It's been a little bit more than a month now that Amy Winehouse has left us, leaving behind her millions of saddened fans and an unfinished career.
People started gossiping, saying that she deserved it. That after so many years of addictions, alcohol, drugs and self-destruction, this was going to happen someday. That it certainly was an overdose that had killed her.
How surprised were they when it appeared that Amy's death wasn't due to an overdose, but to her coming off that she had started alone, determined to get better... Apparently, her body couldn't handle the shock. Analysis are still being done, but for now they are heading in that direction.
Amy's death has deeply shocked the artistic world, and saddened many celebrities. But as for every death in Hollywood, where pretence and image count more than anything else, it's difficult to know who are those who are honest in their sadness, and those who pretend to be concerned only to be in the spotlight for a little while...
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
A wave of artists and fans however decided to do a tribute to Amy, in every possible form and way: with texts, drawings, covers, or even videos...
So instead of dreading this death that occurred way to early, let's talk about the amazing musical legacy she leaves us, and the beautiful farewell messages and testimonies from her friends and fans.
Instead of writing yet another tribute, or coming back to telling Amy Winehouse's - already told many times - story, I decided to highlight three "creations" amongst the most honest in their testimony that, I think, represent how and why Amy Winehouse should be remembered. I decided to highlight these three artists, famous or not, for their goodbye message or the way they chose to represent Amy or give her a tribute.
One of the messages that we liked the most was the farewell message written by Russel Brand - Katy Perry's husband - to the British singer, and posted on his website. Here are some excerpts.
"When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.
Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.
I’ve known Amy Winehouse for years. (…) Carl Barrat told me that “Winehouse” (which I usually called her and got a kick out of cos it’s kind of funny to call a girl by her surname) was a jazz singer, which struck me as bizarrely anomalous in that crowd. To me with my limited musical knowledge this information placed Amy beyond an invisible boundary of relevance; “Jazz singer? She must be some kind of eccentric” I thought. I chatted to her anyway though, she was after all, a girl, and she was sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable."
In his beautiful tribute, Russel Brand tells us how he himself was an addict at that time, just out of rehab, and that he was seeking the company of less complicated women; but that he liked talking with Amy and spending time with her. He talks about his surprise to see her become famous, in spite of that Jazz style she had that he thought would prevent her from reaching glory, as he had never heard her sing and didn’t know what her work was like. Until someday, he attended to one of her concerts and finally got to see her live.
"Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. My ears, my mouth, my heart and mind all instantly opened. Winehouse. Winehouse? Winehouse! (…) So now I knew. She wasn’t just some hapless wannabe, yet another pissed up nit who was never gonna make it, nor was she even a ten-a-penny-chanteuse enjoying her fifteen minutes. She was a fucking genius."
"Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease. Not all addicts have Amy’s incredible talent. Or Kurt’s or Jimi’s or Janis’s, some people just get the affliction. All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill."
He then concludes his tribute how he had started it, showing the necessity to keep fighting addiction and the terrible damages it brings to people who could be our friends or family members.
"Not all of us know someone with the incredible talent that Amy had but we all know drunks and junkies and they all need help and the help is out there. All they have to do is pick up the phone and make the call. Or not. Either way, there will be a phone call."
But the stars aren't the only one to talk about their love for the singer; many fans also gave her a tribute, in their own way.
It would be too long to expose here the integrality of the incredible creations that spread on the internet, so here is an example, drew by Joy.
Source : Designed By Joy
Finally, a lot of covers have been created; others, already famous before, also found a new echo after the artist's death. We think in particular of the incredible covers of Amy's songs by Naya Rivera, who herself is a big fan of the British artist : Valerie and Back To Black.
Naya had the opportunity to sing these two songs for her role as Santana Lopez in the famous TV Show Glee. "I’m a huge Amy's fan, and these are two songs that I just really wanted to sing, and they gave them to me.” she said in May in an interview during the Glaad Awards that she hosted. About Valerie, the song that revealed her talent and her voice, she recently said: "I would have suggested that song, and it just so happened to be in the script."
When a journalist had asked her if she was hoping for Amy's comeback, four months ago, she had answered enthusiastically: “Oh yeah! Where is she? I need an album! I’m sure she’ll come out with something fantastic soon and I’ll be there.”
Sadly, nobody will ever have the opportunity to hear this new album; Back To Black will stay Amy Winehouse's biggest success. "Needless to say I am deeply saddened by the death of one of my favorite artists. RIP Amy Winehouse. You will be forever missed." were the farewell words posted by Naya on her Twitter, following the news.
But it's without her knowledge that Naya's cover of Valerie during the Glee Live 3D movie (see above) became an important tribute to the artist she admired so much; the movie's producers decided to release the video of her performance on the internet, in order to contribute in their way to Amy Winehouse's memory.
"I loved the song, and it’s so cool now because it’s a whole new thing, it’s kind of like a tribute." she said in an interview for the release of the movie. "And I think that’s something that’s so cool that will be like, you know, etched in time that I got to sing that song."
The talent of the young actress didn't go unnoticed, and some people even say she should have been the one singing the tribute to Winehouse during the last ceremony of the VMAs.
These are tributes that we want to remember, as well as a tortured and terribly talented artist that succeeded in taking us with her in another world, thanks to her exceptional voice.
We only said goodbye with words,
I died a hundred times,
You go back to her,
And I go back to black...
C.
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