The Death of Amy Winehouse

It's always heartbreaking to hear of a celebrity death, especially a young celebrity. Today we learned that singer Amy Winehouse died at the young age of 27. Normally when I hear about a celebrity death (especially someone young) it feels like a quick little kick to the stomach. There's normally that little bit of surprise and sadness about what could have been. With this celebrity death, I thought "Well, that's not surprising". An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow, but I would not be surprised if she died from some sort of overdose or complications from drug use.

Many people have called her "troubled". I really think her life goes far beyond just troubled. From legal problems to substance abuse problems to health problems, almost all of Amy's life on the music scene has been issues. In fact, her issues tended to overshadow her amazing talent as a singer-songwriter. It's heartbreaking to me to see someone who is surrounded by people spiral completely out of control (a la Britney Spears circa 2008) and to see that no one steps in to help. Amy struggled with substance abuse and mental health issues. In fact, those ended up taking a toll on her physical health (she came out and said that she had early stage emphysema in 2008).

I would like to think that if I ever developed such glaring issues that my friends and family would step in and help me out. I understand that addiction is a horrible disease, but it just sucks to see those around someone continue to use them rather than think about the long term consequences. Amy had been booed off stage in recent performances as she was incredibly drunk/drugged and unable to sing. You would think that her management team, family, etc would pull her out of all performances and get her more help rather than continue to prop her up on stage and hope that she pulled it together. I know you can't blame those around her, but I just wish that people would have stepped in.

They're now saying that Amy is a part of "The 27 Club". She joins Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison, who all died at the young age of 27. Whether or not you agree that she has the same talent as those people, I think they shared the same torment. To me, it's almost like there was just too much talent for one person to handle and they were only here for a short time.

Regardless of how you feel, the music world was definitely robbed of a talent today. Rest in peace, Amy.