Winehouse household ‘reclaims’ Amy’s story 10 years after her dying in new documentary

By AFP
LONDON: Amy Winehouse should still be finest recognized for her line: “They tried to make me go to rehab. But I said no, no, no.”

But 10 years after the British singer’s dying at 27, her household and pals say it’s time to cease defining her by her well-documented struggles with dependancy and damaging relationships.

Winehouse’s dad and mom have cooperated with a BBC documentary to air on the anniversary of her dying on Friday, which her father Mitchell, generally known as Mitch, says provides a “more rounded image of Amy”.

The singer put her personal experiences into authentic songs, similar to “Back to Black” and “Rehab”, infused with jazz and soul influences and developed a particular private model with a towering beehive hairdo and tattoos.

But her performances grew extra erratic as a result of drug and alcohol use whereas tabloids revealed tales calling her “Amy Decline-house” or “wino”.

She died from alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011.

Narrated by her mom Janis Winehouse-Collins and titled “Reclaiming Amy”, the documentary to air on BBC2 options interviews with long-standing pals, together with one, Catriona Gourley, who reveals she had a romantic relationship with Winehouse.

“You think you know my daughter — the drugs, the addiction, the destructive relationships — but there was so much more,” her mom says within the voiceover.

The documentary additionally seeks to counter accusations that her household relished her success and didn’t do sufficient to assist her overcome dependancy. 

‘You killed your daughter’ This was the primary thrust of “Amy”, an Oscar-winning British documentary from 2015, which was notably damning about Mitch and Winehouse’s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil. 

“I still get it now: ‘You were complicit in your daughter’s death, you killed your daughter’,” her father says within the documentary.

Winehouse’s pal Gourley informed BBC Radio 4, the truth was completely different: “Janis and Mitch were there, all the time,” she insisted, itemizing “the countless times she (Amy) was taken to rehab facilities or there was an intervention”.

Gourley additionally recommended that with as we speak’s larger consciousness of psychological well being points and dependancy, Winehouse wouldn’t face such mockery in tabloids and gossip magazines.

“The language… that was used about her at the time. I just don’t think people would get away with it, especially when it came to her mental health”.

NME music journal known as the documentary “touching if defensive”, saying it was a “sweet tribute to a daughter, friend and mercurial talent”.

But The Financial Times was extra sceptical, writing that Winehouse’s dad and mom and particularly “lime-light-loving father Mitch were front and centre in her career”.

At one level within the documentary, Mitch smiles and is “seemingly oblivious” as he watches a clip by which Winehouse duets with him whereas “embarrassingly drunk”, it provides.

‘Had all of it’ Her messy non-public life aside, Winehouse was one of many “icons who changed popular music forever”, NME wrote.

“Few tower as high as Amy Winehouse and her unmistakable beehive.”

British singer Pete Doherty in an interview with BBC Radio 2 known as her “someone like Billie Holiday or John Lennon, just someone who had it all”.

Winehouse “looked the part” and “could perform live with scary aplomb” in addition to being an “incredible songwriter”, stated the previous Babyshambles singer.

“In a hundred years’ time, in 200 years’ time, kids are still going to be falling in love with Amy Winehouse.”

Pianist Jools Holland, who typically accompanied her, informed BBC radio: that “it seemed to me that when she was performing she was most content”.

“I don’t think she would have wanted to be remembered as a tragic figure.”