he sudden transformation in Amy Winehouse – a clear complexion and an alert look in her eyes in the pictures that appeared of her over the weekend – may well have a lot to do with her new association with Quincy Jones, the legendary 75-year-old music impresario.

“Quincy has taken her under his wing and put her back onto the wagon,” says a friend of the 25-year-old who has struggled with drug addiction, depression and was recently admitted to hospital with a lung condition. “The two are collaborating on one or two projects and if anyone in the world can save a talent like Amy then it is ‘Q’. He helped relaunch Michael Jackson’s career with the Thriller album and has been responsible for countless hits over the years. He knows that if she can start to get her music career sorted then everything else should fit into place.”

Quincy, who aside from his 27 Grammys and five decades of experience in the entertainment industry, seems to be a sensible choice for Amy: last year he was made the Harvard School of Public Health’s Mentor of the Year.

A spokesman for Winehouse explained: “They met at the Nelson Mandela concert in the summer and got chatting. He’s a big fan of hers and she him. I know that she is also doing a number for the Quincy Jones’ tribute album.”

An ambulance was called to the 24-year-old singer’s house in Camden, north London and she was taken to the accident and emergency unit at University College Hospital at around 8.40pm.

Police were stationed outside her house as Winehouse was brought out in a wheelchair while wrapped in a blanket and given oxygen. Her father Mitch Winehouse was with her.

Her spokesman Chris Goodman said: “Amy Winehouse suffered a reaction to medication at home this evening and was taken to hospital.

“Doctors have advised that she will be kept under observation overnight and is likely to be released tomorrow.”

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said: “We were called at approximately 8.40pm to an address in NW1 to reports of an adult female taken unwell.

“We sent an ambulance and a fast response car and the patient has been taken to hospital.”

A hospital spokesman said Ms Winehouse was in a stable condition and medics would make a decision whether to discharge her this morning.

The spokesman added they expected her to go home tomorrow if she has a comfortable night.

Mr Winehouse entered the hospital at around 11.50pm and asked reporters and photographers to leave the family alone.

When asked how serious his daughter’s condition was, he held up a bag of KFC and replied: “This is how serious it is.”

Winehouse, who is being treated for an addiction to crack cocaine, is also suffering from emphysema and was admitted to hospital after collapsing at her home last month.

Mr Winehouse said in June: “It’s in its early stages, but had it gone on for another month they painted a very vivid picture of her sitting there with a mask on her face struggling to breathe.

The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her.”

As spoken verse, it may scan a little awkwardly, and the rhymes could be considered somewhat laboured. But Amy Winehouse might argue that her lyrics were never intended to be scrutinised by the poetry brains of Cambridge University.

To the surprise of final-year English literature students, when they opened their practical criticism exam they found the troubled singer’s work pitted against Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth and Sir Walter Raleigh for literary analysis.

The verses from Love is a Losing Game may not quite make it as a sonnet, but the track, from Winehouse’s Back to Black album, was deemed good enough for discussion on lyric poetry. The extract included verses such as: “Though I’m rather blind/ Love is a fate resigned/ Memories mar my mind/ Love is a fate resigned” and “Over futile odds/ And laughed at by the gods/ And now the final frame/ Love is a losing game.”

Students expressed a mixture of surprise, irritation and no little admiration for their exam setters. “It was really bizarre,” said one student, speaking on condition of anonymity while his paper was with the markers. “I sat there looking at the paper in shock. I wouldn’t consider a controversial pop singer a literary figure.”

Troubled singer Amy Winehouse will perform at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

The London-based artist will perform directly before headliner Jay-Z on the Pyramid stage at the Somerset festival on June 28.

Earlier this month, the 24-year-old was told she would not face charges over video footage which appeared to show her inhaling fumes from a crack pipe.

Sharon Osbourne has apparently revealed she disapproves of daughter Kelly’s friendship with Amy Winehouse.

The X Factor judge worries the Rehab singer, a former drug addict, may lead her 23-year-old daughter astray, according to The Daily Mirror.

Sharon, 55, apparently said: “I don’t approve of them.

“Do I approve of everyone she hangs out with? No I don’t. But I can’t choose who she is going to play with and who she isn’t. She makes her own decisions.”

Kelly has recently been photographed enjoying a string of boozy nights out with Amy, 24, and Kate Moss.

A source told the newspaper: “Sharon’s not happy about Kelly partying so much and looking the worse for wear.

“She’s concerned like any mother would be.”

Kelly was treated in Malibu’s Promises rehab clinic for an addiction to painkillers in 2004. She relapsed a year later and checked into another drug treatment centre in California.