Mary J Blige: 'Amy Winehouse Is The Future Of Music'

US R&B star Mary J Blige has described Amy Winehouse as an integral artist in the future of the music industry.

Blige, who was speaking in an edition of Interview magazine, said that it was “very painful” to watch the singer battle drugs.

"Someone like Amy Winehouse is so important to the music business right now,” she said.

"I think it (the music industry) kind of got lost and we ended up in a drought for a while, but I see it making a turn, so instead of music being just synthetic, we'll see it going back to actual instruments.

“That's what I'm hoping for anyway, because that's the kind of music I'm making,” she added.

Blige is up for 3 Grammy Awards next month, while Winehouse is second in the list of nominees with 6.