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Jump to navigationJump to searchAmy Winehouse: A Losing Game by Mick O'Shea (view source)
Revision as of 09:15, 12 December 2011
, 09:15, 12 December 2011no edit summary
Throughout this and the other undignified escapades which followed, there were always those ready to make excuses for her behaviour, not to say lack of professionalism. One or two fawning journalists portrayed her as something of a heroine, the woman who refused to play the music industry game, a wide-eyed Queen Mum except with tattoos all over her arm and a Ronnie Spector beehive. But there’s no disguising the fact that she was her worst enemy, whose excessive reliance on alcohol and later drugs led her into a downward spiral from which her sorrowing parents realised there was almost certainly no way back. Occasionally the author asks the question why nobody tried to help her – but the answer seems to be that she was one of those people who would not be helped.
The continuing saga of bad behaviour in public and increasingly shambolic appearances on stage becomes wearisome after a while. One is reminded of the last months of Sid Vicious, although all the evidence suggests that she had considerably more talent than the hapless punk icon. Among the many colour photos throughout, some – inevitably the earlier ones – show her looking wide-eyed and relatively happy, a few of them with her family, and there is also one of her onstage at the Isle of Wight festival 2007 singing with Mick Jagger. But at least two tell part of the miserable story of the young woman dubbed ""''Wino"" '' by the tabloids, especially one of her in tears as she hugs herself onstage during yet another disastrous ‘comeback’ performance, this time at Belgrade a month before her death.
It is obviously far too soon for a full biography. This one tries to be as up to date as it could, and reports the final reopening of the inquest into her death on 26 October 2011, although it went to press before the release of her third and presumably final album of unreleased material in December. There are several other biographies of her around, and there will no doubt be more before enough time has elapsed for the preparation of the definitive life. This may have been rushed out to compete with similar offerings from rival publishers, but that’s no reason to fault it as it summarises her life and death accurately if harrowingly enough.
