Amy Winehouse has been found dead in her northern London home, according to London police and ambulance crews who responded to the scene around 4 p.m. Saturday.
Though police confirmed that a 27-year-old woman had been found dead in Camden, they did not offer a cause of death for the soulful, bluesy singer whose father said only days ago that despite going through some rough stuff, "the last few weeks she's been absolutely fantastic."
Winehouse, whose second album, "Back to Black," featured the hit "Rehab" and earned her five Grammys in 2008, had struggled with drugs and alcohol for years, recently canceling a European tour after being booed off the stage in Serbia.
Her father Mitch Winehouse, who started a jazz-singing career only recently, tweeted Thursday that he was off to New York, where he was booked for two Monday shows at the Blue Note. His daughter came to most of his London performances, he'd told the New York Times.
"She always gets up onstage and refuses to rehearse," Mitch Winehouse said. "So we end up doing a couple of songs which are terrible. We just end up in fits of laughter. Everyone enjoys it because they can see we are enjoying it.
"She's very, very supportive and she's a great kid and she's going through some rough stuff at the moment, but the last few weeks she's been absolutely fantastic."
Winehouse had been in and out of rehab over the years, and in and out of a relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and in court over allegations that she'd assaulted a fan. Winehouse had reportedly been working for years on a third album as well. She had recorded a song for Tony Bennett's "Duets II," which is scheduled for release in September, according to Pop & Hiss.
In her 90-minute Serbia set in June, Winehouse had mumbled through songs and occasionally left the stage, leaving her band to cover for her. Shortly before heading out on the road she'd checked herself out of rehab after a week, and her hotel was reportedly stripped of alcohol before the show. After the Belgrade gig, her camp decided that she should head home.
"Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen," a spokesman said at the time.
Here's a link to the video for "Tears Dry on their Own," a Ministry favorite. (How Winehouse of her to include that one well-placed cuss word that prevents us from embedding it. Sigh.)
"I cannot play myself again / I should just be my own best friend."
RIP Amy Winehouse.
Winehouse, born in 1983 to a pharmacist mother and cab-driver father, grew up in Northern London. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She formed a hip-hop duo in her teens, but soon began writing songs on an acoustic guitar influenced by her extensive listening to her parents' and grandmother's collection of jazz and soul singers. She often cited Tony Bennett as her favorite singer, and developed a vocal style of a depth and tonal color beyond her years. Her debut album, "Frank," was released in 2003, steeped in jazz and soul influences and largely written by Winehouse. It made her a star in Britain, though it was not released in the United States.
On the follow-up, she retooled her approach by hiring pop R&B producer Mark Ronson and the New York soul band the Dap-Kings. Her songs reflected the influence of harmonizing '60s girl groups such as the Shangri-La's and the rhythms of Motown. "Back to Black" name-dropped or referenced soul heroes such as Donny Hathaway and Billy Paul, and the production recycled and spiffed up '60s sounds. But Winehouse's lyrics were packed with autobiographical tales of boozing, lusting and losing. That perspective, combined with a voice that veered between street-smart surliness and wounded yearning, established her as a major new voice in pop music.
In dying at age 27, she joins a long list of rock and soul performers who died at the same age, including Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, many of whom had a history of substance abuse. Like them, she leaves behind the tragic imponderable of what might have been.
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AMY WINEHOUSE DEAD - HER OWN FAULTby DeathToTheFlesh372,720 views
u horrible, nasty, 4 eyed, spiteful little shit !! what right have you got to judge !! is this the only way you can noticed ? is this the level you have to go to to get yourself attention ? You sad, twisted, sick person !! I bet your parents are really proud of you !!
helen031167 2 days ago
u nasty person at the end of the day she was somebodies daugther sister and friend go and crawl in the gutter were u belong
cathydeeney 2 days ago
What a nasty little human being you are. That's a fellow person you're talking about. Who gave you the right to judge others? Yes, she took drugs and hastened her own death but does that mean you have the right to gloat? If you can't be respectful then keep your thoughts to yourself.
25screenwipes 6 days ago
Even think about to record this is a waste of time.what do you up to?use that internet to do useful things if you have a brain.and the drug addicts are human too you moron...
07gaddar 1 week ago
Sucker!
MiB7967 1 week ago
wash your hands before you point as much as a finger you SCHMUCK
she lived her life as she or anyone is entitled to ~ not to impress you ASSHOLE
3482 1 week ago
your too pathetic to have an opinion about her,go play with your toys little boy!!!!
mysticvega81 1 week ago