Completing her spectacular flameout of addiction and self-destruction, Amy Winehouse — the Grammy winner whose career got its big boost from a song about refusing to go to rehab — was found dead in her London apartment Saturday. The English soul singer, who helped spark a widespread resurgence in the vintage style’s popularity, was 27.
London police confirmed the death at a home northern London, calling her death “unexplained,” but TMZ reported a source connected to the investigation said police were “operating under the suspicion” it was an overdose.” Friends told The Daily Mirror that she binged on ecstasy and booze prior to her death. Foul play is not suspected. Winehouse had recently cancelled a European tour that got off to a disastrous and abortive start last month. Yet Tony Bennett, who recorded “Body and Soul” with Winehouse for his upcoming Duets Two album, said the recording came out “just beautiful.”
Winehouse’s mother Janis told The Daily Mirror, “Her passing was so sudden it still hasn’t hit me,” while her father Mitch, a taxi-driver-turned-singer, said, “This isn’t real. I’m completely devastated.” Speaking from New York, where he was scheduled to play a gig tonight, he added, “I’m getting the next plane back. I’m coming home. I have to be with Amy. I can’t crack up for her sake. My family need me. I’m devastated, it’s such a shock.”
The history of pop and rock is laden with stars who died at that same age: Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones.
Throughout her brief career, Winehouse’s addictions led her in and out of hospitals. She was also diagnosed with emphysema in 2008.
Amy first broke into music at 16 years old with the help of schoolmate Tyler James at London’s Sylvia Young Theater School. James passed Amy’s demo along to a talent scout looking for a jazz vocalist, which led to a deal with Island Records. Island produced her debut disc, Frank, in 2003, and the single “Stronger Than Me” scored Winehouse an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.
Three years later, Amy’s drinking was out of control, and her management and family suggested she check into a rehabilitation center. But instead, she recorded “Rehab,” the first hit single off her multi-platinum sophomore album, Back to Black. Winehouse won five Grammy awards in 2008, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year and Record of the Year for “Rehab.” She was the first British singer to win five Grammys in one show. Ironically, she was denied a visa to enter the country until the eleventh hour and so did not attend the ceremony. Instead she gave her acceptance speech, as well as a live performance, by video.
Winehouse married Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami, Florida on May 18, 2007. They divorced in 2009 but were reportedly seeing each other later that year.
Winehouse and her husband have had many legal problems. In October 2007 both were locked up in Norway for possession of marijuana. Winehouse was arrested in April 2008 for slapping a man in the face. She was held on charges of a common assault offense and after apologizing was released. In December 2009, she was arrested for violent behavior after heckling a performance at an English theater. She pleaded guilty to charges in that case. He was arrested for burglary in early 2011.
In 2009, Amy was reportedly recording her third album in St. Lucia, but nothing was ever released from those sessions. She did, however, contribute a cover of Lesley Gore‘s “It’s My Party” to a 2010 Quincy Jones album. Earlier this year, it was reported that she was working on new music with Cee Lo Green.
In a 2008 interview, Winehouse’s mother Janis said, “We’re watching her kill herself, slowly. I’ve already come to terms with her dead. I’ve steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery. Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road.”