Amy Winehouse as a child. Amy Winehouse: biography and obituary. Amy Winehouse novels

Famous British singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her apartment in London. One of the most talented soul and rhythm and blues performers, winner of five Grammy awards, she brightly declared herself in 2003, but recently she has practically not performed. Winehouse experienced serious health problems due to drug and alcohol abuse.

The singer died at the age of 27, joining the ranks of such legends as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin.

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1. Amy Winehouse's body is carried into a private ambulance from her home in North London. The 27-year-old singer was found dead in her home on July 23. Police have cordoned off part of the street adjacent to the house in Camden where Amy Winehouse recently lived. Immediately after the news of her death appeared, crowds of people began to gather here to mourn the untimely death of the singer, who in Britain is called the “voice of a generation.”

2. British singer and director Reg Traviss, who, according to press reports, until recently dated Winehouse, watches as people pass by to lay flowers at the late singer's home.

3. Recently, there has been conflicting information about the condition and well-being of Amy Winehouse. Alcohol and drug addiction, which the singer struggled with throughout her dizzying but short career, has long become public knowledge. Suffering from anorexia and emphysema, Winehouse recently underwent another course of drug addiction treatment in London, which, according to her relatives, did not produce noticeable results. Pictured: Winehouse on stage at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset on June 28, 2008.

4. Winehouse enters Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court north of London on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. The singer has been found guilty of assaulting a manager who asked her to leave the venue of a family Christmas show because she was too drunk.

5. Winehouse arrived at the Q Awards at Grosvenor House on October 26, 2009. Then the singer's father, Mitch Winehouse, told the press that his daughter had done plastic surgery for breast enlargement. While speaking on British TV show This Morning, he said Amy looked “absolutely amazing.”

6. Winehouse at Westminster Court in central London on July 23, 2009. The star then appeared in court on charges of assaulting a woman during a charity ball in September 2008.

7. Winehouse arrived at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London on June 2, 2009, for the hearing of her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who was accused of perverting the course of justice and assault.

8. The other day, the singer was forced to cancel all her performances as part of her European tour after the first concert, which turned out to be a failure. According to eyewitnesses of the performance in Belgrade on June 18, Winehouse then appeared on stage in a very deplorable state, tried to communicate with the audience, but could not remember the name of the city in which the concert took place, or even the lyrics. Photo: Winehouse took a break from her performance to have a drink. The photo was taken on May 30, 2009 during a concert on the main rock stage of the Lisboa music festival in Bela Vista Park in Portugal, which was attended by 90 thousand spectators.

9. April 25, 2009, Winehouse enters Holborn police station in London, where she was invited for questioning. The controversial singer has been accused of assaulting a member of the public during an incident at a pub.

10. Amy Winehouse was born on September 14, 1983 in London into a Jewish family. Since childhood, she was fond of jazz, her natural voice allowed her to work wonders in this genre. Having made her mark at the age of 20 with the release of her first album, Frank, in 2003, she became a global star with the release of her second album, Back to Black, in 2006. Photo: Winehouse performing at the Brit Awards in London on February 20, 2008.

Amy hugs her mother Janice Winehouse after receiving a Grammy Award at London's Riverside Studios during the 50th Grammy Awards via video link on February 10, 2008 in London. Winehouse, nominated in six categories, won five Grammys, including awards for record of the year, best new artist, song of the year, pop vocal album and female pop vocal. Having received five Grammys at once, the singer set a record for women ever nominated for this prestigious music award.

12. Blonde at the time and without her famous "house" on her head, Amy leaves London's Snaresbrook Crown Court after her husband Blake Fielder-Civil's trial.

13. The name Amy Winehouse did not leave the front pages of music publications and the “yellow press”, but, unfortunately, the interest of journalists was often caused by numerous scandals associated with the singer’s penchant for drugs and alcohol, which relegated her outstanding talent to the background. Photo: Winehouse performing at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago on August 5, 2007.

14. Winehouse performs at the Glastonbury music festival on June 22, 2007. "Rehab", a song from the British singer's second album "Back To Black" became a real hit.

15. Winehouse and her husband, musician Blake Fielder-Civil, arrived at the MTV Movie Awards, which took place on June 3, 2007 at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, California.

16. Winehouse arriving at the Earls Court Arena in London for the Brit Awards on February 14, 2007. That day she received an award in the category “Best Solo Singer”.

17. Looking much healthier, without her famous hairstyle and tattoos, Winehouse poses for a photograph on September 7, 2004 at the annual national Mercury Prize ceremony in London.

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(PHOTO)“The voice of a generation,” the controversial British singer Amy Winehouse died of a drug overdose. This is a working version of the Greater London Police, which is investigating the circumstances of the death of the soul diva.

“This version is being used by the police as a working theory, but it will only be possible to say for sure after an autopsy and toxicology tests have been carried out,” Mark White, a crime correspondent for the British television channel Sky News, told the outlet.

So far, the police officially classify the death of the 27-year-old singer as “unexplained,” RIA Novosti reports.

According to foreign media reports, the police already have a suspect - a close friend of Amy Winehouse, whose name has not been disclosed.

According to Scotland Yard, it was he who gave the star a fatal dose of cocaine and crack while taking drugs together.

However, the police do not specify whether he did it consciously or not.

Amy Winehouse previously had multiple problems with drugs and alcohol, and underwent rehabilitation therapy courses. Her health was weakened by pulmonary emphysema and cardiac dysfunction.

The overdose version became the most popular on British music forums. However, a number of media outlets, citing police sources, claim that the girl could have committed suicide using pills. It is not yet known whether the singer's suicide note was discovered.

Meanwhile, the singer’s fans are building their own versions. Thus, residents of neighboring houses told reporters that on the night of July 23 they heard screams from Winehouse’s house, which gives the singer’s fans a reason for the theory of murder.

Biography, life story of Amy Winehouse

Young talent

Amy Jade Winehouse was born in a suburb of London on September 14, 1983 into a Jewish-English family. Her father worked as a taxi driver, and her mother as a pharmacist. Although they had nothing to do with music, Amy's relatives, especially on her mother's side, included many professional jazz musicians, and her paternal grandmother loved to recall her youthful romance with British jazz legend Ronnie Scott. Her parents also contributed to the development of her musical tastes, collecting a collection of records by Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and other great artists.

The period of passion for pop music (, Kylie Minogue and so on) ended for Amy at the age of ten, when she discovered Salt "n" Pepa, и другие бунтарские хип-хоп и R&B-группы. В 11 лет гиперактивная Эми уже стояла во главе собственной рэп-команды, которую назвала Sweet "n" Sour и описывала как еврейский вариант Salt"n"Pepa. В 12 лет юное дарование поступило в театральную школу Сильвии Янг (Sylvia Young Theatre School), но через год ее исключили - по причине того, что она, мол, "!} didn't prove herself"From the age of 13, Amy Winehouse played the guitar and rapidly expanded her musical horizons, listening to a wide variety of music, mainly modern jazz and hip-hop, and soon began composing and recording her own songs.

Right off the bat

Big show business discovered Amy Winehouse in 2000, when she was only 16 years old. Through the efforts of her friend, pop singer Tyler James, her demo tapes ended up in the hands of Island/Universal managers who were looking for young jazz vocalists. She immediately signed a contract and began performing as a professional singer.

But the debut album was still far away. More than three years passed before, at the end of 2003, Amy Winehouse presented her first studio disc, “Frank,” for which she wrote most of the material. As Felix Howard, Amy's main collaborator during the work on her debut, recalled, when he first heard her recordings, he was speechless. " It was like nothing I've ever heard before, he admitted. - She managed to scare even seasoned jazz musicians. The sessions featured very serious performers. And when she started singing, all they could say was: “Lord Jesus!"

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What shocked her colleagues most of all were Amy’s very frank texts, dedicated mainly to her boyfriend, with whom she had recently broken up. But not only him. Let's say the track "Fuck Me Pumps" is a story about 20-year-old girls who hang around crappy clubs, dreaming of hooking up with a rich groom. And in the song "What is it About Men?" Amy tries to understand her father's character and the reasons for his inconstancy in life. family life(at one time she was very worried about her parents’ divorce).

The recording fell on the shoulders of keyboardist and hip-hop producer Sallam Remi. Jazz harmonies fused with elements of soul, pop music, rhythm and blues and hip-hop, sensual and ironic performance, magnificent vocals, in which critics heard similarities with Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan (Sarah Vaughan) and Macy Gray - all this immediately attracted the attention of the music industry to Amy Winehouse. Ordinary music lovers rocked longer.

The sales curve began to climb only after Winehouse's name was among the nominees for the Brit Awards and the Mercury Music Prize, and at the Ivor Novello Awards, the British Composers' Awards, she was awarded the award for the author of the best contemporary song - for the first single "Stronger Than Me" , written by her and Salaam Remi. In the summer of 2004, Amy Winehouse was generously applauded by audiences at the Glastonbury, Jazzworld and V Festival festivals. By this time, the album "Frank" had managed to reach the top of the British charts and was certified platinum.

In interviews of this period, Winehouse constantly emphasized that her debut album was only 80% her work, because at the insistence of the label, some songs and mixes were included on the disc that she absolutely did not like. She was not entirely happy with the arrangements, so later, after the release of the second album, she admitted: “ I can’t even listen to “Frank” now, and, in general, I didn’t like it before. I have never listened to it from start to finish. I only like to perform songs at concerts, but it's not at all like listening to the studio version".

Second album

Amy Winehouse is quickly becoming one of the tabloids' favorite characters. Of course, it’s not her music, or even the provocative lyrics, that is to blame. Alcohol and drugs, scandalous antics during the tour, obscene jokes, inappropriate behavior, insult to fans - the journalists had something to profit from. The Independent newspaper assured readers that Amy was susceptible to manic depression but did not want to take medication. The artist herself admitted that she has problems with appetite - " a little anorexia, a little bulimia", called herself " more a man than a woman, but not a lesbian", claimed that all her managers were idiots, her marketing was terrible, and her debut album promotion was terrible.

The more actively the artist played tricks in real life, the worse creative things went, that is, they actually didn’t go at all. The record bosses waited a long time for new songs from Amy, until they finally invited her to undergo treatment for alcoholism and get to work. Amy Winehouse categorically refused the rehabilitation clinic, and instead of receiving treatment, she sat down to write songs. Her new composition “Rehab”, the first sign on the eve of the next studio album, spoke about why she so does not want to give herself into the hands of doctors. Amy always said that once she started writing, there was no stopping her. You just had to be patient and wait for this moment. At this time, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ronson, known for his production work with (Robby Williams) and Christina Aguilera, very opportunely appeared in her life. Amy called him the main inspiration for the second album.

Six months later, the recording was ready, and in October 2006 the public became acquainted with the first promotional single “Rehab”, which immediately catapulted into the British Top 10. The new long-play “Back to Black”, released next, was received with a bang and by the beginning of 2007 topped the English charts. Even in the history of the American music industry, the record managed to “inherit”: in the US pop chart from the very first week it started at number seven - this was the second result of the British singer after Dido, whose album “Life For Rent” immediately reached number 4 line in the American rating.

The second album, unlike the debut, permeated with jazz harmonies, returned to the era of the 50s and 60s, drawing inspiration from the then soul, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and the work of female pop groups, in particular the ensemble Shangri-Las. Producing duties were shared between Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson. The tandem, or rather the trio Winehouse-Remy-Ronson, turned out to be extremely successful, both commercially and creatively. The singer received the Brit Award as the best solo artist, and the disc "Back to Black" itself was nominated for the title of best British album. At the end of 2006, readers of Elle magazine named Winehouse the best British artist.

Bad habits

Amy rose through the ranks and fell into the abyss due to drug addiction and alcoholism. Critics, fans, colleagues note not just Winehouse’s talent - she is a genius and speaks a new word in the world of pop music. But the singer’s habits and lifestyle are literally destroying her. When Amy isn't performing or working in the studio, she's in and out of hospitals.

In August 2007, she canceled all her concerts in the US and Britain due to health reasons. She went to a rehabilitation clinic with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, but left after five days. Amy's parents blamed her husband, a slacker musician, for everything. And his relatives suggested that Amy Winehouse’s fans boycott her work until the couple “gives up bad habits.”

At the 50th Grammy Awards in February 2008, Amy Winehouse won in five categories. The singer was denied a US visa, and she delivered her speech via television broadcast. Some time later, Amy began a new rehabilitation course in a Caribbean villa Canadian singer. But after some time the singer was hospitalized. She was diagnosed with pulmonary emphysema.

On June 12, 2008, Amy Winehouse's only concert in Russia took place - she took part in the opening of the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in the Bakhmetyevsky Garage in Moscow.

Personal life

Amy met her future husband, Blake Fielder-Sibyl, in a London pub. Two years later the couple got married.

In July 2008, Amy Winehouse's husband was sentenced to 27 months in prison for attacking a pub owner in Hoxton. While in prison, Fielder began divorce proceedings. After leaving prison, Winehouse's now ex-husband began demanding six million dollars from her, believing that part of her fortune rightfully belonged to him and that it was he who inspired his wife to write the album Back to Black .

But as you know, dear ones scold - they just amuse themselves. The former spouses began appearing together at parties again and were rumored to be planning to remarry. Finally, the couple broke up completely, Amy Winehouse plunged into new novels.

After the breakup, Amy Winehouse bought a larger house in Camden than they had before. Amy Winehouse was probably going to start a full-fledged family with offspring.

Death

In 2011, the singer planned a world tour, but was forced to cancel it due to an unsuccessful performance in Belgrade - in front of an audience of 20 thousand, a drunken Amy ran on stage for an hour and a half. Without singing a single song completely. At the beginning of the concert, she greeted Athens, then the audience in New York, stumbled, talked to the musicians, tried to sing, but forgot the words. The singer had to leave under the whistling of the audience.

On July 23, 2011 (at 15:54 local time) she was found dead in her apartment in London. Until the end of October 2011, the causes of death remained unclear.

Preliminary versions of the causes of death include a drug overdose (the police did not find any drugs in Winehouse's house) and suicide. It is also known that she suffered from emphysema. In September 2011, Amy's father suggested that the cause of her death was a heart attack caused by alcohol intoxication, which later turned out to be true. Three empty vodka bottles were found in the singer’s room, and the level of alcohol in her blood was five times the legal limit.

Fans and celebrities around the world quickly responded to Winehouse's sudden death on Twitter and other social media platforms. The Universal Republic label said in a statement about the artist's death: " We are deeply saddened by the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer.».

Several famous musicians dedicated their songs to her. Already on July 23, 2011, during a concert in Minneapolis, the lead singer of the Irish band Bono, before performing his song “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” said that he dedicated it to the suddenly deceased British soul singer Amy Winehouse. Lily Allen, Jessie J and Boy George also dedicated their latest performances to the British singer. The Russian rock singer wrote on her website: “ Amy died. rainy day. r.i.p." The Russian alternative rock band Slot wrote the song “R.I.P.”, which they dedicated to Amy.

The farewell to the singer took place at the Golders Green Synagogue, the oldest of the synagogues (1922) in the area of ​​the same name in north London. On July 26, 2011, Amy Winehouse was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, where the body of the family's idol, jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott, was cremated in 1996, and her grandmother Cynthia Winehouse in 2006. She was buried in Edgwarebury Lane Jewish Cemetery in the London suburb of Edgware (Middlesex) next to her grandmother, who was also a jazz singer. Blake Fielder-Civil, whom Amy divorced back in 2009, was not allowed to attend his ex-wife’s funeral.

The charismatic British singer Amy Winehouse had everything to become a real star: a gorgeous voice, good acting skills, and composing talent. But when you become closely acquainted with her work and biography, you understand that not everything is so simple. An Englishwoman of Jewish blood, she sang as an African-American. She looked very sexy, but she didn’t play it off in any way. At a young age she had the voice of a mature woman. A subtle sense of music and provocative rudeness in communication. She wrote both gentle melodies and harsh, obscene lyrics. And, perhaps, the strangest thing: she was not interested in fame or money. " For me, music has always come first. I would agree to live in a dirty hole if they promised me that I would meet

Childhood

It all started back in 1983, when a girl was born into an ordinary Jewish family in England. In principle, she was no different from her peers until her parents divorced in 1993, and she stopped attending school in protest and was expelled.

Then there were several schools, she became interested in singing, she managed to organize her own group and star in an episode of one of the TV series. It is worth noting that despite the fact that the father and mother were not engaged in musical professions at all, the father was fond of jazz in his free time, and the mother had relatives who had direct relation to jazz. At the age of 14, she began writing songs and also tried drugs.

At the age of 16, she got a job as a journalist for a London publication. One day she decides to record several of her songs with her then-boyfriend Tyler James, who was also interested in soul singing. Her songs were heard the right people, and in 2003 her first album entitled Frank was released, before which she performed as a backup singer and warm-up for jazz orchestras.

Her songs and image were a challenge modern society, but her first album was warmly received by critics and won many awards. From that time on, her fame grew geometric progression and by the age of 24 she had won the world's most prestigious music awards. As for her personal life, Amy did not consider herself a beauty and devoted more time to music, while still having affairs with guys.

Love

Blake Fielder-Civil - this man left the brightest mark on his life famous singer Great Britain. Their love story began in 2005, when Amy bought drugs from him, because he is a drug dealer. They met in a pub (where Amy and her friend liked to spend a lot of time), they began to use soft drugs together and wash it down with alcohol, and so, unnoticed by both of them, they began to have feelings. She is a well-known singer throughout London, who only a year ago released a mega-popular album, and he is a loser who leads a far from healthy lifestyle.

At first he was even surprised that wherever he and Amy went, the paparazzi followed them, but later he got used to it, and he even began to like living in the shadow of the fame of the famous and successful person. Later, she asked him for heroin and he gave it to her; as a result, Amy’s father would not allow Blake to attend his daughter’s funeral, because it was Blake who put the singer on hard drugs.

Winehouse becomes more and more popular, and her boyfriend decides to prove that without him, an ordinary guy, she is nothing, and leaves her for ex-girlfriend. The singer does not get lost and tries to drown out the pain of parting with her loved one with creativity. She drowned out all her emotions with alcohol and wrote songs, eventually releasing a second album in 2006 called Back to Black (for which she received 6 Grammys).

Amy's ex-boyfriend understood perfectly well that he could lose a successful singer with multimillion-dollar bets, and returned to her; she, happy and in love, got a tattoo on her chest in honor of this man. It is worth noting that Amy had 13 tattoos on her body, each of which symbolized a certain stage in her life. Soon they got married. For the next two years, they both drank a lot, took drugs and made scandals.

Amy once almost died from an overdose, and she and her husband eventually divorced in 2009. Blake admitted that he broke up with Amy in order to save her, because it was he who caused her addiction to drugs. Later in her life there was a series of clinics where she was treated for drug addiction and explosions, as well as scandals that the yellow press heatedly discussed. Blake went to prison, she visited him, and in the evening she washed down all her sorrows with alcohol and sought solace in bedtime novels. In the end, this all led to an overdose and Amy began treatment again.

Even after the divorce, she did not stop loving Blake. The last two years of her life she often appeared on the pages of yellow publications, where she was ridiculed and criticized in every possible way. In 2010, she was seen with Blake, the couple was walking arm in arm, but... After another recovery from drug addiction in a clinic, Amy began life with clean slate, got herself a boyfriend who even proposed to her but...

She lived a normal life for 4 months, without alcohol and drugs, dating a guy, but she herself understood perfectly well that she loved Blake and a normal life was boring and uninteresting to her. Many believe that Amy Winehouse is part of the notorious club of 27, that is, those idols who died at the age of 27.

Charity

Despite her rather hectic life, between treatments in clinics and binges, she was involved in charity work, donated many dresses to poor Englishmen, and also thought about adopting a girl, but alas, it didn’t work out.

Death, like the life of the scandalous diva, was surrounded by scandals and rumors. By official version Amy died of alcohol poisoning after a year alone in her own home. Amy's brother recently admitted that the true cause of the legendary vocalist's death was bulimia, which she suffered from since childhood, and drugs and alcohol only made everything worse.

Creative activity

Despite the success that the singer had during her short life, she concert activity was very unstable, because she very often canceled her concerts either because of a bad mood or because of health problems, as a result, for the last 2 years of her life she rarely performed and fed fans with promises to release a third album. As a result, Winehouse’s creative record includes two albums and several singles. In 2011, Amy's father released the singer's third posthumous album, and in 2013 the release of a fourth album was announced. All proceeds from sales of the third and fourth albums will go to a charitable foundation created after the singer’s death.

Style

Amy Winehouse's style cannot be called exemplary and ordinary; she was always criticized because of the arrows on her eyes and her high hairstyle with a red ribbon - these were her features. Amy did not claim a place in the fashion world as a trendsetter, but nevertheless she managed to enter the fashion world. She boldly offset feminine dresses with tattoos, resulting in a very feminine look. Amy, despite criticism of her style and manner of dressing, inspired famous designers and stylists. Karl Lagerfeld himself created a collection inspired by the singer's style. Many designers have created collections posthumously in tribute to Winehouse's style.

Recognition after death

Like most truly brilliant people, even greater fame came to Amy; alas, after her death, her third album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, was published. This album included the performer's already known hits and several unknown songs, as a result of which the posthumous album became double platinum in the UK. After death, most critics and world show business stars they began to sing about her talent and glorify it, but no one could help her change for the better and get rid of alcohol and drug addiction, which later became the cause of her death.

On July 23, 2011, one of the most outstanding singers of our time, a bright and outrageous personality, (Amy Winehouse) left us. At the time of her death, the singer was 27 years old, and this fact led to renewed talk about the magical power of the “27 Club” (which by that time already included Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain).

The cause of Amy Winehouse's death was not announced until the end of October 2011, which gave rise to many of the most ridiculous speculations and assumptions. Common versions included drug overdose and suicide. The police later denied both of these assumptions. A medical examination found no traces of drugs in the deceased’s blood, and no facts were found to support the version of suicide.

The version with pulmonary failure caused by an excess of alcohol in the blood seemed a little more plausible. Let us remember that a few years before her death, Amy Winehouse was diagnosed with a serious illness – emphysema. However, the medical examination rejected this version as well.

Mitch Winehouse, Amy's father, from the first minutes after the tragedy, suggested that the cause of her death was a heart attack caused by alcohol intoxication. It was this version that turned out to be the most plausible, and later the official one.

That day Amy was alone in her house; she had no guests or visitors. Around 10 a.m., the singer explained to her assistants that she was not feeling well and was going to stay in bed. At four o'clock in the afternoon, a security guard went into the bedroom to wake up Winehouse and found her dead, after which he immediately called the police.

Three empty vodka bottles were found near the dead singer’s bed, and the level of alcohol in her blood exceeded the maximum permissible concentration five times (doctors recorded 418 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, with the maximum permissible norm being 80 mg).

Amy Winehouse was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, where the body of the family's idol, jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott, was cremated in 1996, and her grandmother Cynthia Winehouse in 2006. About 400 people attended the funeral, at Edgwarebury Lane Jewish Cemetery. In addition to Amy's parents and relatives, the singer's friends and show business colleagues were present. Some women, including a close friend of the deceased, Kelly Osbourne, came to the funeral in memory of Amy with a high bouffant hairstyle, as Winehouse loved to wear. Ex-husband The singer, Blake Fielder-Civil, at the request of Amy's parents, was not allowed to attend the funeral ceremony.

Three days after the singer’s death, both her albums “Frank” and “Back to Black” soared to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, confirming the sad truth that we can only appreciate true talent after his death.

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