And no, it's not a golden oldie.

In fact, by the time Winehouse reaches the chorus, you may recall the indie-rock original by the Zutons. 'Valerie' is a musical contortion, and it has Mark Ronson's fingerprints all over it.

Ronson has made a career out of hybrids. Himself an Anglo-American mongrel, Ronson was once a celebrity DJ and the go-to person for Manhattan's most fashionable parties. Now, thanks to Version, his recent collection of covers, he is a producer for well-known rock singers, the man responsible for the best bits of Winehouse and Lily Allen's bestselling albums.

Ronson is the first remixer given access to Bob Dylan's master tapes. The result is a lively rendering of 'Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)'. Last Wednesday, Ronson helped headline the first night of the BBC Electric Proms, accompanied by the 52-piece BBC Concert Orchestra. You might say he's never had it so good. But then, it's not been a tough life.

Ronson was born in London in 1975. His uncle Gerald ruled Heron, the family's business empire, and earned himself six months in jail for his part in the Guinness shares scandal in 1986. His father, Laurence, took a different tack, managing pop acts such as Bucks Fizz. His mother, Ann Dexter-Jones, comes from the family that founded Odeon cinemas. When his parents divorced, Mark went to live in New York with his mother and her new husband, Mick Jones, of the band Foreigner. There, from the age of eight, Ronson mingled with successful rock musicians.

Apocryphal tales of the Jones-Ronson family life include Bruce Springsteen raiding the fridge (false), Robin Williams tucking young Mark in at night (true), and Paul McCartney rescuing him from a watery grave (also true). Ronson's best friend is Sean Lennon, who joined him on stage at his Electric Prom.

The pair once enjoyed an (innocent) sleepover with Lennon's friend Michael Jackson. Ronson's sisters, twins Charlotte and Samantha, are a fashion designer and musician respectively.

With such connections, Ronson naturally gravitated towards music. Yet reports of his overnight success have been exaggerated. Almost a decade elapsed between the time he was being praised as Manhattan society's favourite DJ and Version. He is now 32, and spent most of his twenties on the edge of fame.

As long ago as secondary school, he played guitar in a band and signed his first, abortive, recording contract with Polygram. When he left university to be a DJ, Ronson's work attracted the attention of Jay-Z and he progressed from working at New York's roughest hip-hop venues to running well-attended nights for the fashion set. He was also a part-time model for Tommy Hilfiger.

He had inherited mixed tastes from his father, a fan of rap as much as pop, and his success as a DJ stemmed in part from his confident mixing of styles. But he made his own success. A New York DJ called Funkmaster Flex said:

"Anyone who criticises him for being from a famous family is just a player-hater. It doesn't matter who his family is . . . he knows how to rock a party." At the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Ronson played a remixed version of the theme tune from Top Gun followed by 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'. It went down well.

But Ronson became uncomfortable as a celebrity DJ. He wanted to avoid suggestions he was little more than the sum of his social connections. So, he took to the studio. In 2001, he produced an album for singer Nikka Costa, which failed commercially. The same might be said of Ronson's own debut, called Here Comes The Fuzz, which underperformed despite a warm critical reception. It did, however, establish his preference for live playing over processed sounds.

It was only when he returned to Britain that Ronson broke through. Neither he nor the general public knew of Lily Allen when she handed him a CD of her songs at a nightclub, but when he listened he immediately invited her to cut a record. He suggested Amy Winehouse write 'Rehab' after hearing her manager had demanded she join a recovery programme, then produced half of her album Back to Black.

And when Ronson put together a beats-and-brass cover of Radiohead's 'Just' for a tribute album in 2006, it gave him the idea for Version.

Ronson has left behind the stereotype of the Manhattan rich kid and turned his teenage tinkering into creative talent. Despite his connections, he professes a preference for working with unknowns. If half of the stories of his childhood are true, they go some way to explaining Ronson's casual attitude towards pop and rock standards. He has had death threats from fans of Morrissey for producing a mischievous cover of 'Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before'.

A few argue that Ronson's approach is insolence dressed up as reverence, but it's more likely the reverse. On Version, Robbie Williams covers The Charlatans' 'The Only One I Know'. At the Electric Prom, Ronson was joined on stage by the song's originator, Tim Burgess and recounted the story of sneaking out to see the band play as a secondaryschool student. The songs he covers are dear to him, but a healthy disrespect for tradition leaves him unafraid to take them in unexpected directions.

Not everyone buys Ronson's mannerisms. He once had a row with the actress Charlize Theron after he refused to play her favourite dancehall reggae at a party.

Geoff Barrow of the group Portishead said that "Version's signature sound" was "shitfunky supermarket muzak".

Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys had nothing but disdain for "that fucking R&B cover of the Smiths". But there is a response to such criticism: former Smiths members Morrissey and Johnny Marr are converts.

Like everything else . . . the looks, cash, connections and tunes . . . Mark Ronson has it covered.