Amy Winehouse_ The Biography - Chas Newkey-Burden [76]
By now, the press were flocking to Amy’s concerts in the hope of further drama or disaster. The best they could do with her next leg of the tour gave the phrase ‘scraping the bottom of the barrel’ a whole new resonance. They revealed that Amy – shock, horror and hold that front page – caught a taxi home after her concert in Brighton.
‘It was really strange,’ said an incredulous eyewitness to the drama. ‘She appeared to be taking a gentle stroll along the seafront with a friend. Then a cabbie pulled up and they both got in.’ But, then, even the most commonplace events in Amy’s life have the potential to make headlines. One story in the Sun concerned her going to a shop and stocking up on food. ‘She was buying bread, cereal, mince, butter, crisps – just the normal things you would stock your kitchen with,’ revealed an eyewitness! Turning back to the Brighton taxi episode, as she was due to perform at nearby Bournemouth the following night, the media spoke of the ‘mystery’ of why she would return to London overnight. Her home is in London and her husband was locked up in prison in London. Not the biggest mystery of the millennium.
The mystery, such as it was, was solved the following day as news broke that Amy had cancelled all remaining concerts and public appearances for the remainder of 2007, after her doctor advised her to take a complete rest. ‘I can’t give it my all onstage without my Blake. I’m so sorry but I don’t want to do the shows half-heartedly. I love singing. My husband is everything to me and without him it’s just not the same.’
The concert promoters Live Nation followed up, saying,
Amy Winehouse has cancelled all remaining live and promotional appearances for the remainder of the year on the instruction of her doctor. The rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks have taken their toll. In the interests of her health and wellbeing, Amy has been ordered to take complete rest and deal with her health issues. Refunds for the remaining dates will be issued from the point of purchase.
Some claimed that Amy was told to quit the tour after she had partied hard for three days and three nights without sleep. However, those close to her say that she had spent those evenings not partying but working – recording her third album.
News of the cancellation also put paid to the more-than-fishy rumour that she had been planning a performance at Pentonville Prison, in front of Blake. Said a friend: ‘Amy has been in pieces ever since Blake was arrested. She can’t stand the thought of him being alone in prison and wants to play a show there. She thinks it would be a fitting tribute to him, it would cheer him up and it would also help her cope with being separated from him.’
Amy had left the tour suddenly for a meeting in London. She was reportedly delighted by the cancellation of the tour. A source says, ‘She was in a terrible state… She looked awful and had been in floods of tears. She was fragile and weak like an old woman. It was depressing to watch. When the tour was cancelled it was like a weight lifted off her shoulders immediately.’
Her mother Janis was quick to give her seal of approval to Amy’s brave decision. ‘Amy’s got to take the opportunity of getting herself fitter and stronger. She thinks she’s strong but she isn’t. I hope she uses the chance to fully recover.