Guest Author - Carla Cano
Amy Winehouse was found dead on July 23, 2011 in London, England. She was 27 years old. The cause of death has been found inconclusive. Amy Winehouse was on the road to super stardom. However, that didn’t seem to make her life a bowl of cherries. Her erratic behavior has been well documented over the last few years, seemingly from drug abuse.
In her short career Amy Winehouse won five Grammies, in 2008. She had a unique voice with a unique sound. She seemed to be on her way up, yet she continued acting erratic. She forgot words to songs, she fell while performing, and often seemed detached and confused during performances. She had yelled at and even struck her fans. Not typical conduct for most jazzy, soul artists.
The world has lost another beautiful talent due to excess consumption of drugs and alcohol. Even though the cause of death was inconclusive, drugs and alcohol seemed to have a crippling effect on this young life. Her soulful music is all that is left of this troubled, talented artist, wife, and daughter. My love and positive thoughts go out to her family, friends and fans during their time of loss.
Her parents and managers had been trying to encourage Amy Winehouse to get help for her addictions. She responded with a song, “Rehab” in which she said “no, no, no” to rehab. Eventually she did enter rehab several times. However, these short term stays seemed not to help. Many attribute the death to a lost, lonely, troubled artist lifestyle. The strain on many public figures can be overwhelming. Often times the fame comes hard and fast, with no thought to the cost to the artist. The paparazzi seem to lay in wait to get any little tidbit then blow it out of proportion for the mass media. So, I wonder what degree consumers are responsible for the endless invasion of privacy.
Several people were aware of the battle that Amy Winehouse was going through, yet it seemed that little was done to save this life. Should her parents have taken a stronger stand? Did the record industry have a responsibility to insist she get the help she so obviously needed? Could she have been helped if she didn’t want to be helped? If you would like to explore these questions further please join in on the discussion on the Current Events Forum. If you would like to stay updated on Current Events please subscribe to the weekly, free newsletter.
