Nice tats!In the Venn diagram of 21st Century celebrities there are few artists who are in that bit of the diagram where the circles marked 'talent' and 'public exposure' meet. Amy Winehouse in one. A genuine, original talent, well loved by music fans and the gossip columns alike it is therefore sad to watch the public disintegration of this young woman.
In the week when Amy was nominated for the second time for the Mercury Music Prize, for her second album Back to Black, the first one, Frank, having been nominated for the award in 2003, she has been falling apart in public again. The year began with Amy win a Brit as best female singer, she has already received an Ivor Novello Award for her songwriting, but from that award she seems to have struggled, Kurt Cobain like, with fame and all that comes with it. This week at her concert at the Eden Project she forgot the words to a song, struggled, swore and then stormed off stage. This comes less than a fortnight after she admitted self-harming herself, cancelled a gig due to illness (only to be found drunk in a London pub) and is generally going through a period of self-doubt despite her obvious talents.
I actually thought something was wrong about a month ago when she was the singing guest on Parkinson, it was the only reason I watched the show. I was disturbed, as I'm sure any watching fan of hers who was when she forgot the words to the song she was singing about a minute from the end. Rather than swear or storm out on national television she used her considerable vocal skills and jazz background to make, what can only be described as, some strange vocal sounds until the song ended.
The photographs below show that she has had eating problems this year, the striking voluptuous woman on the right replaced by the skinny size zero wannabe on the left.
Some people will say so what, she's a celebrity career ups and downs come with the territory, why bother? Well I think we should be bothered, she's a young woman who is clearly having problems. Those people who earn their livings making money from her should take her to one side and offer what used to be called pastoral care. Yes you can separate the artist from the person, but you can't separate the artist from the human being.
2 comments:
Those last two pictures tell quite a story, don't they, Paul. Despite what many people think I believe the celebrity life can be very stressful and some people simply can't handle it. I reckon all that hotel room wrecking we saw from past generations of rock stars was as much a release from the tension as anything else.
I hope someone is able to help Amy : the very least she needs a good break from the all the hassle.
..."I hope someone is able to help Amy : the very least she needs a good break from the all the hassle."...I can say no more than this.
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