Music fans the world over are mourning the tragic death of Amy Winehouse, who died Saturday at theage of 27. She joins the tragic club of the 27 with Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin.
Amy Winehouse came to fame in 2006 with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse - with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos - one of music's most recognizable stars. But her personal life, with its drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and destructive relationships, soon took over her career.
Police confirmed that a 27-year-old female was pronounced dead at the home in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death was not immediately known. London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene.
Amy Winehouse's father, Mitch Winehouse, had arrived in New York this weekend to prepare for his U.S. performing debut Monday night at the Blue Note jazz club, but upon receiving news of his daughter's death was heading back home to London to be with his family, his publicist Don Lucoff said.
She was last publicly seen on at a London concert on Wednesday when she joined her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage. In that impromptu appearance, Winehouse danced with Bromfield and encouraged the audience to buy her album, before leaving the stage.
"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician." But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet.
Released in Britain in the fall of 2006, "Back to Black" brought Winehouse global fame. Working with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi and soul-funk group the Dap-Kings, Winehouse fused soul, jazz, doo-wop and, above all, a love of the girl-groups of the early 1960s with lyrical tales of romantic obsession and emotional excess.
"Back to Black" was released in the United States in March 2007, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in March 2008 and spending 78 total weeks on the chart. The album has sold 2.3 million to-date, according to Nielsen SoundScan and went on to win five Grammy awards, including song and record of the year for "Rehab," her single which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 2007 and has sold 1.7 million downloads. "Rehab" biggest at adult alternative radio, peaking at No. 7 on Billboard's Triple A airplay chart in 2007; it also rose to No. 13 on Pop Songs and No. 14 on Adult Pop Songs.
Amy Winehouse will be greatly missed, it always seemed that it was only a matter of time until she would get her act back together. Let's all remember her for the tremeandous talent that she was...
