June 23rd of 2011, Amy Winehouse died at her house from alcohol intoxication. She was only twenty seven years old. Winehouse was born and raised in London and attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School in East London.
When Winehouse was fourteen, she bought her own guitar after messing around with her brothers. In 2003, Winehouse dropped her first album, Frank, which was on the 2004 UK Charts and she was nominated for "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act" at the Brit Awards.
2006 was when Winehouse really broke out. In October, she began the promotion for her hit album, Back to Black. It released on October 30th and was a smash hit. It hit number one for two weeks in 2007 on the UK Charts and broke into the top 200 of the Billboard Hits in America. The album sold over 1.85 million copies.
Back to Black was the album that really made me fall in love with Winehouse as a musician. There is not a single skip on the album and she talks about her real life struggles and experiences.
The most known song from the album has to be Rehab, which has been remixed by Jay-Z, Hot Chip, and Pharoahe Monch. In the song, Winehouse sings about how she doesn’t want to go back to Rehab and how she wants to put the bottle down but it’s so difficult for her.
One of the best songs from the album is Love Is a Losing Game. It gives me edgier Norah Jones vibes from the piano in the back ground and how soft Winehouse’s voice is. It’s just an amazing song.
A song like Love Is a Losing Game really shows the range that Winehouse had as a singer. She can sing very softly but can also give you upbeat r&b vibes with a song like You Know I’m No Good.
My personal favorite from the album has to be Tears Dry On Their Own. It has a nice drum and horn background that makes you want to groove. The lyrics are a little sad though. Winehouse sings about getting stood up and how her tears will dry on their own. Just an all around banger of a song.
There really isn’t an album that I love more than Back to Black. When I do listen to it, I do get a bit sad thinking about the career that Winehouse was on track to have before passing away. She could have been one of the greatest female vocalists to ever walk the planet. At the age of twenty four, she had six Grammy nominations.
Winehouse did receive criticism from the media for her poor public image. Drug use, alcohol abuse, a husband that was in prison, and an eating disorder were things that the media ridiculed her for.
With Winehouse’s fame came legal trouble. She had been charged multiple times with assault. She punched a woman in the face for criticizing her husband, kneed her husband in the crotch, and once slapped a man for an unspecified reason. Winehouse was also arrested for possession of drugs on multiple occasions.
All of these issues in her life ultimately led to her death.
At 10 a.m. on July 23rd of 2011, her body guard attempted to wake her but she was unresponsive. He shook it off because Winehouse had been drinking the night prior so he assumed that she was just passed out. A few hours later at 3 p.m., the body guard checker her body again and found that she was not breathing and had no pulse.
On October 26th of 2011, it was released the Winehouse’s blood alcohol content was .416% which is more than five times over the legal limit.
When word got out that Winehouse had passed, a plethora of musicians honored her. This included U2, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, M.I.A., Bruno Mars, Green Day, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, and Courtney Love.
Winehouse passed at the age of twenty seven which puts her into the very ominous “27 Club”. This club is filled with famous musicians who passed away at the age of twenty seven. Other members are Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Chris Austin.
R.I.P. Amy Winehouse. You’re forever missed.