Amy Winehouse: 1983-2011 'The best singer-songwriter of her generation'

AMY WINEHOUSE has written enough timeless material in her 27 years to leave a proud musical legacy.
She will be remembered as the best singer-songwriter of her generation - creating such classic tracks as Rehab, Love Is A Losing Game and Back To Black.

It is a testament to her incredible talent that she had won five Grammys, three Ivor Novellos and a Brit for Best Female by the time she was 26.

But, like one of her idols, Billie Holiday, she was also as troubled as she was gifted.

Her death will go down as one of the darkest days in British music. A talent lost to addiction. A shock - but not a surprise.

There is a bitter irony to her decline. Boyfriends and break-ups were inspiration for the moving lyrics that made her a fortune. Those boyfriends also played their part in her spiralling addiction issues and her tragic death.

From an early age she was an effervescent character, catching everyone's attention with her booming voice.

Amy Jade Winehouse was born in 1983 and grew up in the north London suburb of Southgate in a family home buzzing with music and song.

Her old man Mitch was a typically loud London taxi driver and her mum, softly-spoken Janis, worked as a pharmacist.

It was a happy home until Amy was nine - when Mitch moved out and her parents divorced.

Despite the heartache of a broken home at an early age, she had a close-knit Jewish upbringing.

But the emotional torment of the split manifested itself in her wayward teenage years, with a rebellious and cheeky streak that often landed her in hot water.

When she was nine, her grandmother Cynthia suggested she enrol at the local Susi Earnshaw Theatre School.

Amy was there for four years before she got a place at the famous Sylvia Young Theatre School. Stars such as Samantha Janus, Emma Bunton and Denise Van Outen had just graduated as she arrived.

During her time at stage school, she landed a cameo role in TV's The Fast Show - but the thought of the West End and musical theatre made her lose interest and when she was 14 she was asked to leave because staff complained she was "not applying herself".

A nose-piercing was the final straw and in an early interview Amy recalled: "By the time I was 15, my parents realised I would do whatever I wanted, and that was it really."

Those words have all the more significance now.

Amy was gobby, outspoken and distracted - but it was only in her 20s when things took a more sinister twist.

In her youth she was a real Daddy's girl. Her father Mitch was a massive fan of the Rat Pack and used to sing Sinatra and Dean Martin songs with Amy when he drove her to school. It was their time to bond.

For all the criticism thrown in his direction, Mitch was the inspiration for her singing in the first place.

Amy's unique vocal style opened the door for a second chance, at the Brit School in Croydon, south-east London, which now also boasts chart toppers Adele and Jessie J as famous alumni.

She took a part-time job at World Entertainment News Network (WENN) - where she worked with The Sun's Sean Hamilton.

He said: "I remember her when she was 16, straight from Brit School. She worked for two months as a junior showbiz reporter. She was precocious, loud, brash, rude, always swearing. She was always singing in the office.

"She was a bit of a stage school brat. At that point her passion was jazz. She was a big smoker and liked a drink. She was hilarious and loved life.

"Her first boyfriend was a guy called Chris - they met at WENN. They went out for two years and her album Frank was all about him when they split.

"Because I had met her back then, she was always pleasant when I bumped into her at awards ceremonies.

"Around the time she was at WENN she was going out gigging with various jazz bands and learning her craft. She was on the circuit on stage almost every night."

It was during her time studying at the Brit School that Amy really started to follow her dream as a pop star.

Her one-time boyfriend Tyler James, who remained a close pal to her dying day, sent a demo tape she had recorded to label bosses. Universal loved it and signed her up. In 2003 their subsidiary label Island released her debut album Frank - and a star was born.

Inspired by the break-up of her first serious relationship, Frank was a huge achievement for a debut record at a time when young, talented British female solo artists were few and far between.

Amy was only 20 and the music was beyond her years. The lyrics were sharp - "I'll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing" - and old-fashioned jazz got a fresh twist, which fans lapped up across the UK.

Frank was nominated for the Mercury Prize and reached No13 in the charts before re-entering the top 40 six times in the following four years.

The platinum-selling album earned Amy a nomination for Best British Female Solo Artist at the Brits and Best British Urban Act.

Later in 2004, she won a prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song for the brilliant Stronger Than Me.

I met her for the first time in the spring of 2004. I was having dinner in Camden with Sean and she strutted up to our table, sat on the edge and started singing to us.

She turned heads in the restaurant and left us both slightly speechless.

She was curvaceous, free of tattoos and had a presence when she walked into the room that I'll never forget.

She had the mouth of a trucker combined with the voice and presence of a soul diva. It was an enchanting combination.

She was fast becoming a fixture of the lively Camden scene, around pubs such as The Good Mixer and The Hawley Arms and live music venues such as The Barfly.

My meetings with her since then have been gradually more depressing each time, as she succumbed to drink and drugs. After the money started to roll in for Frank, Amy really fell in with a bad crowd for a couple of years.

It was to give her the inspiration for the album which was to make her a global success - but it was also the beginning of the end.

By 2005 Amy still hadn't become a household name. But unknown to her friends and family, she was already setting the destructive foundations which would spark her dramatic decline.

Her image changed dramatically to suit her developing tastes in music. She piled her long black hair into a towering beehive and wore tiny mini skirts and huge high heels. Tattoos began to multiply over her body.

Chain-smoking and boozing kicked in. She was swigging liver-crippling cocktails - her favourite was Southern Comfort, vodka, Baileys Irish Cream and banana liqueur.

She was resembling a 1960s girl-group singer who had fallen on the wrong side of the tracks.

It was no coincidence that Blake Fielder-Civil reared his ugly head around that time.

He was a chancer, embellishing a few minor running jobs with the title "music video producer". His only notable credit was a cameo appearance in a Lily Allen video, handing her a rose.

About five years ago he sent me his CV, asking if I could pass it around record companies. It would have been more successful in the fiction department of a publisher.

Amy met Blake in a Camden pub. He was already in a relationship but they began an affair.

He had her name tattooed behind his right ear and she had his tattooed over her heart above a denim pocket.

They had matching scars on their arms from shocking self-harm injuries.

Blake got a hold over girls in a sinister way - and dragged them into the gutter. A host of girls came forward with tales of woe when the couple first started dating.

By her own admission, Amy was smoking a lot of cannabis and drank more than was good for her. Blake saw his chance and moved in like a vampire scenting blood. As their relationship developed, daily drunken public appearances made the headlines.

During one performance she ran off stage to vomit and was snapped falling over in the street and generally looking like a lost soul.

Her puppy fat was disappearing and she started to look gaunt. Looking back now, it was class A drugs taking control.

The relationship became too much and Blake returned to his ex, while Amy had a string of other boyfriends around Camden.

At this time she sank into depression - and second album Back To Black was born. Written in tears "on the kitchen floor", the dark lyrics spilled out to form the album that was to make her fortune.

It was released in 2006 and became one of the year's biggest-selling records - shifting more than one million copies in 12 months. It was an album of heartbroken songs that won Amy a Mercury Award and wowed America.

It went into the charts at No7, the highest position ever for a British female artist at that time.

And in February 2007 she won a Brit Award for Best British Female.

But as the success arrived within an 18-month period, Blake reappeared in her life - and everything went wrong.

At the same time Pete Doherty emerged on the scene and dragged Amy even deeper into trouble.

Fans were connecting with her break-up songs but the single Rehab told a far more ominous story.

By now she was a shadow of her former self, waif-like and fragile in her ballet pumps and bra.

Her family and manager loathed Blake and the worst news possible came in May 2007 when they married in a £60 ceremony in Miami.

They marked the occasion with burgers and chips and a 48-hour lock-in at their hotel.

That's when I remember the hellraising getting dangerously out of hand.

On one occasion Amy woke with scratches on her arm and admitted: "I have no idea. I hate that. The blackouts. Happens too often."

Her drug problem was totally out of hand and her live shows became a humiliating pantomime.

She played the Eden Project in Cornwall, forgot the lyrics and smacked herself in the face with her microphone.


She was spitting at her fans and swearing, staggering around the stage.

Then at Glastonbury she babbled her lyrics and was heckled by the crowd.

Concerts were cancelled at short notice and we were told she was too sick to appear on stage. In August 2007 The Sun published a front-page story about her three-day bender with Blake, fuelled by heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, the horse tranquilliser ketamine and alcohol.

She had a seizure and ended up in hospital where she had her stomach pumped and was given an adrenalin injection to bring her round.

Amy then checked into a rehab centre in Essex but bailed out after just three days of an eight-week course.

After pressure from dad Mitch and her manager Raye Cosbert, she and Blake tried rehab again - only to quit within days after being caught smoking crack cocaine.

Then came the worst public scrap when they were snapped outside their hotel in Soho in a dire condition. Blake was bleeding from scratches on his face, Amy's face was cut and her feet were seeping blood through her ballet shoes.

Their parents took to the airwaves to try to call a halt, with Blake's stepfather demanding that Amy's record company intervene.

I had a terrible run-in with the couple in September 2007.

I had a ticket to see Scotland play France at football in Paris but a sinister call from Blake asking me to meet him and Amy delayed my departure.

I arranged to see him at a hotel because he wanted to talk about his drug problems with Amy, who arrived later.

She couldn't speak because she was so heavily drugged up. She was drooling. Her eyes were telling me she wanted to say help, but her lips could hardly move. She was filthy, covered in stains and looked like she had been up for days. She was a hopeless heroin addict and it was heartbreaking to see.

He wanted money but I refused to pay. It was going to go straight into their veins.

More than two hours of arguing with Blake followed before he left in a strop. Amy's security then came and picked her up.

A couple of years later, at the Q Awards, she and I joked about it - I had missed a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Scotland win 1-0 in Paris and it was all her fault.

But it had been no laughing matter at the time.

A month later, in October 2007, Amy was arrested while on tour in Bergen, Norway, and was held by police overnight on suspicion of possessing drugs.

In November Blake was arrested and charged with assaulting a publican in the East End. He was subsequently sent to prison on remand on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegedly trying to bribe the man to drop the assault allegation.

Though Amy's parents and friends hoped that her husband's incarceration would bring her to her senses, it had the opposite effect.

On November 14 she was booed in Birmingham during an incoherent performance which she dedicated to her "Blake incarcerated".

She then cancelled the remaining eight gigs of a UK tour - on doctors' orders.

She always had touchingly simple hopes for life with Blake. She said: "I've always been a little homemaker. I know I'm talented, but I wasn't put here to sing. I was put here to be a wife and a mum and to look after my family.

"I love what I do, but it's not where it begins and ends."

One thing any of her pals will tell you, despite her wild image, is that she was indeed a real homemaker.

She regularly cooked for friends at her flat in Camden and made sure everyone was well looked after.

And she enjoyed many other talents besides cooking. Despite all the controversy, she picked up a string of lucrative fashion deals.

She designed her own range of Fred Perry clothes and was heralded as a style icon by designers such as Karl Lagerfeld. Towards the end of her life she was raking in huge sums of cash performing private gigs. A couple of years ago she pocketed £400,000 from designer Fendi.

She also picked up more than £500,000 for private gigs in Russia, as well as South American dates which brought in an estimated £1million for a Rio show.

Amy was generous with her money and last year donated tens of thousands of pounds' worth of designer clothes to a north London charity shop for cancer research.

She also set up her own record label, Lioness, so she could launch the career of her god-daughter Dionne Bromfield.

Amy paved the way for the current crop of British female solo artists topping the charts.

Duffy, Adele, Kate Nash, Florence And The Machine, Rumer and recently Jessie J all paid homage to her.

American artists have recognised her genius, too, with Lady GaGa praising her unique style.

Amy herself eventually saw through Blake, gave him his marching orders and cleaned herself up with the divorce made final in August 2009.

She celebrated by having a boob job - ensuring everyone had the chance to see the results in the following weeks.

She spent time in the Caribbean working on new material, with management hoping it would lead to a new album.

She was clean of heroin and got her life back on track. But her real demons lay with booze and recording sessions turned into long days spent drinking rum cocktails.

This year she tried again to get her life in order. An album's worth of material is finished, but what happens to it remains to be seen.

And in the last month Amy spectacularly fell off the rails on stage in Belgrade. She was forced to cancel the remaining tour dates after an excruciating drunken performance.

For the last 18 months film director Reg Traviss has been her on-off boyfriend. Of all her men over the years he really had his head screwed on.

Her manager Raye has come in for serious criticism for not stepping in to save "my girl", as he called her.

I know him well and he loved Amy like a daughter... and she said as much in her lyrics.

Last night he said: "This is as bad as losing my parents. I really thought we were turning a corner. I'm devastated."

He has been accused of failing his client and trying to make money from her. That couldn't be further from the truth with Raye. He set up Amy with warm-up shows and genuinely thought he'd helped her turn a corner.

The blame lies at the door of the parasites who supplied her with drink and drugs behind the backs of those who were trying to help her.

Amy's parents have been ill with worry for years. It's easy to blame them, especially Mitch, who has had a second career as a singer off the back of his daughter's success.

But ask any parent struggling with a son or daughter with addiction issues and they will tell you it's almost impossible to intervene.

I'll remember Amy for the times she sent shivers up my spine performing on stage, with Paul Weller at the BBC Electric Proms in 2006. For the times she lit up the room at awards ceremonies, or grabbed everyone's attention in the pub with her livewire antics.

And more than all that, for the time she grabbed me for a cuddle with her new fake boobs at an awards do and apologised about the football.

RIP Amy.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/music/3712434/Amy-Winehouse-1983-2011.html

lets hope she has some peace now RIP

RIP to her.. but.. "'The best singer-songwriter of her generation"... come on now..

Such a tragic shame....RIP Amy...

a lost with such a great voice u be remembered as always and with ur talents shouldnt of died like jacko did but you both R.I.PEACE

Living the "Rock 'n' Roll" life style, drink and drugs kill. Hope this is a strong message to anyone with an addiction, if you don't want to listen to a doctor, family or friends then hope this sad loss gets the message accross

I love it, everyone to blame but amy herself

sorry but if she was an ordinary drug taker would you all still mourn, na you would'nt, the soldiers in afghan are more important than this water...

RIP amy, one of the best and brightest! sadly missed... hope she has the peace now she never found in life xx

Frank is her best album - if you want to hear the real and powerful Amy, then listen to this one.

She looks great in the first picture

Brillint article- it really gave me an insight and is exactly what I was looking for when ive been searching the papers for something about amy which was genuine. Thanks. RIP Amy

Scar99face wrote:sorry but if she was an ordinary drug taker would you all still mourn, na you would'nt, the soldiers in afghan are more important than this water...

Sadly I don't know any soldiers in Afghanastan by name nor have I heard them sing, so if it's ok by you i'll be saddened by the death of a very good singer.

Please!

Will everyone stop going on as if we've lost someone of biblical importance?

She was a drink and drug addled train wreck who previously wrote and sung a few songs.

That's it.

Devastating for her family and friends, as all deaths are, but as usual, people who have heard a few songs on an album think they knew her. You didn't!

Wingnutter wrote:Please!

Will everyone stop going on as if we've lost someone of biblical importance?

She was a drink and drug addled train wreck who previously wrote and sung a few songs.

That's it.

Devastating for her family and friends, as all deaths are, but as usual, people who have heard a few songs on an album think they knew her. You didn't!

you are spouting off mate but i can't see who commented to rattle your cage on any comment below you?......Someone throw Wingnutter a peanut or something.

Wingnutter wrote:Please!

Will everyone stop going on as if we've lost someone of biblical importance?

She was a drink and drug addled train wreck who previously wrote and sung a few songs.

That's it.

Devastating for her family and friends, as all deaths are, but as usual, people who have heard a few songs on an album think they knew her. You didn't!

Yes we do not know her personally but the soul in her music & writing made us fans feel as if we did know her. You would only get it if you had some soul yourself not a swinging brick for a heart. As for a train wreck you should be ashamed of yourself addiction is a terrible & powerful thing that takes over your life & in this case helped end a life. If you have nothing sensible to add then clear off with your vile bile its not wanted here,

Sakavelli wrote:

Scar99face wrote:sorry but if she was an ordinary drug taker would you all still mourn, na you would'nt, the soldiers in afghan are more important than this water...

Sadly I don't know any soldiers in Afghanastan by name nor have I heard them sing, so if it's ok by you i'll be saddened by the death of a very good singer.

where's the good singer????????

Wingnutter wrote:Please!

Will everyone stop going on as if we've lost someone of biblical importance?

She was a drink and drug addled train wreck who previously wrote and sung a few songs.

That's it.

Devastating for her family and friends, as all deaths are, but as usual, people who have heard a few songs on an album think they knew her. You didn't!

You are spot on Wingnutter very spot on and its the truth, she wasnt exactly a roll model cause she was a junkie alcoholic full stop...

why media is making her look like Mother Teresa???

Why do people have to be such ***** when celebrities die? She had issues, some people loved her and her music and wished her to get better and clean herself up. It's tragic.

People who slag this young women off should remember she did no harm to anyone. She sang like an angel and now she's singing with them. She was just a girl who couldn't cope with the fame that was Amy Winehouse.

Maybe she didn't intend to hurt herself but didn't care if she did. I've been there. R.I.P Amy,I hope you do rest in peace

oh so she was forced to take the drugs and booze!1 aah i see so it wasnt her responsibilty to say NO!! she was hardly a roll model.. and when she was having her melt downs didnt see the press portraying her as an angel then!!

HAHAHAHAHA good singer.... THIS HAS TO BE A JOKE! i bet the other female artists will be happy that a wino beat them!

Scar99face wrote:

Wingnutter wrote:Please!

Will everyone stop going on as if we've lost someone of biblical importance?

She was a drink and drug addled train wreck who previously wrote and sung a few songs.

That's it.

Devastating for her family and friends, as all deaths are, but as usual, people who have heard a few songs on an album think they knew her. You didn't!

You are spot on Wingnutter very spot on and its the truth, she wasnt exactly a roll model cause she was a junkie alcoholic full stop...

Just shut up eh? Someone admired by many people has died and all you can do is throw insults around. Does it make you feel good? Do you feel better for doing so?

She didn't hurt anyone, paid for her drink and drugs with her own money, and paid the ultimate price with her life. Do you really think the nasty comments on here will change the people who loved her voice minds? No.
Good bye Amy, you will be missed x

Scar99face wrote:

Wingnutter wrote:Please!

Will everyone stop going on as if we've lost someone of biblical importance?

She was a drink and drug addled train wreck who previously wrote and sung a few songs.

That's it.

Devastating for her family and friends, as all deaths are, but as usual, people who have heard a few songs on an album think they knew her. You didn't!

You are spot on Wingnutter very spot on and its the truth, she wasnt exactly a roll model cause she was a junkie alcoholic full stop...

nobody has said she is more important than soldiers in afghanistan to start with. she was a great troubled singer whos music touched many peoples lives. her name will be remembered by her fans just like the soldiers in afghanistan will be by their friends and family. who will want to remember you the way you speak

She may have been admired and loved by many people.BUT,not enough to help her.The only person who tried his best was her Dad.Where were all the fans that are meant to love her.None of you helped.

Scottybee wrote:oh so she was forced to take the drugs and booze!1 aah i see so it wasnt her responsibilty to say NO!! she was hardly a roll model.. and when she was having her melt downs didnt see the press portraying her as an angel then!!

I agree.

I'm gutted to hear this news, although she drank too much and took drugs, she was not a bad person, just troubled. She was incredibly talented and I for one love her music. I hope Amy can finally find peace, R.I.P gorgeous and my thoughts go to all her family and friends xxx

she was not a bad person? except for the violent attack which she was arrested and sent to court for 3 years ago does. the criminal record in Norway does. Infact she was such a good person as to be refused legal entry into the USA because of legal troubles

JASJEE wrote:she was not a bad person? except for the violent attack which she was arrested and sent to court for 3 years ago does. the criminal record in Norway does. Infact she was such a good person as to be refused legal entry into the USA because of legal troubles

Brilliant

Viqu wrote:

JASJEE wrote:she was not a bad person? except for the violent attack which she was arrested and sent to court for 3 years ago does. the criminal record in Norway does. Infact she was such a good person as to be refused legal entry into the USA because of legal troubles

Brilliant

thats all very easy to say but when your addicted to something its nigh on impossible to help someone that doesnt want to be helped!!!!