Amy Winehouse Phenomenon
The queen of soul music is the most controversial figure in the world. The young British singer Amy Winehouse, known as “a phenomenon of our times”, became at the age of only 24 a subject study for the gutter press and also for several specialists in music and psycho-sociologists. In the last six months, it has not passed a day without recent news published in the press or a compromising photo of Amy Winehouse.
Paparazzi caught her coming out from clubs barely standing because of the use of alcohol or drugs, or wearing only by a bra and running down the streets in full winter, or when she was arrested with her husband for illegal possession of drugs. With a strange look, a huge loop of hair outsized by locks and sustained with difficulty by a more and more delicate body, the 24 years old woman is, according to some, an original artist, a victim of her own celebrity and, according to others, the product of an interesting marketing strategy
“Nobody succeeded in the last 365 days, to become so famous“, writes the international press, trying to analyze the recipe of her success. “The ingredients of her ascent are: firstly an extraordinary voice, then we add a series of scandals, private issues expatiated in the press, a few canceled concerts and an unique style. All this made Winehouse an idol”, wrote the Austrian publication “Die Presse”.
The New Diana Ross
In March 2007, the singer canceled some of her concerts on the ground that she broke a tooth due to a fall when she got drunk, fact that she admitted in an interview. She described her love life in terms of an incredible weakness. In May, last year, she married the musician Blake Fileder-Civil, and in August, she was brought to the hospital in coma due to an overdose. It is said it was heroin. The concerts scheduled for August were canceled and the singer was hospitalized into rehab for a short period. As soon as she got out from the clinic, Amy appeared in public with wounded face. The tabloids wrote that it could have been a domestic fight because he had also visible injuries.
Magazines, such as the music magazine “Spex”, wrote about “Amy Winehouse phenomenon, praising especially “her great voice, used wisely, “intensified in the eyes of the public by an exquisitely staged alcohol issue. “Therefore, a new Billie Holiday was borne, a new Nina Simone or a new Diana Ross, concluded the critics from “Spex”. At the debut of her second album, “Back to Black” , when the artist made her entrance in “an extravagant style with a 60’s Beehive hairstyle and make up with ink eyeliner as Cleopatra, the British press celebrated Amy Winhouse as “l’enfant terrible of music.” Since then, it was written time and again that “Amy Winehouse gave her best to be up to this supraname , making, besides her extraordinary music, the same alcohol and drugs intemperance as many other “geniuses” of this industry.
The Key for Success: Drugs and Alcohol
“The record company knows exactly how to trade on her weaknesses,” says “Spex”. The story of the first song from “Back to Black” album, “Rehab”, could be a relevant proof that marketing agents trade expertly on her problems. In this song, Amy tells the chiefs of the record company said to have wanted to send her to rehab because of her drug abuse by singing: “They tried to make me go to rehab but I said no, no, no”. The song was included on this album only because the producers wanted it. The British Music Industry awarded this song with two of the most important “Brit Awards”, won by Winehouse last year. These awards brought the artist not only a huge popularity, practically over night considering the insignificant success of her first album (although it brought her a “Brit Awards” nomination in 2003), but also an army of paparazzi, following her at every step.
Different from Britney Spears
Even if this is the destiny of the majority of stars, especially of those more extravagant, such as Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan or Pete Doherty, everybody agrees that in the case of Amy Winehouse things are different. While Spears gives to each paparazzi a show, Amy seems to be intimidated by the press. At the same time, in comparison to her “sufferance-mates”, Winehouse has musical talent, thrilling the audience in every concert (if she finds her way to the stage). During her latest concerts, when she was said to have been under the influence of drugs and pills and her body seemed to have lost direction, when she started to sing, the audience forgave all her “mistakes”.
Recipe for Success
Six Grammy Nominations
At the end of the last year, in November, after a period of abuse and followed systematically by tabloids, doctors strongly recommended her to take a serious break and send her in vacation. Her concerts were rescheduled for February this year, when Winhouse would attend The Grammy Awards festivities, where she was nominated for the six of the most important categories (among which “best album”, “best song” (”Rehab”) or “best singer”). In this vacation, the singer continued to keep the gutter press at bay.
Photographs of her and Mark Ronson, her producer, with whom the diva is said to have spent a night in a hotel in London, were recently published. Several weeks ago, the daily “Mirror” published images with Amy on Mustique Island in Caribe, where she spent her holiday in Brian Adams’s mansion, together with her ex-boyfriend, George Roberts. “Outrageous”, said the gutter press, reminding the readers that her husband was behind bars.
After the police detained him several times for drug abuse, Blake Fielder-Civil, the singer’s husband, was sentenced to prison in October for obstruction of justice.
Who is to Blame?
If She Won’t Die of an Overdose, She Will Die of Malnutrition
The rumors of a possible divorce could please singer’s Russian Jew parents. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, accuses publicly the men from his daughter’s life for her “derailments”. It is certain that Amy Winehouse is exhausted, she has lost a lot of weight and she needs help before she dies, as Simon Le Bonn, the star of Duran Duran band predicted. Concerned of her health, Simon declares: “if she won’t die of an overdose, this brilliant artist will die someday of malnutrition.”
“All that she can do is to help herself”, says Nott, the director of “Manor” rehab clinic, quoted by “Vanity Fair” magazine. “Drug addicts cannot be saved but by themselves, they have to loose everything, to have no friends at all so that they could take responsibility for themselves. Only then they can realize if they really want to live or die.”
CONTROVERSY
Lagerfeld and Mick Jagger admire her.
Because of her strange look, famous fashion designers raised her to the rank of “style symbol” such as Karl Lagerfeld, who considered her “beautiful and talented, an inspiration, a new Brigitte Bardot” and who dedicated her a clothes collection presented at the end of the last year. Singer Annie Lennox (from Eurhythmics), one of Amy’s great fans, encouraged the public “to listen to her music and to ignore her problems.” The famous Mick Jagger declared himself a fan of the singer, whom he described as “a wonderful high-class artist”. Prince invited her to sing a duet and Elton John said, “Amy is the best singer on earth.”
While gutter press was criticizing her personal life, the advised critics were over praising her. Winhouse succeeded in a year what Robbie Williams did not in his entire career: to be on the cover of the American magazine “Rolling Stones”. The success of the album “Back to Black”, sold in over five million copies, was a strong argument for her musical qualities.
According to “The Sun”, her presence at the Grammy Awards festivity, on the 10th of February, (in Los Angeles) is not a certainty.. “American authorities will ask the singer to do a drug test and if it will be positive, her return in The United States will be forbidden.
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[...] The young British singer Amy Winehouse, known as “a phenomenon of our times”, became at the age of only 24 a subject study for the gutter press and also for several specialists in music and psycho-sociologists. In the last six months, … Source: Amy Winehouse Phenomenon [...]
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[...] Amy Winehouse Phenomenon The queen of soul music is the most controversial figure in the world. The young British singer Amy Winehouse, known as “a phenomenon of our times”, became at the age of only 24 a subject study for the gutter press and also for several specialists in music and psycho-sociologists. In the last six months, it [...] [...]