Who was Amy Winehouse?
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HIS VOICE WAS DIVINE and rare, yet he squandered it swiftly.
He possessed an unstoppable creative energy, but stifled it prematurely.
His eyes were a vibrant green, but he allowed them to grow increasingly dim.
Her body was petite and frail. Tragically, he couldn’t keep her standing.
She had a passion for girl bands, yet she struggled to coexist even with herself.
She wore copious amounts of black makeup, but it never succeeded in concealing her.
She called often, but the reason was always uncertain.
He was a star, one of those rare luminaries in the musical universe, but he chose the darkness instead.
She bore a horseshoe tattoo on her left shoulder, but it never brought her any luck.
On a day like today, soaked to the bone in alcohol, she bid us goodbye.
Who was Amy Winehouse?
– Amy was a British singer-songwriter, known for her tattooed body and a voice filled with richness. She styled her hair in a beehive. Her eyes were made up in the style of Cleopatra. She had a love for shorts and a fondness for alcohol. She was one of the most significant talents the music industry has seen in recent years.
– “I never aspired to be famous for a single minute. I’m just a musician.”
– The Winehouse family, of Jewish descent, migrated to England from Russia and Poland. Amy Jade Winehouse was born on September 14, 1983, and was raised in the Southgate area of North London.
– She was the daughter of Mitchell Winehouse, a taxi driver, and Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), a pharmacist.
– Her grandmother had an affair with jazz saxophone legend Ronnie Scott. Her brother, Alex, is four years her senior. Mitchell often sang Frank Sinatra’s songs, which sparked Amy’s interest in music. Her teachers found it impossible to silence her as Amy would disrupt their classes with her singing.
– Her parents, Mitch and Janice, divorced when Amy was 9 years old. They jointly ensured their children’s religious education. However, it is said that Amy attempted suicide out of desperation that year. Her grandmother Cynthia, in an effort to heal her potential trauma, sent her to the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School. By the time of her death, Amy had a tattoo on her right arm of a beautiful woman, some hearts, and the name “Cynthia.”
– She formed her first band with a classmate and named it Sweet ‘n’ Sour. Their venture was short-lived. She remained at the Erno theatre school for four years. Generally, she was never one for obedience or formal learning. She was expelled from school at the age of fourteen. School officials claim she was lax about enrolling on time. She once believed her nose piercing was the cause of all her troubles.
As a student at Sylvia Young Theatre School, she made an appearance on an episode of The Fast Show in 1997. She later attended classes at the BRIT school in Selhurst, and also spent time at Southgate and Asmole schools.
At the age of thirteen, she got her first guitar and used it to write her first songs just a year later. To earn some extra cash, she worked as a reporter for the World Entertainment News Network and performed jazz in various clubs. Her occasional collaborator and soul singer, Tyler James, believed she was squandering her talents and sent a demo of her work to a talent manager. The rest, as they say, is history.
Her debut album, “Frank”, was warmly received in the UK and even nominated for a Mercury Prize. Her follow-up album, “Back To Black”, released in 2006, didn’t just change her world, but ours too.
Currently, an exhibition titled “Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait” is on display at the Jewish Museum in London, curated on behalf of her family. The exhibit features photographs and personal items belonging to Amy, from before and after her rise to fame.
Among the items showcased is a children’s blue jumper, part of her uniform from Osidge Primary School in Southgate, south London. “I didn’t think she had kept it,” her brother admits. “But it reminds us that no matter what happens in life, no matter how famous you become, you always have roots. And you can never forget that because it shapes you. Amy never did.”
Her accolades form an impressive list: she was nominated for six Grammy Awards, won five, and became the first British artist to win five awards in one night (including Best Album, Emerging Artist, Song of the Year). She also won a Brit Award and three Ivor Novello Awards. Her album ‘Back To Black’ was the top-selling album of the 2000-2009 decade in the UK. A month after her death, the same album became the best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK.
“Annoying, neurotic. Typical sister stuff. But she was also incredibly generous and loving. She often put others before herself. She was a loyal sister, daughter, and friend. She was wonderful, yet flawed in other areas,” her brother Alex Winehouse said in an interview.
In the same interview, he recalled how she ruined his 30th birthday party by drunkenly slapping his guests. “She never apologized. The problem with celebrities is that no one ever tells them ‘no’.”
While many believe her frail frame succumbed to the pressures of fame, her family recently revealed that her downfall was not due to alcohol and drugs, but rather bulimia. This eating disorder emerged in her late teens and haunted her throughout her life. The girls in the group would gather, indulge in whatever treats they could find, and then force themselves to vomit repeatedly.
– In addition to the abuse, Amy was deeply entangled in a tumultuous relationship with her husband, Blake Filder. Their union was characterized by intense passion, frequent confrontations, and excessive alcohol consumption. They tied the knot in Miami in May 2007 and remained together for two years. During this time, Amy sought help in rehab while Filder served time behind bars.
– Amy’s father is seeking accountability for her tarnished reputation, stating: “Blake is not entirely to blame, but he certainly shares a significant portion of it. It’s evident that ever since they got together, all semblance of control has been lost.”
– When they decided to part ways for Amy’s “benefit”, Blake demanded a million pounds to keep her secrets and scandalous behavior from the press. He used some of the settlement money to remove her name tattooed behind his ear.
– In 2008, Amy returned to rehab and later took a vacation in the Caribbean. Some believed her craze had subsided. However, she was still teetering on the edge of a precipice.
– “It wasn’t exactly a shock. You could see it coming. If she hadn’t been battling an eating disorder, she would have been physically stronger, she might have pulled through,” her family stated. “We were always calling her, visiting her. But in the end, it was her responsibility. When someone doesn’t want to recover, you have to move on with your life, or they’ll pull you down with them into their catastrophe.”
– When her downward spiral began, there was no one there to catch her. She was sinking into a quagmire, with no hand reaching out to pull her back into the light. In fact, she didn’t even reach out for help.
– In September 2008, she assaulted a woman at a charity dance gala in London. A few months later, in March 2009, she was formally charged.
– Her mind had long abandoned her. She lacked composure, sobriety, and restraint. And her heart belonged to Blake. To make it clear to everyone, she tattooed a small pocket on her left breast, right over her heart, with his name above it. She sealed her heart in that pocket and gave it to him.
– Amy Winehouse was scheduled to perform live for the first time in Athens at the Ejekt Festival in the summer of 2011. However, after a disastrous performance in Belgrade, she cancelled her shows in Istanbul, Athens, and nine other cities. She appeared on stage drunk, barely able to stand, her voice broken. She struggled to complete even a single song.
– She apologized to her fans, claiming she “did the right thing”. It was her first and last apology.
– Amy Winehouse was found dead on 23 July 2011 in her home in North London. Her funeral took place on 26 July.
– At 3:54 pm UK time on 23 July 2011, two ambulances were dispatched to the singer’s home in Camden, London.
Andrew Morris, Amy Winehouse’s bodyguard, was the last to enter her home. He found her unresponsive and shortly after, her death was confirmed by Scotland Yard.
The post-mortem examination silenced all speculation. Released on October 26, 2011, the coroner’s report was unambiguous: Amy Winehouse had died of an alcohol overdose. The details she had shared about her life left us with no questions about her tragic end.
Morris, the last person to see her alive, painted a devastating image in an interview with the Associated Press. He described the 28-year-old as a walking ghost, a young woman shattered by depression and abuse, teetering on the edge of escape. Surrounding her were countless bottles of vodka and a screen displaying videos of her performances and interviews. She drank and watched, watched and drank, until her eyes closed and the screen faded to black.
The haunting music video for her song “Back To Black” eerily foreshadows her fate, featuring a funeral scene. In the final shot, a mourner, dressed in black, throws a handful of dirt into an open grave one last time.
Back to Black
The video has garnered millions of views on YouTube. Yet, no one could have anticipated that the petite, black-haired songstress would tragically mirror the director’s somber vision in her own life.
I love you much
It’s not enough
You love blow and I love puff
And life is like a pipe
And I’m a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside
We only said goodbye with words
I died a hundred times
You go back to her
And I go back to black…
And I go back to black…
In the end, all that remained was a shadow. A shadow that seemed to be in a rush, spiraling dizzily towards the inevitable…
Even four years later, no one has forgotten. In Asif Kapadia’s deeply moving and candid documentary, Amy: The Girl Behind the Name, as described by the foreign press, we rediscover a girl who sought to express herself through music and escape the confines of her own fame.
Family members, friends, and colleagues share her somber story. Her fragile persona takes center stage in interviews, personal revelations, and meticulously curated archival footage. It’s a tragically compelling tale of a supremely talented 28-year-old musician who chased the spotlight faster than she could handle, only to vanish from public view.
Read here for Theodore Koutsogiannopoulos’ review of the documentary “AMY: The Girl Behind the Name”.
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