Thoughts on Amy Winehouse

now that Amy Winehouse is dead my thoughts are that she was like a bottle of wine-it should have gotten better over time when allowed to develop-but she kept letting the bottle leak until it turned into vinegar. When I think about how her life played out since Back to Black came out, it seems it was one 5 year long slide into the grave. While I know people are raving about her talent now, in perspective there have been many more talented musicians and songwriters out there-she is one of thousands in that regard. However rarely is someone defined as genius with so little work under their belt. And she was not a genius-far from it-I have heard the demos for her first album. Its not that there are no songs there but they are hardly the trumpet drenched torch songs that ended up on her album. A lot of that credit goes to Ronson. He wrote the music that for the most part she could not. the lyrics are her primary contribution.

in truth, it was probably all she had in her. Her voice was not unique in tone-it was unique in terms of the difference from what was the popular vocal style of the time. Her look and sound was retro everything except the tattoos. and at it was at the time of her death, she was not going to last as a singer either. at 25 years old she was diagnosed with emphysema from so much smoking and probably smoking crack, meth and other drugs didn't help. That final show where she is out of it? you can hear her voice and it has lost all its power. her ability to put energy behind notes was all but gone. SO she wrote one good album-Frank is good but its no masterpiece. That is not much to build a legacy on. There are virtually no unreleased recordings, only a few alternative versions and maybe a live album but that is strictly speaking, all she wrote. By comparison Adele(someone who followed in her wake of popularity with a better voice)who is 6 years younger had recorded THREE albums since Back to Black plus numerous collaborations, studio b-sides and cover versions. Her voice may not last but she is well aware of that and milking it for everything she has. If only Amy could have taken a cue. Like so many she flew first and highest but like Icarus flew too close to the sun and melted her career.