Amy Winehouse

[ghost of miles]

NY Times obit

Thanks, btw, for posting the video of "Moody's Mood for Love." Here's another Winehouse-sings-standards clip:

Teach Me Tonight

...and speaking of Keith Richards!

Amy Winehouse sings with the Rolling Stones

Edited July 24, 2011 by ghost of miles

[paul secor]

...and speaking of Keith Richards!

Amy Winehouse sings with the Rolling Stones

David Ruffin must be turning over (in disgust) in his grave.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I think Ronson predicted it before all.

(sorry bout the ad)

[JohnJ]

She had it comin'.

Really?

So Bird did too (have it comin')?!? - & many others.

Maybe I misunderstand your comment. Seems a little cold.

At any rate, I thought she had much potential.

I'll miss hearing what might have been.

Absolutely agree. I had the same reaction. Hopefully, it was not intended as it came across. Boy, the thing about potential. That's so right on... just a killer. Not only Winehouse, but all the others. What is it about celebrity that pushes people to and beyond the brink?

Seemed to me she had a death wish and was on a mission to do herself in. That might be cold, but since others comments of 'not being surprised' don't merit the same reaction...

Also, Amy Winehouse was not Bird, nor Billie.

Where's the compassion? All so very sad.

Maybe no Bird, nor Billie, but 'Back to Black' is one of the finest albums of the last decade. Her potential was enormous.

[7/4]

Read somewhere this morning that a friend/colleague/whatever said that she was bi-polar but refused to take appropriate medication. That would explain a lot.

When all is said and done, I think everything pretty much everything we do comes down to brain chemistry. Just a hunch.

Manic depressive is the story angle now. I never heard it before this weekend.

[Christiern]

Pardon my candor, but there are thousands of children and young people dying every day through no fault of their own. My compassion goes to them before I even think of shedding a sigh for someone who could have had a better-than-average life, but threw it away to satisfy her own desires. No sympathy for Amy from me, but I do have some for her family and close friends, who are victims of her lack of consideration. People seem to mourn her death because it means there won't be another album for them to enjoy.

Think about the current famine in Africa, the innocent lives taken by a right-wing madman in Oslo, the Japanese earthquake victims, etc. If you don't find that Amy's departure gains remarkable insignificance, think again.

[Bright Moments]

Pardon my candor, but there are thousands of children and young people dying every day through no fault of their own. My compassion goes to them before I even think of shedding a sigh for someone who could have had a better-than-average life, but threw it away to satisfy her own desires. No sympathy for Amy from me, but I do have some for her family and close friends, who are victims of her lack of consideration. People seem to mourn her death because it means there won't be another album for them to enjoy.

Think about the current famine in Africa, the innocent lives taken by a right-wing madman in Oslo, the Japanese earthquake victims, etc. If you don't find that Amy's departure gains remarkable insignificance, think again.

+1

well said

[jlhoots]

Pardon my candor, but there are thousands of children and young people dying every day through no fault of their own. My compassion goes to them before I even think of shedding a sigh for someone who could have had a better-than-average life, but threw it away to satisfy her own desires. No sympathy for Amy from me, but I do have some for her family and close friends, who are victims of her lack of consideration. People seem to mourn her death because it means there won't be another album for them to enjoy.

Think about the current famine in Africa, the innocent lives taken by a right-wing madman in Oslo, the Japanese earthquake victims, etc. If you don't find that Amy's departure gains remarkable insignificance, think again.

False syllogism for me - true,true, & unrelated.

[Dave James]

People seem to mourn her death because it means there won't be another album for them to enjoy.

Not just her death, but any death in the entertainment community. Part of what makes someone a fan is the anticipation of what's to come. It doesn't matter if it was Bird, Billie, Hendrix, Janis or Amy Winehouse. To be deprived of what might have been and to mourn a death at least in part because of it is, IMO, neither wrong nor inappropriate.

[mikeweil]

Seems to me that once you begin thinking that way -- these deaths (i.e. "the kids killed in Norway") automatically matter more than those deaths or that death (e.g. Winehouse's -- assuming you think that Winehouse's death matters or ought to matter much at all), then you're on a very slippery slope. Like, does the Holocaust or the Black Death make the killing of the kids in Norway less meaningful? Not IMO. How about the assassination of JFK? Arguably made a big difference in the course of history. There's no moral meat locker where one can take dead bodies and total up the score.

Larry, I sure see your point - I certainly do not want to compare all these tragic deaths ... I'm just a bit disturbed there are so many comments here about Winehouse's death and none about the two attacks in Norway, which is some kind of 9/11 for that country.

p.s. well, two mentions of the Norway attacks - and the terrible famine in Somalia - two and three post above.

[Christiern]

Pardon my candor, but there are thousands of children and young people dying every day through no fault of their own. My compassion goes to them before I even think of shedding a sigh for someone who could have had a better-than-average life, but threw it away to satisfy her own desires. No sympathy for Amy from me, but I do have some for her family and close friends, who are victims of her lack of consideration. People seem to mourn her death because it means there won't be another album for them to enjoy.

Think about the current famine in Africa, the innocent lives taken by a right-wing madman in Oslo, the Japanese earthquake victims, etc. If you don't find that Amy's departure gains remarkable insignificance, think again.

False syllogism for me - true,true, & unrelated.

Unrelated? How about human reaction to death?

[Shawn]

Generally people mourn people they knew *personally*. Musicians, actors, artists of all types are a different animal, they can be universally mourned by anyone that was a fan, because of the aforementioned lack of future works and we "feel" that we knew these people personally, through their art.

Both loss of "humans", but totally different type of mourning.

[papsrus]

... I'm just a bit disturbed there are so many comments here about Winehouse's death and none about the two attacks in Norway, which is some kind of 9/11 for that country.

p.s. well, two mentions of the Norway attacks - and the terrible famine in Somalia - two and three post above.

What can one say about Norway? The senseless acts of a madman. Unimaginable tragedy for the families. Overwhelmingly sad. No society is safe from this sort of violent extremism?

Somalia: Another tragedy borne of political dysfunction? The failure of the developed world to act decisively?

But neither is really germane in a thread about the death of an individual. -- which, btw, the assumption is that it was drug-related when that hasn't been determined yet, I don't think. Seems likely, but maybe she had an unrelated medical condition. In other words, maybe it was just "her time."

[Chicago Expat]

People seem to mourn her death because it means there won't be another album for them to enjoy.

Not just her death, but any death in the entertainment community. Part of what makes someone a fan is the anticipation of what's to come. It doesn't matter if it was Bird, Billie, Hendrix, Janis or Amy Winehouse. To be deprived of what might have been and to mourn a death at least in part because of it is, IMO, neither wrong nor inappropriate.

No sense in me posting on this subject when you've said it so well already.

I know it is selfish in a way, but I can't help but mourn all the great albums that Esbjorn Svensson will never create now. He died right when I had discovered his music and was obsessing over Tuesday Wonderland and Strange Place For Snow, as well as the time when I had just made the commitment to begin listening only to current jazz, so my emotional attachment to EST's music was multifaceted. Does my sense of loss for his "future" music dwarf in comparison to the sense of loss suffered by his family and friends? Absolutely. But I promise you that my regret for his passing is both genuine and profound when I dwell upon it while his music plays.

In a more general sense, I don't see how mourning a single person (musician or otherwise) in any way diminishes the importance of or somehow disrespects the memory of those whose passing goes unmentioned at any one particular time. This is not a zero-sum equation. By mourning one person, it doesn't mean I have any less sorrow in my heart for other tragedies.

However, criticisms of the media do seem relevant. With media, there is a scarcity issue as far as hours of day and staffing that can get spent in any one news day. The more that they spend on one news item means less that they can spend on another. However, if we're going to critique on that point, covering Amy's death ain't the right target. Doubtlessly I could go over to yahoo news or cnn.com or any number of other "news"/media outlets and find far less worthy "news" items taking up valuable space.

Anyways, just my two cents.

Cheers.

[JSngry]

Read somewhere this morning that a friend/colleague/whatever said that she was bi-polar but refused to take appropriate medication. That would explain a lot.

When all is said and done, I think everything pretty much everything we do comes down to brain chemistry. Just a hunch.

Manic depressive is the story angle now. I never heard it before this weekend.

Nor had I (nor have I been reading any follow-ups to know if that angle was "gaining traction"), but really, doesn't it make sense? Not in terms of the addiction per se, but in terms of the excessive...."exhibitionism" she always seemed to display?

[skeith]

Slightly off topic and no disprespect meant for Winehouse, but I am puzzled by the media's inclusion of Jimi Hendrix in their constant reiteration of self-destructive stars who died at 27 (Morrison, Joplin, Cobain, etc. etc.) I was not under the impresion that Hendrix was self-destructive or at least not in the league of the others that get mentioned. I mean weren't all indications that his death was purely accidental?

I don't think he belongs in that club or what am I missing. I think if I were a member of his family I would be very upset by this

[Shawn]

It's just the age 27, not "how" they died.

[Quincy]

It's just the age 27, not "how" they died.

If you were buying Hendrix albums in the '70s or early '80s you'd be reminded of Hendrix's age of death on the inner sleeve of his Reprise albums. Each LP came with a kitty too! The cat is 9 years old and just like 9 year old human boys, she's fascinated by the clothes and the rock mythology of dying young.

And so as the '60s exploration continues you come along to The Doors and at sometime when reading about Rev. Jim's "poetry" and whipping it out, being a smelly drunk and so on, what do you know, 27 pops up again. Later you somehow stay awake during the Woodstock movie and see Janis. It also helps as they all died relatively close together. For me though 27 got burned into the brain from playing Hendrix LPs, and I think it likely did for many others.

[7/4]

Slightly off topic and no disprespect meant for Winehouse, but I am puzzled by the media's inclusion of Jimi Hendrix in their constant reiteration of self-destructive stars who died at 27 (Morrison, Joplin, Cobain, etc. etc.) I was not under the impresion that Hendrix was self-destructive or at least not in the league of the others that get mentioned. I mean weren't all indications that his death was purely accidental?

I don't think he belongs in that club or what am I missing. I think if I were a member of his family I would be very upset by this

accidental or a murder.

the guy from Badfinger was a suicide, right?

Read somewhere this morning that a friend/colleague/whatever said that she was bi-polar but refused to take appropriate medication. That would explain a lot.

When all is said and done, I think everything pretty much everything we do comes down to brain chemistry. Just a hunch.

Manic depressive is the story angle now. I never heard it before this weekend.

Nor had I (nor have I been reading any follow-ups to know if that angle was "gaining traction"), but really, doesn't it make sense? Not in terms of the addiction per se, but in terms of the excessive...."exhibitionism" she always seemed to display?

MD sounds like an excuse or a reason, but it's not. If someone can't stop drinking or drugging and they don't admit they have a problem, their behavior could kill them.

[skeith]

It's just the age 27, not "how" they died.

Actually I have heard various media reports indicating that each of these artists were bent on self destruction, so at least some are tying them together by more than just the similarity of age.

[Bright Moments]

FWIW Nick Drake was "almost" 27

[Morganized]

Slightly off topic and no disprespect meant for Winehouse, but I am puzzled by the media's inclusion of Jimi Hendrix in their constant reiteration of self-destructive stars who died at 27 (Morrison, Joplin, Cobain, etc. etc.) I was not under the impresion that Hendrix was self-destructive or at least not in the league of the others that get mentioned. I mean weren't all indications that his death was purely accidental?

I don't think he belongs in that club or what am I missing. I think if I were a member of his family I would be very upset by this

accidental or a murder.

the guy from Badfinger was a suicide, right?

Read somewhere this morning that a friend/colleague/whatever said that she was bi-polar but refused to take appropriate medication. That would explain a lot.

When all is said and done, I think everything pretty much everything we do comes down to brain chemistry. Just a hunch.

Manic depressive is the story angle now. I never heard it before this weekend.

Nor had I (nor have I been reading any follow-ups to know if that angle was "gaining traction"), but really, doesn't it make sense? Not in terms of the addiction per se, but in terms of the excessive...."exhibitionism" she always seemed to display?

MD sounds like an excuse or a reason, but it's not. If someone can't stop drinking or drugging and they don't admit they have a problem, their behavior could kill them.

MD seems to be the latest vogue excuse to explain the unexplainable......suicide. Don't have any reason to know if that was the case here, but I have heard it used by a couple of families recently to explain their child's taking of their own life. It seems to add comfort to their grief so what the heck. Tragic in all respects.............

[JSngry]

If someone can't stop drinking or drugging and they don't admit they have a problem, their behavior could kill them.

Could the same not be true of a clinical bi-polar condition?

Put them together, bi-polar and addiciton, and whaddya' get? Bippity-Boppity-Boo.

I still say it's body chemistry. All of it. We just haven't gotten to the specifics yet, but we will.

[Shawn]

the Media has no fucking reason to say whether these people were self-destructive...not even the family really knows for sure. Only the individual knows. We "call" a lot of behavior "self-destructive", and that behavior very well may be a symptom of something else, but we don't have the right to speak for the individual, we don't know their motives.

The term "manic depressive" gets thrown around too often. The term is very loose, there are many different types of bipolar disorder, it's no more descriptive a phrase than "jazz" is.

[JSngry]

MD seems to be the latest vogue excuse to explain the unexplainable......suicide. Don't have any reason to know if that was the case here, but I have heard it used by a couple of families recently to explain their child's taking of their own life. It seems to add comfort to their grief so what the heck. Tragic in all respects.............

I think it's like ADD, a convenient syndrome du jour. But you gotta be careful to not throw out legit cases along with the non-so legit. It's a real condition, sure enough. But it's not the same as a kid going off the deep end due to environmental influences.

I'm just sayin'...