At the risk of sounding cheesy, my teenage self had never heard music like that or seen someone who looked like that before. Rania Aniftos: I first discovered Amy while watching the 2008 Grammys, where she performed a mashup of “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good.” I was so captivated by her famous beehive hairstyle and winged eyeliner, and of course her voice blew me away. When you think of Winehouse’s life and career, what’s the flashbulb moment of hers that you recall most immediately/vividly? I was drunk and sad and by the time I got home all I really wanted to do was to write about her anyway.Ģ. Looking back, it’s easy to say that her death was predictable at the time, but I was still in total disbelief that day - sometimes when a celebrity feels perpetually on the brink of tragedy, you come to think that they’ll never actually fall over the edge.
In my adulthood, I really poured myself into understanding her story and music beyond her often manipulated public image.Īndrew Unterberger: I was at an all-day barbecue that I ended up leaving early to go and write about Amy’s life and legacy for the pop blog I was working for at the time. All I remember from the day she passed is her story being reduced to her addictions and vices, when there’s so much more nuance to it. I hadn’t yet understood the effect she would have on my life in later years and the way her music would accompany me through my journey. Neena Rouhani: I was only 16 years old when Amy passed.
AMY WINEHOUSE DIED UPDATE
I remember getting a flurry of texts, and buying Back to Black on iTunes (I had it on CD, but had left it at my parents’ house), and having to update a gallery of “27 Club” artists. Jason Lipshutz: I was an editorial assistant at Billboard, working on a broken laptop in a too-small Brooklyn apartment on a hazy summer afternoon. I vaguely remember just sitting at my computer looking at photos of her throughout the years while watching the story unfold. (And not being shocked sort of compounded the sadness.) Given what we’d all seen of Amy in the media preceding her death - I remember Perez Hilton being particularly hard on her - the news seemed inevitable. I saw the news somewhere online and was sad, obviously, but I can’t say I was shocked. I remember that it was a really hot afternoon in L.A. I was a massive fan, so despite all the doom-and-gloom coverage of her substance abuse issues, I hadn’t allowed myself to think she would be taken away from us this soon. So I actually found out about Amy’s death in The New York Times print edition, which my now-father-in-law picked up for me to do the crossword puzzle. Katie Atkinson: I was working for MTV News at the time … but I was on vacation and truly off the grid (sorry to my co-workers). Now that I’m almost 27 myself, the reality of how addiction without the proper help can so quickly take away a young person’s life hits really hard. It was only until a few years later, when I developed an interest in psychology and was also old enough to fully understand the weight of her life, that I delved into just how devastating her death and the years leading up to it were. Rania Aniftos: Full disclosure – I was 16 and so wrapped up in SATs and the college application process that I sadly cannot remember anything else from that time period. What, if anything, do you remember about the day 10 years ago that Amy Winehouse died - where you were, what you were doing, how you reacted? Amy Winehouse 'Back to Black' Documentary Offers Revealing Commentary From Mark Ronson, Salaam Remi…ġ.