Singer Amy Winehouse, 27, reported dead of overdose

British singer Amy Winehouse was found dead today at age 27, of an apparent drug overdose. Reuters:

Police said they had found the body of a 27-year-old woman at a flat in Camden Square, north London, after being called by ambulance services around 1500 GMT (11 a.m. EDT).

She was a talented artist with a disease, and a long line of enablers who depended on her. As an aside, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Janis Joplin died at the same age and in a similar manner.

Will add links to obituaries as they come in. Early reports: Washington Post, LA Times, Telegraph, Associated Press. Some links: AmyWinehouse.com, which leads with a notice that she recently cancelled all scheduled performances "to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen;" Wikipedia, her music at Amazon.

Photos: Above, Winehouse arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in central London July 23, 2009 to face a charge of assaulting a woman after a 2008 charity ball. (REUTERS/Toby Melville). Below, Winehouse performing at the "Rock in Rio" music festival in Lisbon May 30, 2008. (REUTERS/Nacho Doce)

• [Mister44]

  I guess I never struggled with addition. Now derivatives are another story.

• [tp1024]

  And as usual, people blame her death on drugs, instead of asking why she took them.

  • [theawesomerobot]

    Shot in the dark, but I think she took them because she was addicted to taking them.

    • [DevConcepts]

      What tp1024 meant (I hope) is what led her to escape via drugs in the first place and not to seek help before this tragic end.

      • [theawesomerobot]

        The whole “seeking escape” thing is a fallacy, that’s how a drug addiction may start – but once there’s a rooted addiction it becomes so much more than a poor mental state.

        She’s been to rehab more than a few times. Once addiction becomes that deep it tends to be more of a physical dependence than a mental escape – even after detox. No one ever really “beats” addiction, they just suppress it. Given the opportunity an addict can slip right back into a relapse even after a decade of non-use; as you can imagine, the opportunity comes up much easier when you’re rich and famous. I’d imagine for someone with such a notorious history of use, Winehouse’s addiction struggle was nearly constant.

        • [DevConcepts]

          “The whole “seeking escape” thing is a fallacy, that’s how a drug addiction may start”

          Which is it? The fallacy or the start?

          Having worked with quite a few persons who had or have had addictions of different types. It almost always starts with escaping something, life, work, family, death of someone close, the emotional pain of loss. Very rarely does addiction happen because you just partied.

          Just because someone goes to rehab x times, doesn’t mean they will overcome the addition. They have to want to get well and be able to face and overcome what they are running away from.

          I am not an expert, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn. YMMV.

  • [irksome]

    And as an ex-junkie with 12 years clean, I’ll tell you that if you have to ask why, you’ll never understand. This is not a statement glorifying substance abuse, simply a statement of fact. Be glad that you don’t get it.

    Any addict’s demise is an inevitability. This does not make it any less sad, nor any less frustrating. There IS a way out and I’m living proof; it does however require a considerable amount of effort in order to alter deeply ingrained behaviors, effort that many are unwilling to invest.

    • [Anonymous]

      Surely science couldn’t possibly explain what social factors predict drug abuse. Oh, wait:

      http://www.nijc.org/pdfs/Subject%20Matter%20Articles/Drugs%20and%20Alc/ACE%20Study%20-%20OriginsofAddiction.pdf

      http://www.liftchildren.org/admin/upload/The%20Adverse%20Childhood%20Experiences%20(ACE)%20Study%20-%20Felitti,%20Anda,%20et%20al.%20(American%20Journal%20of%20Preventive%20Medicine,%201998).pdf

    • [Anonymous]

      WOW! well said. Seems like you have recovered well. Addicts of any kind struggle long term .. drug abuse has got to be one of the worst. I am glad you are on this side of it. =)

    • [tp1024]

      > And as an ex-junkie with 12 years clean,

      > Any addict’s demise is an inevitability.

      Do you see any contradiction in those two statements?

      DevConcepts: Spot on.

      • [emmdeeaych]

        That is a nice chip you have there on your shoulder. Care to give other people the benefit of the doubt, the way you appreciate it being given to you by others?

        • [tp1024]

          There are a whole lot more people taking drugs and being addicted to drugs than there are dieing of drugs. That much is obvious – unless you’ve watched too much TV.

          When somebody dies of drugs, something must have gone very wrong that has nothing to do with the drugs themselves. On the top of my mental list of such things are pressure to perform, aimlessness, hopelessness and deprivation of meaningful social contacts.

      • [irksome]

        Yeah, the “12 years clean” part. It’s kinda hard to OD when you don’t shoot up anymore.

        But in order to give your ability to feel compassion the benefit of the doubt, how’s about we substitute “just a matter of time” for “inevitable”.

      • [zombiebob]

        c’mon, clearly he meant an addict who is actively using. That said I don’t entirely agree with him, but for the most part, depending on the substance, there’s much truth to his statement.

  • [Marcelo Negrini]

    Bingo! Also, people don’t die of overdose in the first try. It is not like you are partying and “Oops”! She was showing public signs of self-destructive behavior for years. I don’t think people “did nothing”, but i do think that people said “Ok, boss, we´ll leave you alone” a little too much.

  • [Anonymous]

    tp1024 I get it, and I agree. Drugs are the sympton and neither the cause, nor the cure.

• [DeWynken]

  You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave…

• [thebelgianpanda]

  I’m crushed by her death.
  I’m furious at her enablers.
  I am deepely saddened by the arm-chair addiction specialists on the interwebs right now.

  Please, anyone wanting to post a comment blaming the addict, be a touch more gracious. There will be time to discuss that after the funeral.

• [emmdeeaych]

  The lady said no. no. no.

• [Anonymous]

  rest in peace you beautiful talented woman.

• [CLamb]

  That first sentence should be “Amy Winehouse was found dead today at age 27, apparently of a drug overdose.” Apparent things don’t kill people–real ones do.

  • [princessalex]

    >> “That first sentence should be “Amy Winehouse was found dead today at age 27, apparently of a drug overdose.” Apparent things don’t kill people–real ones do.”

    That’s the correct usage of the word. According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, one of the definitions is:

    “appearing to be true or real “

• [Anonymous]

  Another member of the 27-club.

• [benher]

  drug overdose? What, a Marijuana overdose? Caffeine?

  The label “Drugs” is too generic for journalism and yet… here we are in 2011.
  Get ready for a bunch of innocent Tryptamines to take the hit.

  • [zombiebob]

    Well, I read in a UK tabloid that a friend of her’s said she may have taken a Dodgy E pill. And those tabloids NEVER lie.

  • [BBNinja]

    If it killed her, it definitely wasn’t Marijuana.  More likely, the rock star’s drug of choice, cocaine.

• [happyez]

  In my experience, I have done harmful stuff to myself because of two things:
  - the basis of self belief in my life has been negative
  - I haven’t had the knowledge to do much about it.

  The only thing that has kept me going is that I refused to laydown, and seeked out what I needed. Only now that I am 41, I have done enough things to get me over the line and into solid territory. Sure, all ages I think I have done it, but it feels pretty good now and I have a handle on ways to overcome stuff.

  Amy and the millions of others like her don’t.

  Dealing with your emotional stuff, and facing the shit you have done to yourself and how it has affected others is hardly done.

  It’s easy to go on a tangent about science, drugs, ‘things just happen to people’ sort of stuff, but in a way, that doesn’t get to the core of what caused the need to self-harm or escape.

  I would like to see her parents (and grandparents in some cases) brought in for questioning by psychologists. In fact, when someone commits murder, robbery, abuse etc., and they are under the social age of 35 where people move from being kidults to actual real adults, the parents need to be questioned on:
  • how dysfunctional they chose to rear their child
  • how they did/didn’t help her as their child was crashing, causing harm to others
  • how much responsibility they can and should have taken for the life of the child.

  Yes, at 18/21 you become a legal adult, but I would raise that to 25 these days.

  This doesn’t abdicate responsibility for the adults (in legal form only) from taking responsibility for their actions. No no no. But the parents/ guardians whose culture within the house, shapes the basis for their kids actions, and that needs to be brought in to the picture. If it can be proven that harm was inflicted upon the kid, could charges be laid?

  This Norwegian bomber. What was his house like when he grew up? Where they respected his growth, brought in strong boundaries, allowed critical thinking, played, touched, held, allowed strong playfighting within respectful boundaries, good diet, love of education etc…… yes no? which is it? I’ll go with NO.

  Just a few thoughts and reflections…

• [Doran]

  Just sad. Really sad. I wish I could say it was unexpected.

• [Anonymous]

  If you’ve been addicted to drugs once and were clean, once you use again it is very, VERY easy and likely to overdose.

• [Anonymous]

  I saw Amy on her fist US tour here in Chicago. I had chills her voice and talent were unreal.I thought “This woman will change the world of Soul.”
  Pity she’s joined Club 27.

  Amy darling, I hope the voices you fought are now silent and you may rest in peace.

• [Anonymous]

  This is so heartwrenching. We all have to find something to live for, even if you are struggling with demons, you have to find something to live for, to keep you from totalling going over the edge and you must pray to god everyday, even if you are getting high everyday, all day, pray to god and never cease and he will give you the peace that surpasses understanding. i know

• [Anonymous]

  Just the other day I said to my wife : ” Amy ‘ll get her act cleaned up eventually. just like you did.” And now this.

• [Anonymous]

  Respectfully; addiction is so often found in conjunction with other mental health issues (bi-polar, depression, etc.) as part of an attempt to “self-medicate” the problem away. Naturally this often becomes a secondary state of dis-ease (the addiction). What I assume tp1024 was getting at is that the addiction(s) almost surely killed her, but it’s just as likely that they were only a symptom of what really caused her life to end so early.

• [David Llopis]

  Thank you for framing this do humanely, Xeni.

• [fraac]

  Poor little monkey.

• [Anonymous]

  If I ever found myself suddenly propelled to riches and stardom, I would pay a very large and violent gentleman to shadow me constantly and beat the living crud out of anyone who tried to give me drugs.

• [Pope Ratzo]

  Man, this is such a shame. The pain that causes a young person, full of creativity and passion, to be willing to take extremely dangerous drugs just to get a little relief, is more than most of us can understand.

  When a creative spark like this young woman had goes out, we all are a little bit poorer.

• [Mister44]

  In away, having this train-wreck-in-slow-motion finally come to an end is merciful.

• [Jupiter12]

  I never gave Amy Winehouse much thought until I watched her “Live in London” concert DVD a few years ago at a friend’s house. It blew me away. More recently, I was hoping that she would be able to clean up and get her life back on track before this happened. Do yourself a favor and put her concert DVD in your Netflix queue or borrow it from the library. It’s definitely worth the time.

• [OrcOnTheEndOfMyFork]

  You could have all the money in the world and have a bad habit you know is inevitably lethal, and still succumb to it.

  Change is hard.

• [sasa]

  Yet another one joins the Club 27. That’s so sad. It was obvious she was on the path of self destruction, was there no one to help her? We just sit and watch.

• [GuyInMilwaukee]

  So much talent and potential, lost. If there’s a greater crime on this planet I don’t know what it is.

  I was so wishing for a comeback and an intro song for a Bond movie.

• [tristan eldritch]

  Sad, sad news. Didn’t seem to be any other way out for her. The rock godz are notoriously unfair; Pete Doherty will probably live to a ripe old age.

• [aelfscine]

  She didn’t have a ‘disease.’ You don’t contract drug addiction from germs. “An addict sneezed on me and now I need heroin!” It wasn’t brought on by her genes like Huntington’s, or a cancer caused by radiation, chemicals, or anything else. She just took a bunch of drugs, and it killed her. Which is sad.

  But not a disease.

  • [Daemon]

    That’s actually not the definition of disease.

  • [irksome]

    While you’re certainly welcome to your opinion, I should point out that it flies in the face of actual research into brain chemistry, as well as the opinion of the AMA since 1956.

    • [mike]

      Aelfscine has it right. Lots of us do drugs and drink. She died from doing too many, which is an absolute tragedy.

      But she didn’t have a disease. There seems to be a lot of culty 12 step nonsense both in this comment thread and in the original post.

      Irksome, I know you were taught a lot of inaccuracies pretending to be facts that you are repeating from 12 step meetings and rehab but most of it is not true. In fact, that crap, while working for 5% of the people that are unfortunate enough to end up in those rooms, is actually quite psychologically damaging to most for whom that process doesn’t work because it both defies logic and is, essentially, a cult.

      Anyway, RIP Amy Winehouse. :-(

  • [brerrabbit23]

    Maybe you play one on television?

  • [catswhiskers]

    Actually, what you’re saying contradicts very good recent neurophysiological research. Also, the concept of “disease” evolves, with knowledge. Example: Epileptics were once thought of as possessed. There are many other examples.

  • [Carolann Castro]

    I was sad when I found out, I am 16 years sober and I will tell you that could have been me if I did not go to rehab. This runs deep in my blood all of us there is five kids have got it. RIP Amy may you find happiness in Heaven. You were awesome!!

• [Anonymous]

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EZxLJ6KbwA

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Draper_Herbert_James_Mourning_for_Icarus.jpg

• [dia sobin]

  Amy Winehouse was a constant source of amusement for the Late Night TV Talk Show set. Guess they’ll have to find a new victim for their ignorant assaults.

  Then again, It’s also a shame that human vulnerability and angst is translated to “disease” these days. Maybe belonging to the 27 Club is not a bad thing. Amy kind of has the last two words. The first one begins with the letter “F” and the other with “Y” (rhymes with “blue”).

  Bon voyage, baby…

  • [zombiebob]

    YEs, this reminds me of the South PArk Episode in which Brittany Spears was sacrificed.

• [Nedril]

  I wouldn’t be so far as to jump to conclusions regarding cause of death. An “unnamed police source” that “suspects” a drug overdose is not a sufficient body of evidence to make any assertions yet, at least for me.

  She had showed obvious signs of distress and where the mid goes the body goes so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was in a frail state of health.

  Did drugs cause/contribute to her death? It doesn’t seem as an unreasonable hypothesis given her public history of abuse but it is too soon to jump to the conclusion that she died of “overdose”.

  For all I know she could have slipped in the bathroom banged her head and collapsed hours later due to a subdural hematoma after having taken two tylenol and gone to bed due to a dull headache. Something that may not at all be evident on first examination of the body.

  • [dia sobin]

    Nedril: You’re right, of course… that’s the first thing that struck me. The OD conclusion seemed a bit too cliche.

  • [Jason Parker-Burlingham]

    I was beginning to lose hope that anyone had read the news reports closely.  It’s good to know I’m not alone after all.

    Who knows what the autopsy will show?  Not I, nor anyone else here.  Wait and see.  There’s not a prize for being the first to shake a disapproving finger.

• [Anonymous]

  @irksome right on, 4 years here.

  I wish I could say that this tragedy was a surprise to me. it’s also unsurprising that people who have never struggled with addiction think another junkie dying is comical.

  At the end of the day the woman had a tremendous talent. She was everything that Gaga wishes she was.

• [DeWynken]

  I dislike the term disease for drug addiction as well. If that is the case, we’re ALL born with it. Anyone can get addicted to something. Some have the mental acuity to control it. Some don’t. It’s human nature (and as we have learned, in many animal species as well) to actively seek out mental escape through use of drugs, physical activities, and other methods of escaping the moment. I will agree that the prolonged use of some chemicals CAN create a change in the body, both psychological and physical, but it’s my opinion that we are designed that way with the Darwinian principle in mind: Survival of the fittest.

  Yes I have been addicted to opiates, and quit. I am addicted to cigarettes as well, and my eyes are addicted to boobies. I have watched a family member struggle with alcohol addiction, and he ended up sticking a garden hose from his exhaust into the car (it worked). Everyone battles their demons in their own way. Some win…some don’t.

  Have fun wherever your spirit resides, AH. Tell Kurt and Jimmy howdy for us.

  • [dia sobin]

    Agreed. But then, there’s survival and then again Survival. I think Winehouse will survive a lot longer than many of us.

  • [KBert]

    >”If that is the case, we’re ALL born with it. Anyone can get addicted to something.”<
    The difference being that after I went through the hell of withdrawal, I’d be in line to get more.

  • [Jesse M.]

    I dislike the term disease for drug addiction as well. If that is the case, we’re ALL born with it. Anyone can get addicted to something.

    Different people have very different reactions to the same drugs which may affect how likely they are to get addicted, though. For example, people with ADD are known to have rather different reactions to stimulants than normal, they often calm these people down rather than speeding them up and making them excited. And if there is something about a person’s “normal” state that makes them unhappy, they may be more likely to use drugs as a sort of self-medication, not just as a fun ride.

    • [apoxia]

      I’d just like to clear up this false stimulant in ADHD paradigm. Stimulant meds are believed to work by raising dopamine levels. Increased dopamine in people with ADHD leads to an increased ability to apply inhibitory control to behaviour. It is not a paradoxical drug reaction whereby stimulants “calm them down”, it is explainable and expected in this population. Stimulants also work to increase the ability to focus on tasks in people without ADHD, hence why so many college kids use it to study.

      • [Jesse M.]

        Increased dopamine in people with ADHD leads to an increased ability to apply inhibitory control to behaviour. It is not a paradoxical drug reaction whereby stimulants “calm them down”, it is explainable and expected in this population.

        I don’t really know if this is as certain as you suggest, with most drugs the exact connection between neurology and subjective effects isn’t that well understood. I also don’t see what you think the description “a paradoxical drug reaction whereby stimulants calm them down” is necessarily incompatible with “increased ability to apply inhibitory control”–couldn’t increased inhibitory control make someone feel more calm?

        I think I’m likely to have ADD though not ADHD (haven’t been diagnosed but my father has, and I have similar ADD-like personality traits as him), and when I once took an amphetamine as part of a neuro experiment I felt energized but also more calm and relaxed, like it was easier to have a casual conversation with the doctor without being preoccupied with trying to think about different options of what I could say next, like what normally happens when I try to talk to strangers. And while I wouldn’t say caffeine has a calming effect, I notice that it does almost nothing for me, like I recently tried the experiment of drinking a venti and a grande coffee from Starbucks in the space of about an hour (which according to a caffeine chart is equivalent to like 6 red bulls) and I still didn’t notice any definite effects aside from my heart beating a bit faster.

  • [Anonymous]

    I would suggest that if, in the span of two sentences, you can equate opioid addiction with your eyes being addicted to boobies, you probably don’t have much experience with real addiction. And God bless you for it; I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

    Yeah, 12-step programs can be culty. Yeah, they help hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people cope with a life-crushing disease. (I’ll take the AMA’s classification of addiction as a disease, and the World Health Organization’s view that it should be viewed as a medical concern, not a deficiency of willpower or “mental acuity.”)

• [Gulliver]

  What a waste. She was one of the few rockers with talent and creativity to spare. Why do drugs always take the musicians I like?

• [David Llopis]

  “Disease” has a broader definition for some than others. The medical community’s definition is pretty broad. Let’s not burn time & energy over it.

• [That Evening Sun]

  Let’s not have a discussion of Amy Winehouse’s death without mentioning Blake Civil-Fielder. His presence in her life seems to have ushered in and facilitated her transformation from promising young singer to drink and drug infused train wreck.

  Simon Amstell called her out on British television while she was still semi-coherent, which was years ago.

  • [DoctressJulia]

    YES, THIS DUDE.

    That guy seems like he was enabling her the whole way (from all that I had read about them). So toxic, so sad…

    I’ve never heard anything more than ‘Rehab’- it’s all right there- in that song’s lyrics. Pretty much, right…? :/

    Her voice kind of moves my guts.

    See you later, Ms. Winehouse. :(

• [Anonymous]

  I am 77 year’s old and I adored and loved Amy Winehouse’s singing.

  I believe she wrote a lot of her own lyrics and maybe music as well.. If you listen carefully her songs (specially Rehab) you will see that the words are that of a sad person..A tortured soul in my words.

  May she finally find the happiness and peace she wanted out of life..

  My heart goes out to her family..

• [Anonymous]

  Cobain shot himself. The phrase “similar manner” implies overdose.

• [catswhiskers]

  R.I.P Amy Winehouse. YOU continue to live through time, and lives, with your music. Wishing you the best in your next adventure!

  One more thing – about addition: Some people are predisposed toward addition, others aren’t. Add to that other triggers/stressors in one’s environment, and it’s not so easy to judge. Add to that the fact that neuroscience is telling us (based on very compelling brain imaging studies) that addiction seriously alters reward centers in the brain that impact many kinds of behavior. Addition is not about “will power”; it’s about the luck (or lack) of genetic inheritance, environmental structures (personal and societal), the presence of support systems; the good (or bad) luck one encounters with certain forms of therapy, and so on.

  Amy Winehouse knew real joy during her life; she also encountered probably unimpafginable (to most of us) psychological pain – real pain. I hear that she also suffered from bi-polar disease. If that’s true, it makes the challenges in her life all the more harrowing. If that’s true, it makes her accomplishments in music all the more amazing. One can frame her life in many ways; I choose to frame it as one of tragic hero – i.e. someone who was plagued with problems, many not of her own making, and overcoming sufficiently enough to make great art. That’s a tribute to her spirit, and that’s the way I will remember her.

  Thanks, again, Amy!

• [Anonymous]

  if you stand to the facts, hendrix died because “london-911″ didn’t take seriously/didn’t care about the emergency calls made by his gf. you know, he was a pop star with a different ******. hendrix didn’t kill himself, he was ready and willing to go further with his music. not saying he wasn’t wasted at the time of his passing, but everybody was and shit happens as we all know.

• [Anonymous]

  “Love is a Losing Game” (if you don’t know Winehouse’s work, I suggest checking that song out on youtube.) RIP.

• [Jack]

  She was a talented artist with a disease, and a long line of enablers who depended on her.

  1000x blessing you for saying this Xeni. I knew addicts as a kid when I was 12 and even with the little resources their poor families had, they did what they could to help their kids. And they got their acts together and learned how to live with their addition.

  To be an addict and a star is a hell on Earth nobody can imagine. Because suddenly you have no friends because all of your “friends” are feeding off of you.

  Fame is a curse. R.I.P. Amy.

• [ophmarketing]

  “As an aside, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Janis Joplin died at the same age and in a similar manner.”

  I’m fairly certain Cobain’s death wasn’t due to an overdose. Unless you’re referring to an overdose of bullets to the head.

  • [freshacconci]

    Actually, most of the people in that list didn’t die of an overdose. Janis Joplin did, but Brian Jones drowned, Jimi Hendrix asphyxiated and Jim Morrison died of heart failure. All used and abused drugs extensively, including Cobain, and all died at 27. That’s the connection and the “similar manner”.

    • [Jack]

      You folks are taking that Xeni quote far too literally: My interpretation is that all of those mentioned—Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Janis Joplin—were victims of intense fame mixed with intense personal struggles and codependencies. THAT is what killed them.

      • [freshacconci]

        I thought that’s what I said.

• [Beaty]

  I’m sorry – but the four ideals in which modern society seems to judge a ‘great person’ – wealth, power, good looks and celebrity – just do not compensate for simply being a good person. And before we get the excuses about ‘what a hard life she had’ *I* have had a hard life! A lot of people I know have hard lives – some far harder that the defunk singer could have imagined. But we do not recognise the every day struggles of the ordinary person.

  • [dave moore]

    Sorry Beaty, but you’re way off the mark there.  I doubt many people admired Amy Winehouse for being rich, powerful, good looking or famous.  They admired her because they thought she was a unique and talented musician.

• [Steve Jacobs]

  Kurt Cobain did himself with a shotgun. John Belushi might be a good addition to the list though.

• [Russ]

  I didn’t know much anything about Amy Winehouse.  I just did a YouTube search and this “Last Performance…” came up.  It’s from last month.  Seems like she had already lost it…

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mXB62n99k

   

• [drawswithpens]

  What a shame. She had a lot of talent.

• [diginferno]

  You know what bothers me the most? The fact that everyone blames her for not getting help. What if she tried to get help?

  You guys have no idea what your life turns into when the ones you turn to for help are some hypocritical, greedy, selfish bastidges who will use that opportunity to make the most out of you, for their own purposes. When you really need help, you’re the most vulnerable. IMO, what happened to her is just proof that people didn’t give a rat’s f*** about what she felt.

  Been there although I was no addict, been used although I am no artist, survived the hell to tell its story. RIP Amy Winehouse.

• [Jan_Willem]

  The worst of it all is that by buying both of her albums I have inadvertently become one of her numerous enablers. My only defence is that I wasn’t fully aware of her “problems” when I did – even though the lyrics of her smash hit “Rehab” could and perhaps should have been a warning sign.

  • [Tzctboin]

    Warning sign? Cry for help, completely unheeded, but that is our hypocritical society.

• [fnord snafu]

  I wish you’d change the title of this. Yes, she is dead but the addition of OVERDOSE is so unnecessary and at this point unjustified. I’m disappointed to see that it is still there this morning when it has been repeatedly stated that OD has not been ruled the COD.
  And @milkman, to judge an artist by a single song, as you said you only ever heard one song of hers, is just not fair. She is definitely of the same cloth as Hendrix and company…and I think they would all agree. Something very special but too damn much for this plane and for herself…

  • [Tzctboin]

    Oh please.

    OK, go on, what did she change or contribute to the music scene for which she deserves to be put at the same level as  Hendrix (just for starters, Hendrix revolutionized electric guitar technique working with sound engineers to get what he wanted. He opened the door that everybody else followed. So what remotely compares just to this in Ms WInehouse’s body of work?)

• [Guest]

  She said no, no, no. now she’s at the Rehab in the Sky no one wanted her to go to, except maybe for herself.

• [Lobster]

  Amy Winehouse has been a punchline and a trainwreck for years.  While it’s fascinating to watch people bend over backwards to figure out a way to pretend she was on par with “Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Janis Joplin,” she absolutely wasn’t.  The fact that she’s dead doesn’t change that.  Fnord Snafu’s comment is a perfect example of this.  Even if you like her – and you have the right to like her – she was not anywhere near that level.

• [Tdawwg]

  This just in, Brian Jones deemed “a talented artist”!

  (This was funnier when I typed it last night, but it seemed to have gotten lost in the new site overhaul: which is awesome, BTW. Anyhoo, hope this works.)

• [fnord snafu]

  Lobster…my back is feeling just fine. I really don’t see that I was bending over backwards to raise her to false levels, but we will each view this and all else through our own filters. So be it. Either way…a great one was lost and it is too damn bad. Hope she at least finds her sweet bird Ava over there.

• [Dv Revolutionary]

  I loved Amy Winehouse. She is underestimated. Genius is born every generation and she was one of them.

  You listen to the words of her Back to Black album and at first you ask yourself was this a trashy little girl writing obscenities that were then backed up by a production sound so huge they became undeniable. You feel through this music and you realize that is not the case. It was the work of a depressive genius with a razor tongue. It was a blade of cutting truth eviscerating herself, her lover, love itself but the emotions drift the opposite way. I know it’s not for everyone; most people spend their lives running away from any truth that cutting or anyone with a tongue like that.

  She knew what a cheap little bastard Blake was. She knew what a fucked up slut she was. She tore it all to pieces and still wanted to love this man. To have him, to lie for him, to obstruct justice for him.

  She was not a fountain of willpower. She was not a model citizen. She loved so much it burned her life down.

  All these disgusting moralizing model citizens don’t seem to have a tenth of the passion that passed away in her body. All these moralizing upright keyboard brigades have the common sense not to tell the awful truth about the things and people they love. All these people who are going to live supposedly productive lives and die from a prolonged slide into dementia don’t have a tenth of the heart of Amy Winehouse and they will never have one album as enduring.

  • [Tzctboin]

    What a load of tosh.

    There are thousands of artists that have as much passion and even more talent that Ms Winehouse but that, get this, just lead normal ordinary lives.

    They deal with the same issues touching and moving many people, but they don’t become “cultural icons” because have the good sense (or luck if you prefer) not to self destroy.

    By following the hysteria regarding Ms Winehouse demise (I have heard people already comparing her with Edith Piaff in an artistic sense, which is complete nonsense, allow me to remind all the fanbois and girls that she had only 2 albums, the first of which was hardly notorious, not the mark of a genius if you ask me) is plain and simple that it is a measure of how fast we can communicate, not a measure of her talent (moderate) or importance (little, in spite of what Lady Gaga would make you believe, but go ahead, convince me otherwise).

    Most glaring is the almost certain fact that many of Ms Winehouse fans would have been avid readers of that press that is now in the dock: the trashy magazines, the harassing tabloids, the media where people put food on the table by making harassment an “honourable” profession. So in a very real way the fans were fanning the flames that would contribute to make the life of this girl a misery and are now shedding crocodile tears for her demise.

    When I read the Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, one of the characters mentions that the TV (or was it the media? Don’t remember) amplifies the mundane and minimizes the important.

    Well, the blogosphere and the twittersphere amplify that effect many times, and now we have a young lady with moderate artistic talent put in a pedestal that will eventually crumble,  that will be the last blow to somebody that should be remembered as that girl that made a summer a bit more enjoyable or memorable. And that is it. By inflating Ms Winehouse’s reputation well beyond what she really deserves fans are building up her eventual historical dismissal, which is also unfair.

    All Winehouse’s supporters should perhaps band together and form a charity, association or political movement to decriminalize drugs and treat drugs addicts not as criminals but as what they are: sick people, that would be a far more important legacy of Ms Winehouse than her couple of one time hit parade wonders, people like her should be able to deal with her addictions under medical supervision, not in the loneliness of her despair or in front of a hostile concert audience.

• [JIM]

  To all youngsters out there…Please..Keep away from drugs and death will keep away from your door step….at least for a little much longer

• [drublin]

  Since this story was posted I have secretly been hoping the cause of death would be anything but overdose. Mainly to throw pie in your face for putting that conjuncture in your headline when the rest of the world has chosen to wait for facts. 

  No bueno Boing Boing, no bueno.

• [BBNinja]

  In all deference to her passing, I personally thought “Rehab” was an annoying song.  It’s ultimately ironic that it’s what she’ll likely be best remembered for.

  Aside from her age, the comparisons to Morrison, Hendrix and Cobain pretty much end there.  She was nowhere near their level (imo).

  It’s sad she had no one to help save her from herself.

• [Gulliver]

  Modern celebrity, wherein everyone on the internet weighs in on your personal life as if they knew you personally.

  I don’t know much about her personal life (I find art more enjoyable when I’m ignorant of the artist’s extracurricular life), but I know that second and third hand knowledge of a person is not tantamount to knowing them or their life personally.

• [Alice Roakes Baird]

  She should now be the poster child for yes yes yes!!!!! We cant know what would lead anyone to this: Addiction, attention, who knows anything but,her pain like others are real. She is at peace now that is for sure!i have family and friends that make me wonder “when” will they learn, or “when” will their chances for changing it be up!!!!! We can only pray now. xoxox RIP Girlie ;(

• [bruckelsprout]

  It’s interesting to me that so much sympathy is given to Ms. Winehouse.  And I am in no way of saying she doesn’t deserve it.  But I suspect that because so many of us enjoyed her musical talents, perhaps we are more sympathetic to her and her illnesses and addictions than we are to, say, the homeless guy holding a sign that we avoid eye contact with when we’re stopped at a red light.    I have never seen so many people take up on the side of addicts before, which is a nice change of pace and very human and understanding.  But I can’t help but have that feeling that some of us (as a whole, not BoingBoingers specifically) aren’t defending addiction sufferers as much as we’re defending THIS addiction sufferer, and being more forgiving because of her fame and talent.

  She does deserve our sympathy, acceptance and forgiveness, but so do many, many more.

  RIP

• [Mike Greco]

  It’s sad to see anyone die young, but I’m of the belief that Amy Winehouse’s celebrity has far more to do with her drug addiction and drug-induced antics than her actual talent. It’s very difficult to extrapolate a career’s worth of success, talent and influence out of one good album. If we just go back to, say, the 1950s there are plenty of bands and artists who had one good album. One good album does not suddenly elevate you to ‘legend’ status, which is where the likes of Hendrix and Cobain reside. Yes, talent is about quality, for sure, but it’s also about quantity. And being 27 and having only put out two albums, only one of which was exceptional, sort of goes against the idea that she was a prolific or prodigious talent.

• [Mladen Kalinic]

  Where the hell was her family??
  Daughter a publicly know drug user and family just lets it be?

  Everyone is like, ‘farewell angel’ blah blah I’m a bohemian douche, ‘she joined 27 club, what a shame’ wow I just said something epic. Wow people, great. No one is asking how comes no one gave a shit about someone so young and out of control, and just loved the amusement provided by it.

• [Grok]

  Oh Please!
  Amy WInehouse has joined the ranks of many who have died too young.
   
  She touched a lot of lives in a positive way and would seem appropriate to show a little respect to the fans that really connected with her and leave it at that!
   
  There will surely be many discussions of her artistic merit far into the future.
   
  I will miss her contributions to music.
   
  RIP Amy