Amy Winehouse was a multi-talented singer-songwriter whose life and career, though tragically short, left a mark on the world that no one can ever cover up.
Born on September 14th, 1983, Amy Jade Winehouse was surrounded by music throughout her early years, due to the fact that Amy’s dad, Mitch Winehouse, was a Jazz enthusiast, and her grandmother was a professional singer. Amy received her first ever guitar when she was 13, began writing music when she was 14, and when she turned 16, finally accomplished her biggest dream at the time, of being a professional singer. However, Amy was quite a rebellious young lady. When she was 16, she was expelled from one of the best theater schools at the time, Sylvia Young Theatre School, for piercing her nose and not applying herself to her schooling. At this time, Amy decided to tattoo her body and get several more piercings. Amy did not leave Sylvia Young Theatre School without a fight. She made sure that the head of her previous school would regret ever thinking about expelling Amy. So it made sense when Amy had her big debut in 2003, when she signed to Island Records, and released her first album Frank on October 20th, 2003. The album was a hit and earned her several awards and several award nominations. Her second album, Back to Black, was released in 2006 and became an international hit. The album’s most popular song, “Rehab,” won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards. As good as this album was, no one expected it to be her last.
Throughout her life, Amy was an inspiration to many people, such as artists who had just started singing, and her fans. Amy also inspired today’s bigger artists such as Lana Del Rey, Adele, and Sam Smith. Sadly, some people had the opposite view on her life and viewed her as a bad example for young people, and thought she was just doing it for money, but Amy’s emotional, heartfelt lyrics proved people wrong. Throughout her lyrics, Amy communicated her emotions. For example, when Amy’s management team encouraged her to go to rehab for her past troubles with alcohol addiction, bulimia, depression, and drug use, Amy came out with one of her most well-known songs, “Rehab.” In this song, Amy says “They tried to make me go to rehab but I said no no no,” (Amy Winehouse, Rehab, 2006).
Unfortunately, Amy’s refusal to stay in rehab may have cost her her life. On July 23rd, 2011, at 3:54 PM BST Amy Jade Winehouse was found dead. After doing a medical exam on her after her passing, it was determined that Amy’s cause of death was alcohol poisoning. Everyone was shocked when her blood work came out. This was because her alcohol percentage was .4%. Although this may not seem like alot, the legal driving limit in Britain is 0.08%. This means that Amy would have had to drink over 25 standard alcoholic drinks to maintain the alcohol level that was in her body when she died.
After Amy’s passing, her dad founded the Amy Winehouse Foundation, on what would’ve been his daughter’s 28th birthday. The Amy Winehouse Foundation helps young people recover from substance abuse, mental illnesses, and eating disorders to help save young lives like Amy’s.
All in all, it is important that we recognize the need for more facilities, and trained professionals specializing in mental illnesses.
