Amy Winehouse was a beautiful R&B/jazz singer and songwriter from England who won many awards in the UK, 6 Grammy Awards, and even made it into the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act. No doubt about it, this woman was incredible. However.......she, and her family went through hell and back, ups and downs, and in circles throughout her incredible journey. I'm not gonna sit here and bang out a mini bio of her or anything, no, I just wanted to type up a post about my thoughts and opinions after finishing it.
After finishing this book, I realized a few things that really stood out to me.One, that Amy was a real girl, who grew into a real woman, just like myself. She came from a normal family, had loving parents, had good ol' family bickering and squabbling showdowns, and throwing tantrums just like any other hormonal teenaged girl. She had things she was passionate about, but also things she hated. She was a fun-loving girl who loved singing at the top of her lungs annoying everyone around and driving her family mad at times, and was a prankster around the house with her brother and her father.
Two, that just like every other human on this planet, she had an 'achilles heel', a weakness, she made mistakes. Three, she had an enormous heart, had nothing but love for everyone around her, and was consumed by love. I guess you could say that that was the driving force behind her addictions leading to her death. All for the man she was terribly in love with.
Such a tragic story really, and I do believe that most women can relate to a part of it. The part where she met a man named Blake, and Blake soon became her world. She did anything and everything for him, was consumed by him, and they spent every waking second together. Unfortunately for Amy, he was a heroin, crack-cocaine addict, and it all spiraled from there, leading to her heroin/crack-cocaine addiction, and then alcoholism. You gotta hand it to the media though - they did quite the job of painting an ugly ugly picture of Amy Winehouse, showcasing solely her 'ugly' side when the poor girl was relapsing or just coming out of a bad situation. Always quick to capture the photos of her in her dark moments, and conjuring or twisting up false stories, but never the sweet moments, the times where she had gone more than a few days without a drink, had put back on some healthy weight and was dressed beautifully, or when she give thousands of dollars to sick people on the street who needed help, or when she was out with friends or her father having tea and lunch, telling jokes and having a good laugh, or the time when she spent thousands of dollars in St Lucia paying for horse rentals for all the poor local kids there who couldn't afford to rent them and ride around all day. She had heart and soul, and it showed in all her songs, and her performances.
It's quite mind-blowing what drugs, and love can do to a person. Blake was a real piece of work alright. If you ever decide to read this book, you'll see why. But let me just say that addiction comes in ALL forms. It's not just drug, alcohol, sex, gambling. It's everything. Addiction consumes you, mind, body, and soul, and there is only one person who can help it, and that's the one going through it first-hand. It's not that Amy was just some junkie and alcoholic who had no remorse for anything. It's not that she was 'strange' and had issues as a child growing up. Also, it's not that fame got to her head. No. She was a beautiful woman who took a wrong turn all because of love. She was a a devoted, and ridiculously talented musician. She put everyone before herself, and had the loveliest and strongest of relationships with her father. She loved fashion, she loved to have KFC meal times with her father, she loved people, and she wanted nothing more than to be a mother one day.
She was just like anybody else.
We all have passions. We all have addictions.
We all want to love. We all want to be loved.
We will all leave our mark.......and hers? Oh, her mark was beautiful.
Rest in peace
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011)
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