Amy Winehouse

[kostgard]

Maybe Tony Bennett meant that she knew she couldn't stop drinking or didn't know how to stop, and that it would kill her if she didn't -- not necessarily that she intentionally drank herself to death.

She definitely had some mental/emotional issues, probably used booze to self-medicate, and it spun out of control. She definitely treated booze like a security blanket - I've seen videos of her in concert where she was always running back to her wine glass, or a home video of her performing with her goddaughter where she was nervously/desperately chugging from a bottle of wine before she could even play guitar for some little home performance.

It really is too bad. As someone else here pointed out, she had a fantastic ear and could hit any note she wanted with little or no effort. Even if you didn't like her voice or her singing style, that ability is really impressive.

[Deleted]

It's sad too because if she did not have that talent and were not so famous because of it, she might not have ever gotten so bad. Fame fucked with her already fragile emotional state.

[Deleted]

In his autobiography Keith Richards says that the only reason he's still alive is that he always restarted his heroin use from scratch after temporarily quitting, rather than returning immediately to his pre-quitting levels. So he could ease his body back into its addiction rather than pushing it to extremes right away.

If Amy was coming back to the bottle after some time away, her body probably just couldn't handle the amount she was pouring into it. (Then again, it's hard to imagine even the most hard-bitten drunk surviving downing multiple bottles of booze in a short period of time....)

I'm not sure that talent and fame caused her to crash so hard (though it certainly didn't help in her case); you could easily argue that talent and fame could raise a person up out of this kind of quagmire. She had lots of support and access to the best rehab and psychiatric facilities money could buy. It's sad to think of all the other non-famous, non-talented addicts out there who are suffering equally much, with no one to pay attention or care about what happens to them.

[boxofrocks]

Oct 30, 2011 22:03:48 GMT -4 monkeytrouble said:

In his autobiography Keith Richards says that the only reason he's still alive is that he always restarted his heroin use from scratch after temporarily quitting, rather than returning immediately to his pre-quitting levels. So he could ease his body back into its addiction rather than pushing it to extremes right away.

Thanks for the advice on using, Keith!

[Spinderella]

New song/video released: Our Day Will Come

[sardonictart]

Nice cover. My favorite by her is "Will you still love me tomorrow?" She was great at interpreting songs. *sigh* RIP.

[bklynred]

I absolutely agree with the theory on her overdose...People who kick a habit then immediately gear up to their pre-OD dose of alcohol/drugs, seem more likely to OD again or die. Keith Richards is incredibly lucky. An addict usually isn't mentally fit enough to think, oh I better only take one hit of heroin rather than four today. If you're used to doing four, you do four or even five, because you're feeling celebratory that you've got your drugs back.

[discoprincess]

So...no biopic on Amy? Kind of useless without her music, and since her dad owns the rights to her songs, he may not be willing to give someone else the rights to use them.

[Deleted]

Dec 4, 2011 10:24:51 GMT -4 sardonictart said:

Nice cover. My favorite by her is "Will you still love me tomorrow?" She was great at interpreting songs. *sigh* RIP.

I agree. I'm enjoying the new releases, but its breaking my heart too.

[discoprincess]

Bump: The person who lead the inquest into Amy's death has resigned. Apparently her credentials were seriously being questioned.

Amy's family is trying to figure out what to do next.