Eduardo Barone
07/23/2021 12:05 AM
Clarín.com
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Music
Updated 07/23/2021 1:54 PM
What would have happened to the careers of female singers like Dido, Adele, Lady Gaga or even Katy Perry if the death of Amy Winehouse had not occurred, exactly ten years ago, on July 23, 2011?
And
what artistic heights would that
tiny
white Jewish girl,
born in the small suburb of Southgate, north of populous London,
have reached
had she been alive?
Of course, none of these questions will be answered any longer, but in order to imagine it would only be enough to listen to the two studio albums by Amy Winehouse (
Frank
from 2003 and
Back to Black
from 2006) or the posthumous
Lioness: Hidden Treasures
(2011 , with B sides and several unreleased, jazz standards and even an excellent rendition of
The Girl from Ipanema
) to understand that a voice like hers, such an overwhelming personality and an image that proposed fashion and avant-garde from the stage, are unrepeatable.
Amy began to sing at a very young age in the home bosom.
Her father Mitchell, a taxi driver who continued to work and drive that car through the streets of Camden well into his daughter's career, had her well used: together they sang the hits of Frank Sinatra that played the radio,
Amy Winehouse had a privileged and peculiar voice.
The pills and alcohol took their toll on her.
Photo Jeff Pachoud / AFP)
"From each song we sang a verse each, and already at that time she showed conditions, although when you asked her what was going to be when she grew up she said she wanted to be a waitress on rollers", said her father.
But the girl grew up.
And he
grew up listening to a lot
of
music
from the huge disco that Alex, his older brother, had at home.
She learned easily to strum a guitar (later on she would play piano and even take drum lessons) and when she reached adolescence, while most of her friends were entertaining each other kissing with their little boyfriends, in the darkness of some alley, she began to write the first lyrics of their own songs.
At the age of 18, Amy roamed the pubs in the north of the English capital singing and accompanying herself on her guitar.
People were struck by this
carefree
girl
, with a Barbra Streisand profile and owner of a truly incomparable range and vocal color.
The first test
A year later, Darcus Beese, A&R (in charge of Artists and Repertoire) of the English subsidiary of the Island / Universal label was looking for new values to sign. He listened to a demo and summoned her for a test at the record company offices. There is a very emotional video of that moment: a fresh and even somewhat daring
Amy Winehouse singing lightly
for the executive staff and the label's marketing department, as if she were doing it in her living room.
From that moment to the recording of his first album there was only a small jump.
Frank
(named after his beloved Sinatra) was released on October 20, 2003, and within weeks it achieved platinum status for high sales.
Critics and commentators immediately adored her, comparing her to Sarah Vaughan.
Your own style.
Amy Winehouse did not imitate anyone, neither in her look nor in her singing.
Photo Carl De Souza / AFP)
However, some shadows were already threatening the emotional stability of the nascent superstar.
To begin the separation of the parents, at 9 years old, it was a very hard blow to digest.
That marked her for life.
The other triggering episode was to happen several years later, with whom he would be the great love of his life.
Along with the release of her debut album, a new Winehouse was born, with an irresistibly attractive image. She completely changed her look, and recycling something of the style of the black singer groups of the Motown era, in the 60s (the same ones that had dazzled The Beatles in previous decades) she adopted tight miniskirts, she shook her hair in the style “Beehive” (Martha and The Vandellas, The Ronettes and The Supremes had it almost registered as a watermark) and tattoos began to be seen on different parts of his body.
But the unexpected success, the first nominations for the awards and a popularity that came in unstoppable waves made her somehow
withdraw into herself
.
That is the time when Amy internally abdicates all that world of flare and flattery and begins to take refuge in seedy pubs to play pool, her favorite entertainment.
The love that changed everything
In one of those clubs, The Champion, is where he meets
Blake Fielder-Civil
, a skinny boy with a bad boy look and a baby face who appears in his path like a real curse.
Blake, an
addict to heavy drugs
(crack, heroin, cocaine) manages to fascinate her from the first moment, dragging her with him in his path of dealers and high alcohol consumption.
Most of the singer's fans still see her boyfriend and ex-husband as
responsible for the downfall and subsequent death
of the artist, however, as often happens, there is not just one culprit;
rather, a number of variables are brought together that result in the inevitable debacle.
Everyone sees the blow coming, but no one from their most intimate environment seems to be able to avoid it.
Amy Winehouse and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
They had a toxic relationship.
AFP photo
Thus, what had started as a beautiful fairy tale soon became a horror novel.
Of a deeply psychological terror.
With the excuse of wanting to turn bad into good, Amy tried to transform those pathetic and risky experiences of sado-masochistic bias with her boyfriend, and put them (brilliantly, it must be said) into lyrics for her songs.
On October 30, 2006 his second album
Back to Black was released
, where the lyrics hid desperate and very direct
requests for help
.
The use of increasingly heavy drugs, together with what the new couple called "crazy nights", soon took a toll on her figure.
Pain made song
The executives of his record company then advised him to enter a rehabilitation institute for drug addicts.
And of that fleeting and frustrated experience arose of course that great hit that was precisely
Rehab
.
"I didn't want to know anything, I asked my dad and he told me that it wasn't necessary for me to go to rehab, which gave me great relief."
Enamored with a sick obsession of an increasingly addicted and overwhelmed Blake Fielder-Civil,
Amy married
on May 18, 2007 in a secret ceremony in Miami.
Despite the photos smiling and showing off their rings, they were both falling crashing down in an endless downward spiral.
Suddenly, the singer's face went from the music section and from the covers of specialized magazines to the
big headlines of the tabloid weeklies
.
On three occasions she was nominated for the Ivor Novello Awards, the most important musical recognition in the United Kingdom.
The first time she looked young and splendid.
In the second edition, his presence caused concern even in the jury, and in the third he did not even appear ... at a ceremony that historically takes place at noon!
Her father ended up receiving the award for her, and had to clarify that his daughter's health was not as bad as some newspapers claimed.
But the reality was quite another.
The last straw came when paparazzi captured the couple leaving the Sanderson Hotel in a dire state, in daylight, in the heart of London and only three months after the wedding.
Both were completely
covered in blood, with
various
wounds, bruises and cuts
on different parts of the body.
Amy Winehouse, dyed blonde and in her worst moment.
Photo Luke MacGregor / Reuter
The photos made an impact on all levels, and
went around the world
.
Now no one was talking about Amy's voice or talents, and the general comment was that something was really wrong.
The worst was yet to happen.
In 2007, Blake was jailed for a bribery matter and Amy had to face a long tour without that
private dealer that was her husband
,
who was in
charge of supplying her the drugs.
Already at the first concert he arrived so late that a good part of the public was leaving, and his performance was disastrous.
Completely drunk (something that would be seen in different shows from then on) she forgot the lyrics and insulted the public.
The rest of the shows were canceled and his reputation began to fall apart.
The roles of mother and father
She dyed her hair blonde, lost a lot of weight, she looked very deteriorated, her eyes lost and always in the company of a bottle of alcohol.
The tabloid newspaper
The Sun
even published a photo of her on the cover, her face covered in cuts and self-inflicted bruises under the headline “Please,
can someone help her?
”.
Amy Winehouse had a complicated relationship with her father Mitch.
To make matters worse, her mother, Janis, seemed oblivious to everything, while
her father was more concerned with getting the commercial juice out
of his daughter than with helping her overcome her addictions.
That is clearly seen when, about to leave for a vacation in the Caribbean, good old Mitch shows up at the airport with a whole film crew, technicians and assistants.
When Amy questions him, furious, he only manages to explain that this is a good idea: film his break to later offer it to some television medium.
Back in the city, she
is nominated for 6 Grammy Awards in Hollywood
, and although she is not in a position to go to receive them (in addition, the US State Department prohibits her from entering that country because of drug use) Amy sings via satellite and manages to end up getting cheered on.
To all this the "good news" is that
Blake is released from jail
, bringing back the nights of havoc.
Fortunately, his freedom was going to be short-lived, and he returns to prison for assaults on the owner of a pub.
The statue of Amy Winehouse, in Camden Stables, London.
Photo Alberto Pezzali / AP
That is the moment where it seems that things can be reversed.
He takes a break on the island of Santa Lucia while from his confinement Blake prepares the divorce papers.
The star's environment sighs in relief and she shows signs of an unexpected recovery.
But it is the calm that precedes the final storm.
Away from drugs, now
her great enemy is alcohol
.
A show in Belgrade (Republic of Serbia) triggers all the alarms again.
A few weeks later dark rumors spread throughout London.
And finally these are confirmed when
Amy is found dead in her North Camden apartment
from alcohol intoxication.
At 27 -the
damn Club of 27
, which includes musicians who died at that age, such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and Brian Jones- and in this way, as dramatic (as predicted) on 23 July 2011 the legend is born.
Even today, after ten years, she is an enveloping magnet of such magnetism that it becomes impossible not to continue being excited when listening to her.
A technical explanation of this would be insufficient and unfair.
There is something about that "problem girl"
(as she defined herself in her song
You Know I`m Not Good, You know I'm not good
) that remains enduring over time and is not only found in her privileged throat.
Attending this phenomenon each time through so many videos and documentaries that flood the networks, reaffirm a legacy more current than ever.
And like her idolized Frank Sinatra, the Voice of Amy Winehouse will continue to enamor the entire world forever.
WD