Amy Winehouse_ The Biography - Chas Newkey-Burden [6]
Which brings us to Amy’s well-documented hedonism. She has admitted to using and becoming addicted to heroin and cocaine. She was once admitted to hospital following an overdose of a spectacular cocktail of drugs. The beautiful musical talent Amy has is all too often cruelly overlooked by those who prefer to concentrate on her wild ways, but her at times destructive lifestyle cannot be ignored, nor that of her husband Blake. Together the pair are fast becoming as notorious as past rock couples such as Michael Hutchence and Paula Yates, Pete Doherty and Kate Moss, and Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.
Her parents worry themselves sick as they read the latest headlines about Amy’s drug and drink problems. After a particularly lurid story in the papers, her mother sent Amy a text message that read, ‘What planet are you on? Call me.’ Her father Mitchell worries, too and is tireless in his efforts to protect his daughter. Singer Terra Naomi is a label mate of Amy and was herself once a drug user who had to be taken to rehab by her father. She recalls watching a live performance by Amy, sitting near her family: ‘Amy’s whole family was there. Amy did put on a good show, but she looked like she was having problems, and seeing her dad have to watch that… It was just sad, really sad.’
Amy, however, remains honest about her lifestyle. She shrugs off the notion that working in the music industry means ‘there’s just so much opportunity to go out every night and get smashed’. Once asked to describe the mission statement behind her songwriting, she said she wrote, ‘Songs that you can sing into a bottle of whisky.’
For every moralistic tabloid critic that Amy’s attitude throws up, it also attracts her new fans. Celebrated columnist Julie Burchill says, ‘I like Amy Winehouse – she’s my new favourite. She’s a tough old bird and she’s not a cry-baby. And she’s absolutely beautiful. Amy Winehouse is like a pocket Venus.’ As we’ll see, Winehouse’s and Burchill’s paths once crossed in a somewhat surreal fashion.
Burchill’s admiration of Winehouse proves that not everyone has been grasped by this bizarre wish to see musical artists become puritanical, milk-guzzling, jogging, health freaks. Somewhere in recent times many people changed from wanting our pop and rock idols to be the wild children who lived the lifestyle we all dream of to wanting them to become ‘a good example’ (copyright Daily Mail). Just as Burchill sees through this nonsense, so does producer Mark Ronson: ‘Amy is bringing a rebellious rock’n’roll spirit back to popular music,’ he says. ‘Those girls from the sixties like the Shangri-Las had that kind of attitude: young girls from Queens in motorcycle jackets.’
It seems ludicrous, but once again it is worth reiterating: Amy Winehouse is a hugely gifted and talented musician. Put aside the controversy and just give her CDs a spin. You’ll luxuriate in the warmth and sheer emotion of her voice, the clever, open and honest lyrics. The same goes for her live performances. Of late, there have been so many headlines about her no-shows or drunken shows that, were an alien to be reading the press, he or she would be hard pushed to believe that thousands and thousands have been taken to almost religious levels of joy. It’s a joy shared by Amy, who says, ‘Basically, I live to do gigs… it’s my life.’
Given the rich maturity of her voice, and the success she has already enjoyed, it is easy to forget how young Amy still is. She has not, at the time of writing, yet reached that dangerous rock-and-roll age of twenty-seven. It was at this age that Janis Joplin, Doors singer Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain all died, at the height of their infamy. There’s no disputing that she has issues with drugs to overcome, but the longer her true story goes on, the