Life is A Lost Game for Amy -- The troubled singer Amy Winehouse, once regarded as the brightest young star in music, has died aged 27 of a suspected drug overdose.
Paramedics discovered her at her north London home about 4pm on Saturday but it was too late to save her. Her death follows years of widely publicised addiction to drugs and alcohol, which caused her to fade from the height of her musical success and become more talked-about for her physical decline.
Friends of Winehouse paid tribute to her extraordinary talent. The reality TV star Kelly Osbourne said: 'I can't even breathe right now I'm crying so hard, I just lost one of my best friends.'The singer Mick Hucknall hailed Winehouse as 'the finest female singer Britain has ever produced by a long, long way. Such a tragic waste.'
AP Amy Winehouse performs at the V Festival in Chelmsford, Essex in 2008.
Winehouse became as famous for her erratic behaviour and her beehive hairdo as for her unique voice and accomplished songwriting, which resulted in some of the most famous and recognisable hits in recent years, including Rehab, a song about her refusal to attend a rehabilitation clinic, and Love Is a Losing Game.
During one performance in Cornwall in 2007, she forgot her lyrics, spat at fans and hit herself in the face with her microphone. At another performance, at Glastonbury in 2008, the singer stumbled about on the stage mumbling incoherently while the crowd heckled.
In the years that followed, numerous comebacks were promised, but none materialised, with concerts called off at the last minute due to her fragile health.
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar last October, Winehouse was asked whether she had any unfulfilled ambitions. She replied: 'Nope. If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.'
Last month, her management was forced to cancel all forthcoming tour dates and engagements following a series of erratic public appearances and a disastrous performance in Belgrade, Serbia.
The singer made her last, impromptu, public appearance on Wednesday night, when she joined her goddaughter, the singer Dionne Bromfield on stage at the Roundhouse in Camden, encouraging the audience to buy her album.
It had once all seemed so promising. After winning a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School at age 12, she began to write songs and sing at weekends with jazz bands and the National Youth Orchestra, performing her songs at family parties and bar mitzvahs.
A friend in the music industry heard the young Winehouse and decided to give her studio time to record some demos, which led to her signing a record deal with Island Records at age 18.
The next year, in 2003, the 19-year-old Winehouse released her debut album, Frank, which was critically acclaimed and nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
Her follow-up three years later, Back to Black, was one of the biggest-selling records of 2006, and made history when it entered the American album charts at No.7, the highest position for a British female artist.
Featuring the songs Back to Black, Tears Dry on Their Own and You Know I'm No Good, it sold more than 3 million copies and led to Winehouse becoming the first British singer to win five Grammys in one evening.
She also won the coveted Ivor Novello songwriting award three times, and was widely seen as a forerunner for the current wave of successful women singers writing about heartache and relationships, including Adele and Duffy.
Winehouse's life began to spiral out of control in 2005 when she met Blake Fielder-Civil, a music video assistant, in a north London pub.
Although Fielder-Civil was in a relationship, the pair began an affair and soon afterwards Winehouse became notorious for her drunken appearances and erratic behaviour, running offstage during a performance to vomit, and slurring her words onstage and during interviews.
But the fiery relationship with Fielder-Civil appeared to fuel her songwriting skills and, when the couple split briefly in 2006 and he went back to an old girlfriend, Winehouse sank into depression. During that period she wrote the heartbroken songs that make up a large part of Back to Black.
A recent breast enlargement and yet more erratic appearances continued to fuel speculation that all was not well in Winehouse's world. The singer Michelle Gayle, a friend of the family, said that Winehouse's father, Mitch, was 'devastated'.
Mr Winehouse, a former cab driver who launched his own jazz singing career, was believed to be travelling back to London from New York. Amy Winehouse once 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.' ( telegraph.co.uk )
Paramedics discovered her at her north London home about 4pm on Saturday but it was too late to save her. Her death follows years of widely publicised addiction to drugs and alcohol, which caused her to fade from the height of her musical success and become more talked-about for her physical decline.
Friends of Winehouse paid tribute to her extraordinary talent. The reality TV star Kelly Osbourne said: 'I can't even breathe right now I'm crying so hard, I just lost one of my best friends.'The singer Mick Hucknall hailed Winehouse as 'the finest female singer Britain has ever produced by a long, long way. Such a tragic waste.'
AP Amy Winehouse performs at the V Festival in Chelmsford, Essex in 2008.
Winehouse became as famous for her erratic behaviour and her beehive hairdo as for her unique voice and accomplished songwriting, which resulted in some of the most famous and recognisable hits in recent years, including Rehab, a song about her refusal to attend a rehabilitation clinic, and Love Is a Losing Game.
During one performance in Cornwall in 2007, she forgot her lyrics, spat at fans and hit herself in the face with her microphone. At another performance, at Glastonbury in 2008, the singer stumbled about on the stage mumbling incoherently while the crowd heckled.
In the years that followed, numerous comebacks were promised, but none materialised, with concerts called off at the last minute due to her fragile health.
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar last October, Winehouse was asked whether she had any unfulfilled ambitions. She replied: 'Nope. If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.'
Last month, her management was forced to cancel all forthcoming tour dates and engagements following a series of erratic public appearances and a disastrous performance in Belgrade, Serbia.
The singer made her last, impromptu, public appearance on Wednesday night, when she joined her goddaughter, the singer Dionne Bromfield on stage at the Roundhouse in Camden, encouraging the audience to buy her album.
It had once all seemed so promising. After winning a scholarship to the Sylvia Young Theatre School at age 12, she began to write songs and sing at weekends with jazz bands and the National Youth Orchestra, performing her songs at family parties and bar mitzvahs.
A friend in the music industry heard the young Winehouse and decided to give her studio time to record some demos, which led to her signing a record deal with Island Records at age 18.
The next year, in 2003, the 19-year-old Winehouse released her debut album, Frank, which was critically acclaimed and nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
Her follow-up three years later, Back to Black, was one of the biggest-selling records of 2006, and made history when it entered the American album charts at No.7, the highest position for a British female artist.
Featuring the songs Back to Black, Tears Dry on Their Own and You Know I'm No Good, it sold more than 3 million copies and led to Winehouse becoming the first British singer to win five Grammys in one evening.
She also won the coveted Ivor Novello songwriting award three times, and was widely seen as a forerunner for the current wave of successful women singers writing about heartache and relationships, including Adele and Duffy.
Winehouse's life began to spiral out of control in 2005 when she met Blake Fielder-Civil, a music video assistant, in a north London pub.
Although Fielder-Civil was in a relationship, the pair began an affair and soon afterwards Winehouse became notorious for her drunken appearances and erratic behaviour, running offstage during a performance to vomit, and slurring her words onstage and during interviews.
Amy Winehouse
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A recent breast enlargement and yet more erratic appearances continued to fuel speculation that all was not well in Winehouse's world. The singer Michelle Gayle, a friend of the family, said that Winehouse's father, Mitch, was 'devastated'.
Mr Winehouse, a former cab driver who launched his own jazz singing career, was believed to be travelling back to London from New York. Amy Winehouse once 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.' ( telegraph.co.uk )
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