11), aged 27.