It has been 10 years since the disappearance of Amy Winehouse (London, September 14, 1983 - July 23, 2011) and again we need to find meaning, develop psychological explanations, medical reasons or gender arguments.
We must also resist the tendency to fit her into that ghostly
27 club,
as if her death was predestined by age and trade.
From there they usually jump to blame the music industry;
in this case, it is an unfair attribution.
More information
Amy Winehouse, found dead in her London apartment
Amy Winehouse, confessions of an unrepentant fan
In fact, Amy's career shows perhaps the best side of the recorded music business.
At the beginning of the century, her antennas were working and the young performer was quickly spotted in a London teeming with candidates for stardom.
Although she had hardly any original songs, she signed a generous contract as an author with EMI Publishing, which allowed her to emancipate herself, moving into a flat of her own.
As a recording artist, she chose Island Records, a label that has tended to take care of its musicians and demanded in January 2008, via a document she signed, that she detox before presenting to the Grammys.
His absence from the ceremony did not prevent him from winning five awards.
Prior to those deals, Amy had joined 19 Management, part of television mogul Simon Fuller's empire, which paid her a weekly stipend prior to launch. He was represented by a loyal admirer, Nick Shymansky, who put his health above all consideration. Although he was not prepared for what he was discovering; bulimia episodes, antidepressant stage, attraction to hard drugs. Shymansky's insistence on the need to fully enter a rehabilitation process caused Amy to change managers, leaving with Raye Cosbert, her gig seeker. A bad idea: the man confused career development with an abundance of live shows, embarking Amy on tours that were beyond her physical capabilities.
The singer poses with her parents, Mitch and Janis, in London in 2008. GARETH DAVIES (GETTY)
To
make matters worse,
Cosbert had the complicity of Mitch Winehouse.
Jewish and male equivalent of our “folkloric mother,” Mitch bet on bird in hand and pushed Amy to go bowling.
A frustrated singer, Mitch loved the spotlight.
His callousness is amply borne by his trip to the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, where a fragile Amy had taken refuge to quit illegal drugs: she landed with a television crew, ready to record a documentary about her wayward daughter.
Mitch's was an unavoidable burden: he was adored by an Amy traumatized by his absence from the family home.
The choice of Blake Fielder-Civil as husband was indeed his thing ... and it was disastrous.
A posh lover of the dangerous life, he admitted to having introduced Amy to the joys of
crack
and heroin.
Lacking a moral compass, he used the singer's fortune to try to free himself from the consequences of his whims and outbursts.
After being imprisoned, Amy became a
painful
mother
, asking her fans to show solidarity with "her Blake."
The nature of his fame, his visibility in London at night, involved harassment from paparazzi and other vultures.
The relationship with Fleider-Civil coincided with an astonishing sound and aesthetic turn. The
jazzwoman
on her debut album,
Frank
(2003), reinvented herself as a retrospective soul vocalist in
Back to Black
(2006), shifting from intimate performances to flashy brass section shows and black choristers. Even more shocking: its conversion into a sex bomb project, a la Ronnie Spector. Despite the best efforts of her stylists, her skinny body and lanky gait did not match such an ideal voluptuous Latina. This imposture, naturally much celebrated by fashion designers, did not imply a betrayal of its theme: Amy distilled her emotional biography in naked letters, without artifice. But I was leaving
-
ay
-
from some perceptions based on the ultra-romantic lyrics of Tin Pan Alley and the Brill Building.
The main problem was that Amy and her people were entering unfamiliar territory, without a road map.
The nature of his fame, his visibility in London at night, implied constant harassment from
paparazzi
and other vultures.
The trash press did not recognize limits: it is very likely that they had their phones tapped.
In addition, no one resisted such a simple target: comedians and illustrious television figures made cruel jokes with the girl of the moment.
There came a point where a good part of the public came to her concerts expecting to meet, not with the gifted creator, but with the walking disaster.
And they saw what they wanted to see, of course.
Amy Winehouse with her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, at the Isle of Wight festival in 2007. Jon Furniss / WireImage
They were missing the prodigy.
The student who had gone through
Fame-
type academies —
Sylvia Young Theater School, BRIT School — without acquiring the vocal mannerisms of so many of her contemporaries.
The intelligent devourer of styles: beyond her immersion in soul and jazz, she manifested a growing curiosity for
hip-hop
without forgetting her fondness for
Jamaican
ska and
reggae
.
And the flexible artist, who was at ease with producers like Mark Ronson or Salaam Remi, who also rounded out her songs, Amy had a fresh voice with veteran idioms.
She even died like so many blues and jazz ladies.
She died alone from alcohol intoxication.
No sign of drugs, the coroner said.
Amy's Favorite Song
Amy Winehouse was not only a great singer: she was also a musical devourer with gusto. Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles… He was enthusiastic about interpreters with personality. His favorite song was
So Far Away
, by Carole King, another of his devotions. It belongs to the exquisite
Tapestry
album
and talks about missing a loved one. On some occasion, King has assured that it was not a single love, but two: the two daughters he had with Gerry Goffin, whom he longed for when he was on tour in the seventies.
So far away
was performed by the approximately 500 people who attended Winehouse's funeral. In her limited discography (only two long albums), the ill-fated singer did not dare to cover her favorite song. He did face
Will You Love Me Tomorrow
, also by Carole King and Tapestry. It was featured on Winehouse's posthumous album,
Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)
. In this work is his latest studio recording, Body and Soul, a duet with Tony Bennett.
By CARLOS MARCOS