View Full Version : Amy Winehouse RIP
Rare Bird
23-07-2011, 16:35
Found dead, absolutly no age
I'm not in the least surprised, but what a tragedy and such a waste of a young life - very sad news indeed.
hifi_dave
23-07-2011, 16:42
Just heard and listening to Sky now. Not unexpected, given her troubles but what a great shame and a loss to music.
God bless Amy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14262237
Just 27 - very sad, but I can't say I'm too surprised.
A tragic inevitability, I guess, but very, very sad nonetheless.
Rare Bird
23-07-2011, 16:51
Not my cuppa but she had a super voice
Wakefield Turntables
23-07-2011, 17:08
Too much talent with too little sense. How come all the greats die in there mid 20's, janis jopin, jimi hendrix, jim morrison (I think :scratch:), and now Amy W.
I'd never heard of her till she appeared on the Jonathan Ross show doing a turn right at the end - went straight out and bought 'Frank' - still play it a lot. What a shame - some people are just wrapped too tight for this world.:(
dantheman91
23-07-2011, 17:12
Such a sad loss she will be missed time to pay tribute and play the back to black album R.I.P Amy
bogle111
23-07-2011, 17:13
Sad, very sad. Just heard the news
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12470
ursus262
23-07-2011, 17:23
I hope she now finds the peace that eluded her.
Techno Commander
23-07-2011, 17:28
A talant truly wasted, or a truly wasted talent.
Sad news indeed, but not totally unexpected.
Border Riever
23-07-2011, 17:29
Thoughts go to her family who tried desperately help her,It must be heartbreaking to see a family member to go this way.
R.I.P.
Rare Bird
23-07-2011, 17:30
Too much talent with too little sense. How come all the greats die in there mid 20's, janis jopin, jimi hendrix, jim morrison (I think :scratch:), and now Amy W.
Brian Jones died at 27
A talant truly wasted, or a truly wasted talent.
Sad news indeed, but not totally unexpected.
that about sums it for me :(
Too much talent with too little sense. How come all the greats die in there mid 20's, janis jopin, jimi hendrix, jim morrison (I think :scratch:), and now Amy W.
ALL of them, plus Kurt Cobain, and Brian Jones (as Andre said) died at 27, and now Amy Winehouse, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club
worthingpagan
23-07-2011, 18:05
Talented young girl, RIP
anthonyTD
23-07-2011, 18:17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOgIPZP-eLM&feature=related
:(
A...
HighFidelityGuy
23-07-2011, 18:18
Very sad news. :( My thoughts go to her friends and family.
I wasn't her biggest fan but she had a great voice and made some great tracks. What is it with the modern word that causes talented young artists to self destruct? Far too many great artists have died far too young. :(
Rare Bird
23-07-2011, 18:21
Seems to be three seperate Amy topics running at the moment :scratch:
anthonyTD
23-07-2011, 18:54
Seems to be three seperate Amy topics running at the moment :scratch:
hi Andre,
seems i put my tribute up before seeing this one!:doh:
Either way a very sad day, and a waste of talent.:(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOgIPZP-eLM&feature=related
Anthony,TD...
WOStantonCS100
23-07-2011, 20:46
FFS. We're losing talent faster than we can replace it.
Just learned through this thread. Terrible. I was just thinking of what shes up to yesterday. Possibly a tragic case of a woman choosing the wrong man. And the incredible pressure of the bar she set. ( or we set ).
I just watched the videos on YouTube from her Belgrade concert..... quite shocking really and terribly sad - if any human being needed some help, she did. I'm lost for words really, as I loved her work.
Rare Bird
23-07-2011, 22:01
Very upsetting watching that Tim..Poor girl
Jac Hawk
23-07-2011, 22:10
She seemed the sort of person that drew on her own life experience and poured it into her songs, which was great, unfortunately that turmoil also made her a ticking bomb, and as many have said it was kind of expected. A real shame
Spectral Morn
24-07-2011, 06:14
She showed such potential then pissed it into the wind. However unless you walk in an others shoes (and none of us can) can we ever know what inner demons they fight. Some win some lose.
My thoughts are with her friends and family.
While the legacy she has left is small and in places flawed she still has left two wonderful albums in the shape of Frank and my fave by her Back to Black.
RIP Amy.
:(
It is sad to hear this news My thoughts go out to her family and friends who by all accounts did everything they could to help
Rich Conroy
24-07-2011, 12:20
Another member of the 27 club. We all wrestle with our internal demons. Most people win. She lost.
I've just spun "Back to Black" in her memory. I'll order "Frank".
RC
Just found a piece by Russell Brand on his website - which is struggling under the traffic, so rather than link, pasted here if you're interested.
For Amy By Russell Brand
When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.
Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.
I’ve known Amy Winehouse for years. When I first met her around Camden she was just some twit in a pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends, most of whom were in cool Indie bands or peripheral Camden figures Withnail-ing their way through life on impotent charisma. Carl Barrat told me that “Winehouse” (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it’s kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as a bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; “Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric” I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.
I was myself at that time barely out of rehab and was thirstily seeking less complicated women so I barely reflected on the now glaringly obvious fact that Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction. All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they’re not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his “speedboat” there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they’re looking through you to somewhere else they’d rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief.
From time to time I’d bump into Amy she had good banter so we could chat a bit and have a laugh, she was “a character” but that world was riddled with half cut, doped up chancers, I was one of them, even in early recovery I was kept afloat only by clinging to the bodies of strangers so Winehouse, but for her gentle quirks didn’t especially register.
Then she became massively famous and I was pleased to see her acknowledged but mostly baffled because I’d not experienced her work and this not being the 1950’s I wondered how a “jazz singer” had achieved such cultural prominence. I wasn’t curious enough to do anything so extreme as listen to her music or go to one of her gigs, I was becoming famous myself at the time and that was an all consuming experience. It was only by chance that I attended a Paul Weller gig at the Roundhouse that I ever saw her live.
I arrived late and as I made my way to the audience through the plastic smiles and plastic cups I heard the rolling, wondrous resonance of a female vocal. Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! That twerp, all eyeliner and lager dithering up Chalk Farm Road under a back-combed barnet, the lips that I’d only seen clenching a fishwife fag and dribbling curses now a portal for this holy sound. So now I knew. She wasn’t just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a fucking genius.
Shallow fool that I am I now regarded her in a different light, the light that blazed down from heaven when she sang. That lit her up now and a new phase in our friendship began. She came on a few of my TV and radio shows, I still saw her about but now attended to her with a little more interest. Publicly though, Amy increasingly became defined by her addiction. Our media though is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that youtube madness with the baby mice. In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent. This and her manner in our occasional meetings brought home to me the severity of her condition. Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death. I was 27 years old when through the friendship and help of Chip Somers of the treatment centre, Focus12 I found recovery, through Focus I was introduced to support fellowships for alcoholics and drug addicts which are very easy to find and open to anybody with a desire to stop drinking and without which I would not be alive.
Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s, some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill. We need to review the way society treats addicts, not as criminals but as sick people in need of care. We need to look at the way our government funds rehabilitation. It is cheaper to rehabilitate an addict than to send them to prison, so criminalisation doesn’t even make economic sense. Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call.
I've never been a fan of RB, but that shows him in a different light, very well written indeed - thanks Alex.
I've never been a fan of RB, but that shows him in a different light, very well written indeed - thanks Alex.
Me neither, but I thought the same - I should be less judgemental of people!
Spectral Morn
24-07-2011, 18:12
I've never been a fan of RB, but that shows him in a different light, very well written indeed - thanks Alex.
+ 1
Depth, compassion, insight and reality.
Regards D S D L
Haselsh1
24-07-2011, 18:21
Amy Winehouse; Shine On, You Crazy Diamond.
I feel real loss.
I knew this was a possibility and still I'm shocked an saddened.
I didn't even know who she was till a couple of months ago when Macca told me about her but bought back to black and I liked it.
I hoped she would come out of it,but some how knew it was bound to go badly for her.
Even sadder is the press who has benefited so much from her suffering and grate misfortunes.
Now they will exploit her death for all they can get out of it.
R.I.P. Amy
Thing Fish
25-07-2011, 00:34
Sad loss but self inflicted. Many people have problems a lot worse than her's and they still seem to manage or struggle through. She was obviously a weak soul.
In the big scheme of things its but a small blip. Sorry to be so curt but that's the truth of the matter.
Sad loss but self inflicted. Many people have problems a lot worse than her's and they still seem to manage or struggle through. She was obviously a weak soul.
In the big scheme of things its but a small blip. Sorry to be so curt but that's the truth of the matter.
...insensitive & judgemental, nice combination
Its best probably best not to judge and compare someone else issues
Sorry to be so curt but that's the truth of the matter.
IYO
michaelhigh
25-07-2011, 23:26
I've never been a fan of RB, but that shows him in a different light, very well written indeed - thanks Alex.
Wow. I had really negative impressions to fight back, and this by Mr Brand put it in a more realistic light. Till now I was kinda blinded by the sensationalism of the occurrance, now it has a bit of perspective. RIP.
Poor Amy, her life was like watching a motorway pileup in slow motion with the inevitable carnage at the end and instead of an ice covered motorway, she had drugs that were the slippery road for her. The media too helped us to watch that slow motion film, frame by painful frame.
What never ceases to amaze me though is that if she was lying in the gutter bleeding profusely there would have been dozens of people rushing over to help her, they would probably have covered her in a blanket, put a pillow under her head, maybe given her a cup of tea, administered first aid and called 999 for an ambulance. Someone with a broken heart or a mental illness lying in the gutter gets no attention at all and a drug addict gets even less sympathy because it is deemed to be "self inflicted". These self-righteous people have no concept at all of what it is like to be truly addicted and these poor souls really do need society to help them, every bit as much as the poor soul lying in the gutter bleeding profusely and it doesn't need the visual stimulus of blood to engage the machinery of our human kindness to react with equal vigour for these unfortunates who have more hidden injuries.
Frank - I listened to her first album Frank (just a coincidence?!) yesterday, which I haven't done in years. Whilst I 100% agree with what you've said (and is pretty much the synopsis of what Russell Brand said - addiction is a disease or an illness like any other) the penultimate track of her first album is quite poignant:
hFp-7Zr3ziw
Help Yourself
When I walk in your shoes
I understand a man confused
There must have been but I don't care
I feel the way your soul does there
Darling they empathise
Looking through your bloodshot eyes
And I know you you're so frustrated
Above we all become what we once hated
Be slight nobody can be that wise
I can't help ya if you won't help yourself
I can't help ya if you don't help yourself
You can only get so much from someone yeah
You can get so much from me
I can't help ya if you won't help yourself
You've got a degree a in philosophy
So you think you're cleverer than me
But I'm not just some drama queen
Cos it's where you're at not where you've been
So what do you expect from me
To hold your head above the sea
And there are you even though you're bigger
Cos don't you know you crush my tiny figure
And anyway we're still so young
And this isn't yet the day
I can't help ya if you won't help yourself
I can't help ya if you don't help yourself
You can only get so much from someone yeah
I can't help ya if you won't help yourself
You might be twenty-five but in my mind
I see you at sixteen years or most of the time
And I'm just a child and you're full grown
And no I'm nothing like I've ever known yeah
I'm nothing like I've ever known
It was also quite sad looking through the sleeve notes of Frank - photos of a talented 20 year old, before the tattoos, before the addictions - before the pain.
Ali Tait
26-07-2011, 12:00
Poor Amy, her life was like watching a motorway pileup in slow motion with the inevitable carnage at the end and instead of an ice covered motorway, she had drugs that were the slippery road for her. The media too helped us to watch that slow motion film, frame by painful frame.
What never ceases to amaze me though is that if she was lying in the gutter bleeding profusely there would have been dozens of people rushing over to help her, they would probably have covered her in a blanket, put a pillow under her head, maybe given her a cup of tea, administered first aid and called 999 for an ambulance. Someone with a broken heart or a mental illness lying in the gutter gets no attention at all and a drug addict gets even less sympathy because it is deemed to be "self inflicted". These self-righteous people have no concept at all of what it is like to be truly addicted and these poor souls really do need society to help them, every bit as much as the poor soul lying in the gutter bleeding profusely and it doesn't need the visual stimulus of blood to engage the machinery of our human kindness to react with equal vigour for these unfortunates who have more hidden injuries.
Spot on Frank.
Nicely put Frank, it's always sad to see talented people fall by the wayside and self inflicted or not, I think society as a whole should check itself and ponder about whether her end was entirely down to her, or if we contributed through our lust to know everything about everybody and the media's ability to destroy those of a frail disposition in the pursuit of a story to feed that desire.
Canetoad
28-07-2011, 12:46
Too much talent with too little sense. How come all the greats die in there mid 20's, janis jopin, jimi hendrix, jim morrison (I think :scratch:), and now Amy W.
While it's sad she has passed, that's taking it a bit far isn't it? I'd hardly put her in that league. :scratch:
Sorry, but I tire of feeling sorry for people given huge opportunities that they just piss away. There are plenty of anonymous addicts out there that manage to survive and even beat their addictions. I save my admiration for them. :ner: :)
While it's sad she has passed, that's taking it a bit far isn't it? I'd hardly put her in that league. :scratch:
I think it was more the "27 Club" aspect than putting her in the same league that the comparison has been made.
Sorry, but I tire of feeling sorry for people given huge opportunities that they just piss away. There are plenty of anonymous addicts out there that manage to survive and even beat their addictions. I save my admiration for them. :ner: :)
I think I've already said all I need to about addiction - I'm not really sure anyone including Amy Winehouse aspired as a child to get hooked on heroin and booze and die young.
However, if you don't feel sorry for her, at least feel for her parents, family and close friends. Especially her parents - no Mum or Dad should have to bury their child, and I can't imagine what they must be going through.
Sorry, but I tire of feeling sorry for people given huge opportunities that they just piss away. There are plenty of anonymous addicts out there that manage to survive and even beat their addictions. I save my admiration for them
I do have sympathy for that viewpoint, and indeed this one of Alex:
However, if you don't feel sorry for her, at least feel for her parents, family and close friends. Especially her parents - no Mum or Dad should have to bury their child, and I can't imagine what they must be going through.
But perhaps even more so for this one:
I think society as a whole should check itself and ponder about whether her end was entirely down to her, or if we contributed through our lust to know everything about everybody and the media's ability to destroy those of a frail disposition in the pursuit of a story to feed that desire.
Spot on, Tim! I'm not saying that this was the reason for poor Amy's death, but it was likely a contributory factor. I bloody LOATHE the gutter press, and even more, the whole 'celebrity lifestyle/culture' bullshite!!
It's the brain-dead general public's insatiable desire (particularly women) to know the minutiae of when every so-called 'celebrity' changes her or her pants, has a new hairdo, or shags some other superficial wanabee 'fame'-chasing asshole, which creates this grossly unhealthy and pathetic media 'feeding frenzy'! :rolleyes: :wanker:
Perhaps if that weren't shamefully the case, Amy would've had one less demon to contend with in her short, and ultimately, tragic life....
Marco.
Canetoad
28-07-2011, 18:57
Was it fame that destroyed her? It could equally have been her fall from fame. :scratch:
I think it's tragic that anybody should lose their life at the age of 27 but, clearly, the girl must have had issues long before she became a household name and found fame and fortune. I find it hard to believe it was all thrust upon her.
The need for attention is what drives celebrity culture. Celebrities become wealthy and successful as flavour of the month then, when the public loses interest and moves on, they fall apart because they're no longer getting their photo in tabloid newspapers and trashy magazines, or they're no longer selling records.
Personally I'd rather be wealthy and anonymous. Successful at the latter, still working on the former. ;)
Neil McCauley
28-07-2011, 19:25
While it's sad she has passed, that's taking it a bit far isn't it? I'd hardly put her in that league. :scratch:
Sorry, but I tire of feeling sorry for people given huge opportunities that they just piss away. There are plenty of anonymous addicts out there that manage to survive and even beat their addictions. I save my admiration for them. :ner: :)
+1
A great soulful singer with a jazz background from her younger years. She made the charts lighten up a bit for a couple of years with some better music than the usual autotune dreck by wannabe models.
Does any of it really matter, like her or not, feel sympathy for her or not, a fellow human being has lost her life which is always a sad thing, especially at such a tender age and when they had so much to give - as music fans I'm surprised at the lack of compassion from some :scratch:
Beechwoods
28-07-2011, 20:36
You're right Tim. In my very humble opinion, this is one of those occasions where 'if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all' should apply :)
My late father was an recoverd Alcoholic and was in AA he helped many people give up booze but there were many he and his freinds couldn't all of them died young or ended up in prison. I myself have been around hospitals in my teens and saw many Heroin addcits and the like some wanted to quit but because of so called freinds couldn't beat there addiction. All of them I knew personally are dead now. Drugs and booze are the biggest cause of crime and booze is although OK in moderation the worst thing ever invented all those thousands of years ago.
Werner Berghofer
29-07-2011, 06:09
Jostein,
She made the charts lighten up a bit for a couple of years with some better music than the usual autotune dreck by wannabe models.
that’s also exactly my opinion. Couldn’t have said it better.
Werner.
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