Amy Winehouse would turn 40: fragility and unparalleled talent

Today Amy Winehouse I would be 40 years old and his voice is missed. The end was sad for one of the most outstanding singers of recent years, He was only 27 years old when he left us.. That same age that took so many outstanding artists, who for one reason or another, could not bear the weight of their own talent.

Amy was born on September 14, 1983 in London. Her compositions and way of singing made her stand out in various genres such as jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, rock and ska.

He was able to give us only two studio albums during his lifetime: “Frank” of 2003 and the celebrated “Back to Black” from 2006. Songs like “Stronger Than Me”, “Take the Box”, “Rehab”, “You Know I’m No Good”, “Back to Black”, “Tears Dry on Their Own” and “Love Is a Losing Game” They became the soundtrack of a generation. From “jazzwoman” to “soul diva”, a transition that brought with it an image change that little by little showed Amy’s most vulnerable side.

The remembered Tony Bennettwho invited Winehouse to participate in his album Duets II months before his death, he states in the documentary “Amy” (directed by Asif Kapadia in 2015) that the singer was one of the most authentic she heard in her long career. “He had an absolute gift”he said after having put her at the level of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.

Something that set Amy apart from some of the greatest jazz and soul singers in history was that she wrote her own songs. His pain was so real that it became palpable in his performances.

Since she was a teenager she had been taking antidepressants, she herself recounted her experience in an interview: “I don’t think I ever knew what depression was. I knew that sometimes I felt strange and that I was different. I think it’s something of musicians, that’s why I make songs. I’m not like many who suffer from depression and have no way to channel it. “They can’t pick up a guitar for an hour to feel better.”

With the launch of “Frank” In 2003, a different artist was revealed on the London music scene, something new with a classic sound, but three years later with “Back to Black” It was the world that discovered Amy.

Success came at a high price, Winehouse’s personal life was becoming increasingly complicated. Although she had an outgoing and strong personality, she suffered from stage fright and to let go she increasingly consumed marijuana and alcohol. “He loved to sing, but he never gave me the feeling that he liked to perform live”wrote Mitch Winehousehis father, in the book “Amy, My Daughter” of 2012.

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The sad end of Amy Winehouse

In 2005 he met Blake Fielder-Civil, a production assistant who frequented the bars of Camden Town, the London neighborhood where the apartment Amy had bought was located. The singer fell deeply in love with him to the point that, after only a few months together, she tattooed his name on her chest.

Her new boyfriend, on the other hand, continued seeing his ex and, when he decided to get back with her, he destroyed the heart of the singer who, once again, channeled the pain of the breakup by writing one of her greatest hits. “Back to Black”,

By 2006 and shortly after the launch of “Back To Black”Amy and Blake reconciled and got back together, a few months later they got married. Overwhelmed by fame and besieged by paparazzi, Amy was in a very vulnerable situation and Fielder-Civil, who had been immersed in hard drugs for a long time, ended up taking her down that path. It was the beginning of the end.

By 2010, Winehouse managed to quit drugs, but replaced them with alcohol. She had resumed drinking heavily and spent much of her time drunk. She attempted to return to the stage in 2011 with a tour of Eastern Europe, but her first concert in Belgrade, Serbia, was a disaster. She was so drunk that she could barely stand and forgot the lyrics, the city she was in and even the name of her musicians. At times she would sit on the floor and she would do nothing but stare blankly at the audience, to which she reacted with hostility.

A month later, he died at home from alcohol poisoning.. According to her bodyguard, she had spent the early morning of July 23, 2011 alone watching television and listening to music. When he checked on her for the first time at 10 in the morning, she was not surprised that he did not react. It was normal for her to get up after noon. But at 3 p.m., when she went back to check on her, she realized something was wrong.

The singer had lost the battle against addictions. The forensic experts found a very high concentration of alcohol in her blood which, added to the consequences of the drugs and a condition of bulimia that she had suffered since adolescence and had never been treated, turned out to be lethal.

This is how Amy’s life ended. an artist too fragile for a world that demands constant perfectionHowever, his musical legacy continues and will surely continue in force. As happens with a select few, one listens to it again and feels that it sings better and better.