Amy Winehouse is Dead — Page 2

It doesn't have to be an either/or thing. Addiction destroys the lives of millions. It's a huge issue. Whatever you might think of her, she's another human life lost. Just because I have compassion for her doesn't mean I don't have compassion for those in Oslo - but what is there to say about the act of a madman? Honestly, perhaps the less we speak of him, the better. Why give him the press he probably wanted?

She was a remarkable talent that died at the age of 27 because her life got away from her. She succumbed to a disease and lost control of it. It is SAD. I'm not belittling the rest of the sad things that have happened lately, especially not Oslo. But this is sad.

Amy Winehouse's music became a big part of my life when my own father checked himself into rehab after years of severe drug abuse. He survived it. She didn't it.

It makes me sad because of the personal connections I have associated to her and her music.

And yes. I'm generalizing addicts because ADDICTION = DISEASE = ADDICTION. I don't care if it's the homeless man down the block who screams curses at children because he's too high to know the difference between good and bad or the mother who got addicted to painkillers after putting out her back while working a 9-5 at the grocery store every day.

Addiction is a horrible, terrible disease. It is something that not only eats away at your brain and body but at your soul. The majority of addicts know that what they are doing is wrong, unless they are too far gone to know the difference. But knowing that it's wrong and being able to stop are two very different beasts.

I have to bow out of these conversations because I'm getting emotional and heated. It's all too familiar a dialogue for me. One that I have consistently with my family who has cut my father out of their lives. My father, subsequently, sought out help and SUCCEEDED. But all they can see is the bad -- like you -- instead of the pain he was in and now his remarkable success from treatment.

It's a terrible affliction that I hope you never suffer or watch your loved ones suffer. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Off to listen to 'Back to Black' and read. Goodnight, all.

Rest in peace, sweet Amy. Sing for the angels, wherever they and you may be.

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And given that at this moment there are 46 posts about the tragedies in Oslo and 26 about Winehouse, it's obviously not accurate to say that BWWers are more concerned with the latter.

There was a lot of bad news this weekend. And it's not a competition.

But I say this sincerely: No one is required to feel anything they don't feel.

You're both completely right. I just have problems with (and I'm not saying TheatreDiva is the one saying it) people saying that she deserved it, that they weren't surprised, that we shouldn't care because "she had it coming".

She was a remarkably talented human being in great suffering. I don't think anyone deserves this kind of pain.

Rest in peace, sweet Amy.

Goodnight, all.

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"Her disease was more than she could handle. She seemed to be doing so much better last year."

Her Belgrade concert incident seemed to be the foreshadowing of the end, sadly. Tour dates were canceled and she disappeared from the public eye. I avoided those videos of the performance when it was a brief news item and I cannot imagine looking at them now.

BettyB - SOMEBODY was enabling her (and I imagine cashing a check or two at the same time.)

@TheatreDiva - The way I see it is: Amy Winehouse dying =/= tragedy in Norway. You cannot compare the two. Both are equally upsetting for different reasons.

I haven't known anyone to face an addiction, and I can't critique Amy's lifestyle, but what happened to her is unfortunate. She was a talented human being, and she was troubled. There are a lot of people like her, who have a gift but lose focus, one way or another. I feel it's a shame we lost her at the age that we lost other talented artists such as Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.

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BB, I don't see all the things you listed as being equal. I think there's a difference between Rupert Murdoch's rags labeling her "Wino" and going undercover to get whatever compromising photos of her they could to put on their front page, and paying audience members booing her when she was in no shape for the stage, as happened in Belgrade.

I think cheering her and telling her she's fabulous as she falls off the stage is much closer to enabling than anything her label people did. I think if you fail to deliver to your paying customers that's entirely different than being exposed smoking crack with Pete Doherty on the front page of a paper. The people who bought those papers and laughed at her failures are much more complicit in the tragedy of her life than those who recognized her raw talent and enormous potential and hoped to enjoy her work as it evolved.


I think there were people in her life who were just as interested in seeing her able to perform at the best of her commercial ability and to make herself and them a lot of money as there were those who wanted her to take her time, get better, and when she was ready to -- to shine. I think people with addictions tend to collect other addictive personalities and wildly unhealthy symbiotic relationships develop. Of course there is some overlap between categories, but I haven't seen much evidence of anybody pushing and pushing and pushing Amy. The minute Belgrade was over, her people cancelled all the subsequent festival dates and announced she wouldn't be back until she was truly well.

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There always has been and always will be something more important to worry about. The fact is, people will always feel more emotionally invested in celebrity. It's been that way for a very long time, and it's only increased now. People feel as if they know them, and feel emotionally touched by them. I think this is particularly true of musicians, given the intimate nature of listening to music and the emotional response it brings.

However, there is no cause to demean their death because you were not their fan.

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A lovely tribute from Tony Bennett . . .

"Amy Winehouse was an artist of immense proportions and I am deeply saddened to learn of her tragic passing. She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent and has come to such an early end. She was a lovely and intelligent person and when we recorded together she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance. I was honored to have the opportunity to sing with her. It had been my sincere hope that she would be able to overcome the issues she was battling and I send my deepest sympathy to her father Mitchell, her entire family and all of those who loved her."

A rather searingly honest essay from Russell Brand entitled "For Amy."

"Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease."
Link to site.

The sum total of my exposure to Mr. Brand was watching the trailer for the ARTHUR remake - I know nothing about him.

is the rumor about the oslo shooter true? that her songs were all he had on his ipod? that the whole time he was listening to her? that's chilling.

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