Digital Academy

College of Liberal Arts

Assignment Cover Sheet

To be completed by the student and submitted with each piece of work:

Module Name: BA (Hons) Media Communications

Module Code: MC6001

Assignment Title: Amy Winehouse, Train Crash or Media Wreck ?

Marking Tutor/Supervisor: Dr Andy Brown

Student Name: Olivia McAdam

Student Number: 270597

In submitting this assignment, I am confirming that I have read and understood the
regulations for assessment, and I am aware of the seriousness with which the University
regards unfair practice.

Date of Submission: 5th May 2017

Student Signature: Olivia McAdam

Writing, Film and Digital Creativity
College of Liberal Arts

BA (Hons) Media Communications

MC6001 Dissertation

Amy Winehouse, Train Crash or Media Wreck ?

Olivia McAdam

4th May 2017

A Dissertation submitted in part fulfillment of the requirements of the award

of the BA Degree with Honours in Media Communications (and other subject
if applicable)
College of Liberal Arts
Abstract

Amy Winehouse’s media and public image were often portrayed as antithetical;

raw talent success versus a very personal “slut” or “crazy bitch”. The New

Statesman called Winehouse “a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva,” while

Newsweek called her “a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor

impulse control”. The Media’s feeding frenzy around Winehouse’s lifestyle,

addictions and demise, became constant news in the media. Since the age of

ten, I have found Amy Winehouse’s rhythm & blues style music to be unique

and was fascinated by her and her publicity coverage. There is no doubt that

Amy Winehouse’s personae, her struggles with her relationships, alcohol and

drug abuse, were highly publicised and ridiculed by the media. This study

examines the way she was portrayed at the height of her success and when she

was, dramatically, found dead at the age of 27 years. It also looks into her early

life, her struggle with addictions and whether or not, with or without the help

of the media she was a train wreck, media wreck or a combination of both. The

dissertation will also examine other stars, who had addiction issues and who

died at an early age and draw any correlation with Amy Winehouse. It will plot

the rise and moulding of the media star from the ‘Hollywood era’, to present

day and the development of media communication from the printing press to

the World Wide Web and digital explosion.

“There are only two forces that can carry light into all four corners of the globe,

the sun in the heavens and the associated press.” Mark Twain

ii
Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all of the lecturers and staff at Bath Spa University who

have helped me in the process of this dissertation. I would like to say a special

thank you to my supervisor, Dr Andy Brown, for all his guidance and assistance

through meetings throughout the process.

In addition, I would like to thank my family for their support, perseverance and

guidance over the past years.

iii
 Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ ii

Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ iii

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Literature Review ............................................................................................................................ 4

Chapter One, The Young Amy Winehouse and Her Music ............................................. 5

Chapter Two, Amy’s Addiction, Bulimia and Marriage ................................................... 8

Chapter Three, Asif Kapadia’s Documentary ‘Amy’ (2015) .......................................11

Chapter Four, The Press and Amy ..........................................................................................14

Chapter Five, Amy’s End .............................................................................................................17

Chapter Six, Amy Winehouse’s Death; How the Media Covered it ...........................19

Chapter Seven, The evolution of the Media ........................................................................20

Chapter Eight, Hollywood and The Star ...............................................................................23

Hollywood .....................................................................................................................................23
Star System ............................................................................................................................................... 23
Chapter Nine, Review of Other Troubled Notable Musicians. ....................................25
Elvis Presley..................................................................................................................................25
Etta James .....................................................................................................................................26
Brian Wilson ................................................................................................................................28
Janis Joplin ....................................................................................................................................29
Kurt Cobain ..................................................................................................................................31
Elliott Smith ............................................................................................................................................. 32
Methodology ....................................................................................................................................35

Discussions and Findings ...........................................................................................................36

Summary ...........................................................................................................................................39

References.........................................................................................................................................41
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................41
Websites and Online Articles .................................................................................................41
Films/Documentaries ...............................................................................................................43
Music Media.............................................................................................................................................. 44
Appendix............................................................................................................................................45
Amy Winehouse Q&A Interview by Rosanna Greenstreet ............................................ 45

iv
Introduction

Amy Winehouse, jazz, rhythm & blues and soul singer, had a voice that

could either take you to heaven or that could take you to hell. Notoriously

portrayed by the media for her addiction to alcohol and drugs and her chaotic

relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. This star’s legacy begs the question, where

is the line between journalism and exploitation?

Amy’s untimely death at the age of 27 has slewed a bout of media

commentary. In 2008, New Musical Express (NME) nominated her as its ‘Villain

of the Year’. Two days after her death on 23rd July 2011, they were collecting

“the most beautiful tributes to her”. Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning,

precipitated by bulimia. No one was more publicly sick, no one was more

publicly in danger, and no one received less sympathy.

The infamous ‘27 Club’, coined by the press, to characterise those

musicians, which included Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimmy

Hendrix, who all died at the unlucky age of 27, was a subject of much

speculation and myths. The music industry needs to recognise the fragility of its

talents.

Anne Marie Hourihane (2011), of the Irish Times, used Winehouse’s

death to support supposititious analysis that rock n’ roll (and rehab) is tougher

on women than men. ‘’It’s different for girls, in a way that we don’t yet

understand. Maybe it’s physiological; maybe it’s social. If you want to see girls

who look like Amy Winehouse, just watch the anorexic women walking, very

1
carefully, around our psychiatric hospitals. These young/old women are her

sisters in self-destruction.’’

The paparazzi provoked and goaded Amy to the point that on occasions

she thrust out at them. They subsequently portrayed her as an “out-of-control

star”. We saw Terry Richardson, an American portrait photographer, calmly

snapping photos of Amy carving the words ‘I love Blake’ into her stomach with a

piece of glass.

We saw the media disseminating how “she blew it” and how, poignantly,

she would be found dead a few weeks later. The disturbing actuality about all of

this is that Winehouse had to die before anyone could see her as undeserving of

their criticism and ridicule. Amy Winehouse’s addictions and emotional

responses became commodities for the media.

“The function of the press in society is to inform but it’s role in society is to make

money.” A.J. Liebling.

Amy Winehouse, an early rising star, who was brought up in north

London, was expelled from the Sylvia Young Theatre School. She later quit the

Brit School where she was studying musical theatre. At the age of seventeen, she

signed a contract with Island Records, where her debut album, ‘Frank’, turned

platinum. ‘Frank’ was subsequently nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. At

the age of twenty, Winehouse was nominated for two Brit Awards. She also won

the Ivor Novello Best Contemporary Song Award for her debut single.

Studies have shown that there is a pattern amongst these personalities,

they are creative – they are prone to self-destruction. “Fame is seductive; fame

is addictive, fame is consuming, fame is dangerous.” (Goines, 2011).

2
 On the other hand, there are many other female stars including Madonna,

Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Adele, who were successful at an early age albeit

slightly older than Amy, who seemed to cope with their success, talent, fame and

the media much better? Maybe they were managed better, or, perhaps Amy was

doomed from the beginning?

There are many talented stars, in the 20th century, whose life ended in

tragedy as a result of their success and stardom. Marilyn Monroe, Whitney

Houston, Judy Garland, Nina Simone, Elvis Presley, Etta James, Karen Carpenter,

Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain and Jimmy Hendrix. Most of these had addiction issues,

but none were ridiculed by the media to the extent that Amy Winehouse was.

Did Amy court bad publicity? Did the media evolve in the last few decades?

“Media is just a word that has come to mean bad journalism.” Graham Greene.

More recently, George Michael, another famous artist with addiction

issues, who was also negatively portrayed by the media on occasions, took issue

with Rupert Murdoch, media mogul, in particular, for his personal lifestyle

choices and addiction issues.

“I think the media is a real demon.” George Michael.

This dissertation will examine Amy Winehouse’s characteristics; ladette

and precocious, her addictions, her talent and how the media portrayed and

demonised her personification.

It outlines how the media evolved from the world’s first public

newspaper, ‘Acta Diurna’, published in Rome c.59 BC and developed over the

years to the World Wide Web, digital and social media.

It also looks into the rise of the media star, from Hollywood to modern-

day music artists and those who were affected by their rise to stardom.

3
Literature Review

As part of my research for this study, I undertook a literature review of

Amy Winehouse’s life. There were many newspaper articles, reviews, social

media, blogs, books and biographical information available, which proved to be

an excellent source of ‘fodder’ for me. Amy’s much troubled early life is well

documented in a number of biographical accounts. Unfortunately, most of these

were ‘penned’ after her death. This enabled me to understand and discuss her

life in this study and draw correlations with how the media may have courted

her.

I also spent time listening to Amy’s music, videos, interviews and in

particular I watched Asif Kapadia’s very worthy and much acclaimed 2015

documentary ‘Amy,’ numerous times. This documentary raised many questions

about behaviour by the press and media, which enabled me to develop some

key themes, and prompted me to research newspaper articles and reviews

further.

I found it necessary to read about the lifestyle of other musicians who

had addiction issues and the now infamous ‘27 Club’ of musicians who died at

that young age, which is part of the subject of this dissertation.

To understand the ‘star’ phenomenon, I was drawn to how Hollywood

developed and packaged stardom in the early 20th century and undertook a

review of reading material available on the World Wide Web, which I have

written about in this document.

I also researched available information on how the media evolved, since

Roman times and the technological advances that have brought us to instant

social media today, and its impact

4
Chapter One, The Young Amy Winehouse and Her Music

Born into a Jewish upbringing by a cabbie and a pharmacist, Amy

Winehouse was a north London songbird. According to Janis Winehouse’s,

account of Amy’s life in, ‘Loving Amy,’ at the age of seven Winehouse’s parent’s

marriage broke down, her father Mitch was largely absent, and Janis believes

that this was to Amy’s detriment. “Amy appeared to carry on as normal, but I

did constantly worry about how both children were dealing with our

separation. I learned over time that Amy buried her feelings. Even though she

was a loud and forthright child, rightly or wrongly, and typically of children, she

felt Mitch had left her and Alex too, and her behaviour was often about chasing

Mitch’s attention.” (Winehouse, J. 2014).

Janis Winehouse also mentions that Amy’s feelings were manifested in

her bad behaviour. At the age of only 10, Janis described Amy as, “not only loud,

she was intimidating too. She needed to be in control of her surroundings, and

that played out in all manner of ways in the classroom. Amy veered between

playing the class clown to being spiteful and domineering, and if I’m honest, a

bully.”

Amy’s first dance with the devil was at the mere age of 12 when she had

started to flirt with soft drugs – cannabis.

Amy’s secondary school education began in 1994 at Ashmole Academy,

she quickly developed a pattern of bad behaviour, truancy and unhappiness.

Janis claimed that “when Amy’s unhappiness gave way to anger and frustration,

and it was then that she changed from an ordinary angst-ridden teenager into

someone whose behaviour had an uncontrollable edge to it.”

5
 In 1996, Amy received a part scholarship into Sylvia Young, and in the

spring term of 1998, Janis had a meeting with a teacher who suggested that she

should consider sending Amy to another school as she would fail her GCSE’s,

and so she joined the Mount School in Mill Hill.

Winehouse’s musical influence was heavily fashioned from the 60s; the

iconic beehive and cat eyes mirror this. Her influences included Etta James, The

Shirelles, and Sarah Vaughan. Because of this, Amy was taken more seriously, -

she was an artist, not just a pop star.

Amy started gigging in pubs in Camden, earning £250 a week. Signed to

Simon Fuller’s 19 management in 2002, Winehouse was kept a recording secret,

“Her future A&R representative at Island, Darcus Beese, heard of her by

accident when the manager of The Lewinson Brothers showed him some

productions of his clients, which featured Winehouse as key vocalist. When he

asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say.

Having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking

around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was.” (Winehouse, J.

2014).

Winehouse’s iconic melodies were heavily influenced by the 60’s doo-

wop duke box music. Listing several musicians to whom she looked up, Sarah

Vaughan, The Shangri-Las, Ronnie Spector and Aretha Franklin, Winehouse

disputed claims that she was similar to these icons, in her own eyes, she was

just “a little Jewish girl”.

Passionate about jazz, ‘Frank’, Amy’s debut album, was an ode to the late,

great Frank Sinatra which reinforced Winehouse’s sway to jazz music. The

album also had elements of funk, soul and rhythm and blues. With lyrics such as,

6
“feel like a lady, and you my lady boy”, Frank depicts the floozy, carefree,

sarcastic teen that Amy was. Looking for a Mr Right now, not Mr Right. Where

Frank was, “I don’t need no man, I don’t need you, I’m a strong independent

woman”, Back to Black, was “ah, we tried”.

In between her last public appearance, and her first public appearance,

while Winehouse’s body diminished, her career expanded. With sleek black hair

and a simple Monroe piercing, the symbolic look that was Winehouse saw the

growth of her beehive, the increase in ink, and the thickening of her eyeliner.

Often tottering in heels with flimsy dresses, or fleeting around Camden in

skinny jeans and a white vest, Amy’s look became just as prominent as her

voice.

7
Chapter Two, Amy’s Addiction, Bulimia and Marriage

Amy Winehouse’s struggles with alcohol and drug abuse were highly

publicised and ridiculed by the media, which is captured in Asif Kapadia’s

devastating and much-praised documentary, ‘Amy’. She is quite literally

attacked by paparazzi, during highly private events such as visits to rehab and

visits to her husband in prison. Amy only deals with passing mentions of her

bulimia. While she’s recording Back to Black, one of the studio employees

recalls how Amy consumed a large meal, went away for half an hour or so and

then returned with “smudged makeup”. It transpired that Amy had “redecorated

the bathroom”, having disgorged what she had just eaten. Winehouse was on

antidepressant medication early in life, and she spoke in one interview with an

understanding on the subject of depression.

“Yet, it seemed that Amy Winehouse’s eating disorder wasn’t simply yet

“another bad decision”. The environmental and genetic influences, which apply

in Winehouse’s childhood and adulthood, put her in an extremely high-risk

factor for developing an eating disorder. The lack of early intervention,

education and stable guidance meant that the disease was able to firmly take

root and flourish as she encountered higher stress situations. According to the

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, there isn’t

one conclusive cause of eating disorders. Multiple factors are involved, such as

genetics and metabolism; psychological issues- such as control, coping skills,

trauma, personality factors, family issues; and social issues, such as a culture

that promotes thinness and media that transmits this message”. (Hughes, 2015).

8
 “It was a watershed moment in Amy’s life, alas, and sadly a waste of an

opportunity to deal with her problems before the world wanted a piece of her.

Instead, she chose to focus her energies and her anguish into making a second

album, but the extraordinary success it had achieved, would ensure that things

would only get worse. ‘Back to Black’, released in late 2006 was a masterpiece,

but it does make you question what masterpieces are really worth……… if she

had gone to rehab instead of making the record, there’s a good chance she

would still be alive today”. (Nicholson, 2015).

In 2007, after a stormy three-year relationship, Amy eloped with Blake

Fielder-Civil to Miami. The couple were wrapped up in a toxic lifestyle which

revolved around drink, drugs and violence. The paparazzi started to take

particular pleasure in portraying all that was negative in their relationship. The

tabloids frequently photographed them in a state of disarray, with injuries,

which they had appeared to have inflicted on each other and looking neglected.

While the photographs were no doubt telling the truth, various articles were

written in a very negative manner. There was no empathy, just sensationalism.

Headlines screamed words such as “bizarre”, “disturbing”, followed by an

article teeming with further negativity, “shambolic existence”, “squalor”, “the

jungle of a black beehive weave”, “dereliction”, “scandalous”, “crisis

management squad”, “extra-marital dalliances”, “black wife beater vest”.

They stayed together for two years, during which time Blake repeatedly

left her and Amy would always take him back. Amy was on call to bail him out of

jail, host Blake’s drug-fuelled parties, and waited for him to come back until the

day that he didn’t come back. ‘Most of these songs are about him. I shouldn’t

have been in a relationship with him because he was already involved with

9
someone else – a bit too close to home. The song is about when we split up and

saying to myself: “Yes, you’re sad, but you’ll get over it”. (Johnston, 2016).

After Blake Fielder-Civil decided to break off the relationship and

returned to his old girlfriend, things escalated to the point where Shymanksy

(Amy’s manager) was forced to confront Amy about what was happening.

Famously, he tried to and failed to talk her into going to rehab. “I had taken her

to the clinic, and I’d spoken to her father, he was completely behind the idea,

and the only thing she wanted was to look him in the eye and hear him say it. So

I drove her over to Mitchell’s place, called him before I left, and he completely

assured me that he backed the plan. Then when we got there, he did the total

fucking opposite.” (Nicolson, 2015).

After a quickie divorce, Amy was at the bleakest point. She was not

recording – she had been kicked out of the studio for her drunken antics – and

the love of her life was having a baby with someone else. Winehouse, in a bid to

salvage her femininity, underwent a breast implant procedure, then uttered

about “fixing her nose”.

The catastrophic public appearances stopped, and Amy’s life became more

hermit-like. She didn’t stop drinking, but she did so in the privacy of her home,

rarely making drunken public appearances.

10
Chapter Three, Asif Kapadia’s Documentary ‘Amy’ (2015)

In 2015, four years after the ‘Camden Queen’s’ demise, British filmmaker

Asif Kapadia, released the multi-award winning ‘Amy’. The film with archival

footage and memoirs from her closest friends, her ex-husband and her parents

delve into the rise and fall of Amy Winehouse. But, why do we as a society,

perhaps even a culture, enjoy watching the voyeuristic documentation of

someone having a breakdown?

Kapadia orchestrated over 100 interviews with Amy’s close friends and

immediate family, establishing an organic account of her 27 years. Documenting

Winehouse’s rise to fame, self-harm, her struggle with addiction, bulimia, her

troubled relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil and the vexed media attention, as

well as her own views on love, fame, her family and music, up until her death on

23rd July 2011.

The film opens with a home recording of a fourteen-year-old Amy,

singing happy birthday to her childhood friend Lauren Gilbert in 1998 in

Southgate London. Other unseen footage includes Amy touring in a taxi with

fellow singer and close friend, Tyler James. Winehouse is on holiday in Majorca,

Spain in 2005 (again with Lauren Gilbert). Television clips of Amy being

interviewed by MTV’s Tim Kash, by Jonathon Ross on Friday Night with

Jonathon Ross, as well as Winehouse jokingly mocking Dido, when the two were

at the time rivals in 2004. One of the key footages that were a career defining

moment for Winehouse was her Grammy Award for ‘Record of the Year’ in

2009, which was also featured in ‘Amy.’

11
 Rare live recordings of hits from album Frank, ‘Stronger Than Me,’ ‘In My

Bed’ and ‘What Is It About Men?’ are featured throughout the documentary.

Also, Winehouse’s cover of Johnny Mercer’s ‘Moon River,’ a cover of Donny

Hathaway’s ‘We’re Still Friends,’ and never before heard songs of Amy’s

‘Detachment,’ and ‘You Always Hurt The Ones You Love,’ were shown.

The film also includes footage of Winehouse and ex-husband Blake

Fielder-Civil, Winehouse auditioning in 2003 for Island Records, with original

song ‘I Heard Love Is Blind.’ Archive from recordings for her second album ‘Back

to Black’ in 2006. Amy recording ‘Body and Soul’ with jazz veteran Tony Bennett

in March 2011 – the final recording before her death, scenes from her chaotic

final performance in Belgrade, Serbia, a month before she died all participated

in the documentary. Amy Winehouse’s best friend, Juliette Ashby, recalled her

last ever phone call with Amy, while recordings of Winehouse’s body leaving

her Camden home were being played. Tony Bennett also made an appearance

on the film saying, “Life teaches you really how to live it, if you live long

enough.” Closing the documentary, a time lapse of film footage was shown from

a young Amy to the allusive Winehouse until her death to the sound of Antonio

Pinto’s ‘Amy Forever.’

There’s a lot to process in ‘Amy’, but at the film’s core is a single, deeply

unsettling question: how did the happy, healthy and outrageously gifted 14-

year-old glimpsed in its opening moments become the traumatised figure we all

recognise from her final months? There are no easy answers, but by the end, the

coroner’s verdict of death by misadventure doesn’t seem to tell the whole story:

this was death by a thousand cuts, an agonisingly drawn-out demise of

cumulative influences, appetites, and mistakes. As Nick Shymansky, Amy’s first

12
manager, says more than once during our interview, “The whole thing was just a

fucking disaster. In the entire Amy Winehouse saga, from start to finish, there

were no winners. Everybody lost.”(Nicolson, 2015).

13
Chapter Four, The Press and Amy

Winehouse’s dichotomous public image of critical and commercial

success versus personal turmoil proved to be controversial. The New Statesman

called Winehouse “a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva,” while Newsweek

called her “a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control.”

Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarised the maelstrom this

way:

“She’s only 24 with six Grammy nominations, crashing headfirst into

success and despair, with a co-dependent husband in jail, exhibitionist parents

with questionable judgment, and the paparazzi documenting her emotional and

physical distress. Meanwhile, en Haute designer Karl Lagerfeld appropriates her

dishevelled style and eating issues to market to the elite while proclaiming her

the new Bardot.” “I deplore this infuriatingly talented singer’s selfish weakness,

her suicidal self-obsession,” writes the Daily Mail’s Liz Jones. “Pity should be

reserved for those who have tragedy inflicted upon them, like young cancer

victims, not self-destructive junkies such as Amy.” And then, a few sentences

later, Jones asks why no one would “coax her back inside, wrap her up in a

blanket and rock her in their arms until her demons abated”. (Doyle, 2015).

The men in Amy’s life, in particular, seemed happy to court the tabloids

to turn Amy into a caricature.

Asif Kapadia’s ‘Amy’, a devastating, disturbing and much-praised

documentary about her protracted death, once held as pop’s worst singer, has

sparked a reflection about the media’s accountability for her suffering, her

ultimately demise and possibly her death. Yet, if the mistakes of those around

14
Amy were made, from places of desperation, or naivety, or even cynicism, what

can be said of our own ghoulish appetite for watching the car-crash unfold?

Some of the film’s most shocking footage is also the kind of thing we’ve all seen

a hundred times but never thought twice about – comedians, like Graham

Norton or Jay Leno, cracking jokes about a famous young woman with a life-

threatening illness, and being met with bellows of laughter from their studio

audiences. In an interview given the year before her death, Norton even

described Amy as a useful punchline, two words which tell you everything

about the media’s belief in its own impunity and lack of concern for her

wellbeing. “An individual has to take responsibility for their actions, but people

can also drive nails into the coffin,” says Darcus Beese. “There are people who’ve

spoken very highly of Amy since she died, who’ve attended the foundation’s

charity galas and fundraisers, but who were saying awful things about her on TV

when she was really ill”.(Nicolson, 2015).

The press may have been in no position to step in and help, but they

didn’t need to step in and dramatize her either. Her life was eagerly torn apart

by the same people who publicly rung their hands about their inability to get

her life together. Winehouse seemed to be categorised by the media into one of

two labels - whore or infant; Filthy, degenerate or misbehaving little girl;

sometimes both in the same article. She was sick, yes, but her greater crime was

to be unladylike, risk-taking, rule-breaking, openly and unapologetically sexual.

Now she’s a dead girl, the most helpless, passive, feminine stereotype of all. She

is being punished for her sins with death and can sin no more. And now we love

her. It is not just NME that did an about-face; the Daily Mail that ran the

headline after her death “don’t judge Amy Winehouse by her demons. “That

15
dichotomy- the awful, stupid, ugly woman and the beloved, brilliant, beautiful

corpse – defines how we talk about Winehouse to this day” (Doyle, 2015).

Kapadia hopes his film will force the music industry to re-examine its

handling of young, troubled talents. But as Darcus Beese – the former A&R head

(and now president) of Amy’s label, Island Records – points out, “there’s no

handbook for what to do when your artist gets addicted. Record companies

have a responsibility to their artists, of course, but the conversation has to start

with the family. You can sit here and wish none of it ever happened – what if

we’d never found her? What if she didn’t go and make ‘Back To Black’? – But I

would never tell an artist that writing songs would be therapeutic for their

addiction. The only conclusion I could come to was that if she was in the studio,

she wasn’t at The Good Mixer. All you can do is hopefully try and keep them

focused, but obviously, that wasn’t good enough”. (Nicolson, 2015).

In the wake of ‘Back To Black,’ the press and the public weren’t the only

ones who wanted a piece of Amy Winehouse. Blake Fielder-Civil soon re-

emerged, having sold the story of their affair to a tabloid newspaper in which he

boasted, not untruthfully, that the album was written about him. It was a

transparent attempt at worming his way back into Amy’s life, and even though

everyone around her told her to forget about him, she couldn’t, and it worked.

Soon afterwards, they were married. Shortly after that, he went to prison for 12

months for armed robbery. In his absence, Amy began to sink towards her

nadir. As her musical director Dale Davis puts it, “Blake was really only around

for a short period of time, but he had a huge impact. I saw them get on well and I

saw them have very tough times. But in some respects, she was singing her way

into Blake’s arms every night.” (Nicolson, 2015).

16
Chapter Five, Amy’s End

“Some of those decisions which Mitch, Amy’s father, took, such as siding

with his daughter against Shymansky, her manager, on the subject of rehab, are

completely understandable: all parents are occasionally guilty of letting their

hearts rule their heads. Others, like turning up to her island hideaway in St

Lucia, with a camera crew in tow, are harder to rationalise. (Mitch has always

insisted he did this with Amy’s permission, and that the film deliberately

focuses on one small argument they had there, instead of showing the

“hundreds of hours of us laughing, joking and singing together”). Still, watching

Amy, you’re forced to ask yourself: what are you supposed to do when your

daughter is the most famous, most scrutinised woman in the country, and her

life is spiralling dangerously out of control? In such an extraordinary situation,

is it really so surprising that Mitch got things wrong? “We made mistakes,” he

admits. “We had to learn from trial and error and the conflicting advice we took.

We tried everything – interventions, rehab, detox, raging, shouting, cajoling her.

Some friends chose tough love and cut her off, but we’re her family, we couldn’t

leave her. I had distant family members calling to say we should lock her in a

room and not let her out until it was out of her system. Some people think that’s

all it takes.” (Nicolson, 2015).

The illness and death of Amy’s grandmother Cynthia – ‘The Guardian’, as

Shymnasky describes her, triggered her demise that would eventually end her

life, including the return of her bulimia, an earlier condition that she suffered,

unnoticed by her family.

17
 From early 2010, Amy Winehouse was in a relationship with her soon to

be fiancé Reg Travis. Mitch and Janis welcomed Reg, a Jewish film producer.

Calm character Reg was a taming influence on Amy. A polar opposite of the

flaky, unkempt Blake Fielder-Civil, who was now at this point serving time for

burglary and the possession of an imitation firearm.

A month before her passing, Amy performed a concert in Serbia’s capital,

Belgrade. Hailed as one of her most notorious performances, Amy was a

catastrophic shell of her usual stage productions. “Leading a startled backing

dancer to sing ‘Valerie’, taking her shoe off for no apparent reason, and giving

up halfway through ‘Just Friends’ in order to introduce the band – whose names

she struggles to remember.” (Needham, 2011).

Thirty-five days later, Amy Winehouse was discovered lifeless in her bed.

18
Chapter Six, Amy Winehouse’s Death; How the Media Covered it

“The 27-year old British singer was found dead in her London flat on Saturday”.

“London—A newsflash at 17.45 BST across UK radio and rolling TV news

stations delivered the shock news Amy Winehouse was dead”.

Music station BBC Radio 2 immediately played one of Winehouse’s biggest hits,

‘Back To Black’.

“While US broadcaster Paul Gamabacini, who presents a regular Saturday night

US chart show on the same station, commented every song he played would

now be imbued with the memory of Winehouse.”

“Early editions of Sunday papers carried big photos of Winehouse and a pre-

prepared eulogy from her father Mitch Winehouse, who said he had predicted

her death for nearly a decade.”

“The story of Winehouse’s death played second fiddle only to the aftermath of

the Norwegian massacres on both TV and in print.”

“Twitter was abuzz with her death.”

“British celebrities including former prime minister Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah

Brown, Jamie Oliver, Lily Allen, ex-Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Piers Morgan,

all expressing their sadness at the premature death of the 27-year old singer-

songwriter”.

Singer Allen summed up the mood: “It’s just beyond sad, there’s nothing else to

say. She was such a lost soul, may she rest in peace.”

(Kemp , 2011).

19
Chapter Seven, The evolution of the Media

The development of the printing press, by the German Johannes

Guttenberg in 1540, one can say the era of mass communication was

manifested. It also helped to catapult the Renaissance, the rebirth of culture and

way of thinking. This new way of thinking became expressed in art, architecture,

politics, science and literature. The development of printing made the

distribution of music and literature possible on a wide scale.

The new printing press also had the effect of publicising the Reformation

in the 16th century- This in itself demonstrates the power of the media, as we

know it today, back nearly 500 years ago.

The first printed newspaper to be published was in Antwerp in 1605 and

was called ‘Relation’. However, it has been documented that the world’s first

public newspaper, ‘Acta Diurna’, was published in Rome in 59BC. This was

carved in stone or metal in the form of message boards in public places, such as

the Forum of Rome.

The newspaper in the form of broadsheet and tabloid became the main

daily media form for most of the twentieth century. Music, special interests,

fashion, celebrity news, etc. were published in the form of magazines. The word

‘magazine,’ translates from the Arabic word ‘makhazin’ which means

storehouse, evolved in the 17th century.

The next significant form of evolution in communication was the

development of Morse code and the telegraph. The telegraph, invented in 1832,

transformed communication globally. This enabled news to be broadcasted

extremely quickly.

20
 In 1876, the next major development in communication was the

telephone. Alexander Graham Bell was awarded a patent for the electric

telephone. By the 20th century, most people in the modern world had access to

the telephone. Today, we have the mobile phone, which has revolutionised

world wide communication.

One of the most significant developments in the media, which hugely

impacted the music industry, was the invention of the radio, in 1901 by

Marconi. On December 24th, 1906, during a short radio program for Christmas

time, the first song ever played on the radio was aired. O’ Holy Night was played

on the violin from Brant Rock Massachusetts. Thereafter, airing music became

normal. As the years progressed, the radio catapulted many musicians and

singers into stardom.

Radio Caroline, an infamous ‘pirate radio station’ which broadcasted

from 1964 to 1990 and via satellite from 1998 to 2013 had a very large number

of listeners. This station broadcasted music from international waters and was

very popular with listeners who wanted to listen to contemporary and rock

music which was not readily aired by other ‘licensed’ radio stations during the

sixties.

As technology progressed in the early part of the 1920s the race to

develop communicating moving images, which we know today as television,

began. The television was invented by John Logie Baird in 1925, albeit a hazy,

black and white screen. The television was the most popular form of

communication in the world, up until the late 1990’s and early ‘noughties’, when

the growth of the Internet succeeded the television’s status.

21
“There are only two forces that can carry light into all four corners of the globe,

the sun and heaven and the press.” Mark Twain

Today sees the continuing flow of the Internet, a medley of the printing

press, the newspaper, radio, and telephone. Originally founded in 1983, the

Internet was made accessible to the public during the 1990’s, and is still

growing and evolving to this day. The Internet revolution is the new industrial

revolution. Access to information and the media has globally reshaped mass

communication, unlimited by physical barriers, with just a ‘digital handshake.’

Social Media, websites and digital media are now the preferred means of

communicating.

“Social and digital media is a bullet train, and that bullet train is not coming

home.” Howard Schultz

22
Chapter Eight, Hollywood and The Star

Hollywood

In the early part of the twentieth century, the media, film production,

television and radio evolved the personas of the ‘stars.’ In other words, the

creation of the media as we know it today in all forms brought information,

knowledge, music, pictures and films to the worldwide audience.

The United States cinema – also known as Hollywood – is the oldest film

industry in the world, founded over 120 years ago. Having mastered the trio of

tricks; influence, profit and entertainment, Hollywood solidified its stance

within the motion picture trade.

With the birth of Hollywood, the ‘movie star’ was created by the movie

moguls. Metro Golden Mayer, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal Pictures,

developed and ‘packaged’ stars, in order to reach out to audiences and develop a

link, interest or bond with the respective movie star. This, of course, was to

make money. One of the earliest movie stars was Mary Pickford; she was the

most popular actress of the 1910s and the 1920s. Hollywood created other

greats such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Rudolph Valentino, John Wayne,

Ava Gardner, Audrey Hepburn and the unfortunate Marilyn Monroe.

Star System

The Star System was fashioned by Hollywood to create and manage

movie stars from the late 1920’s to the early 1960’s. In this system, the actors

were employees of film companies and were bound to them by contracts.

Budding actors would be screen-tested, and if considered to have ‘star quality’

looks, they would be selected. Hollywood would then develop and build an

23
image around them. For instance, Marilyn Monroe was made to be ‘the blonde

bombshell’ persona.

‘’A star is made, created; carefully and cold-bloodedly built up from nothing, from

nobody. All I ever looked for was a face. If someone looked good to me, I’d have

him tested. If a person looked good on film, if he photographed well, we could do

the rest . . . We hired geniuses at make-up, hair dressing, surgeons to slice away a

bulge here and there, rubbers to rub away the blubber, clothes designers, lighting

experts, coaches for everything—fencing, dancing, walking, talking, sitting and

spitting.” Louis B. Mayer, MGM

Many stars hated this system - typecasting became a phobia. Marilyn

Monroe left Fox studios and would only return on her terms. Betty Davis and

Olivia de Havilland both tried terminating their contracts. Stars wanted to be

independent and control their career and image.

In 1948, a Supreme Court antitrust decision ruled, which resulted in

divesting studios of their ownerships in theatres. By the 1960s, agents and

independent directors replaced the film studios as Hollywood’s star makers.

Once formed, stars were free agents who defined themselves; and the Star

System collapsed.

Without doubt, during the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood, the movie stars

and their image were protected fiercely from the media by the respective film

companies.

24
Chapter Nine, Review of Other Troubled Notable Musicians.

Elvis Presley

“Elvis Presley was rock & roll’s first real star, not to mention one of the

most important cultural forces in history, a hip-shaking symbol of liberation for

the staid America of the 1950s.” (Kemp, 2001).

Elvis Aron Presley born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, came

from a very humble background, was raised by loving parents and grew up to

become one of the biggest stars in rock 'n' roll. Presley frequently attended

Church with his parents, where gospel music had a big influence on him.

By the 1950s, he appeared on radio and television and later became a

movie star. On August 16, 1977, at age 42, he died of heart failure, which was

related to his drug addiction.

Presley's personal life also seemed to take a downturn after his marriage

to Priscilla, whom he wed in 1967, started to fall apart. The couple divorced in

1973, and Priscilla received custody of their daughter Lisa Marie. Around this

time Presley was also wrestling with other personal problems, including a

growing addiction to prescription drugs and was battling a weight problem. His

destructive lifestyle caught up with him and later that year (1973) he was

hospitalised for a range of health issues including pneumonia, pleurisy, hepatitis

and drug-related health problems.

In the 1970’s, Presley endured a gruelling concert and recording

schedule, due to business and contractual obligations arranged by his infamous

manager ‘Colonel Parker’, who gambled frequently.

25
 In his Miami News concert review of February 13, 1977, Jon Marlowe

described an over-the-hill, overweight idol and his fans just going through the

motions: “An Aging Rock Star’s Guide to Concert Appearances: Although your

bulging stomach is now hanging half-way over your traditional hips, as soon as

you walk out on stage, try shaking them at least once. The audience will give you a

standing ovation and scream with sheer delight just for your effort.” “Presley’s

last live performance was on June 25, 1977, in Indianapolis. He was reportedly

horrified at the impending publication of Elvis: What Happened?, the tell-all

written by three of his ex-bodyguards and Memphis Mafiosi that was the first

printed account of his drug abuse and obsession with firearms, to name just two

headline-grabbing revelations”. (Kemp, 2001). This book was published on 12th

August 1977, just four days before Elvis was discovered dead in his bathroom at

Graceland. His death was initially attributed to congestive heart failure.

However, an autopsy found advanced arteriosclerosis and an enlarged liver, and

that drug abuse may have contributed to his death. Presley’s physician, Dr.

George Nichopoulos, was charged by the Tennessee Board of Medical

Examiners, in 1979, with “indiscriminately prescribing in excess of 5,300 pills

for Elvis in the months before his death.” He was later acquitted.

Etta James

Jamesetta Hawkins, known for her acronym of a stage name Etta James,

was an American singer who performed a string of genres including blues, R&B,

soul, rock & roll, jazz and gospel. Her career took off in 1954, with 16 Grammy

Awards, 17 Blues Music Awards, an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of

Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame all tucked under her

26
belt. Similarly to Winehouse, Etta James was no stranger to the tumultuous

lifestyle that came with the flow of creativity, wealth and fame.

Born to a fourteen-year-old black girl named Dorothy Hawkins in Los

Angeles, on the 25th January 1938, James’ father was unidentified. Etta’s mother

was mainly absent during her younger years resulting in her being fostered.

At a young age, Etta began to undertake vocal training at the St. Paul

Baptist Church choir, in Los Angeles. She was subjected to physical abuse during

her training. Whilst singing, her coach would thump her repeatedly in the chest

to force her voice out resulting in a powerful voice for a child of her age.

At the age of twelve, James’ biological mother, took her away to live in

San Francisco. Etta became a delinquent; bunking school; smoking cigarettes

and drinking heavily. Introduced to doo-wop music, Etta formed her own street

corner girl group; named ‘The Creolettes’ and she then joined ‘The Peaches’,

reversing her birth name, Jamesetta to Etta James.

The next decade saw Etta subject to criminal charges and the abuse of

drugs and alcohol. Etta’s income was predominantly made through live

performances, however whether she made a little or a lot, or whether she was

cheated out of it, Etta’s money went straight on drugs. In 1964, both James and

her manager John Lewis were arrested. James for cheque fraud, and Lewis for

drug pushing – with the latter of the two subsequently being sent to jail.

In 1969, Etta’s husband Artis Mills, repeatedly assisted Etta’s attempt in

the effort to kick drugs, even taking the wrap for her, and was sentenced to ten

years in jail, on drug possession charges. James was still married to Artis Mills

until her death in 2012.

27
 By ’73, Etta did a stint in rehab for drug treatment, instead of serving

time in jail , spending 17 months at the Tarzana Clinic in Los Angeles. Etta James

had (at this particular period) conquered her addiction to heroin, but this saw

her gain weight, reaching as much as 24 stone.

Back on a rehabilitation course, at the age of 50, in 1988, Etta was

admitted to the Betty Ford Centre in Palm Springs, California. And in 2010, two

years prior to her death, at the age of 71, was treated for dependency of

prescription drugs.

A woman of recovery throughout much of her adult life, Etta James did

not die from an overdose, or drug related health problems and despite her

turbulent childhood but from leukaemia on the 20th January 2012. At the time

that Etta started out, the industry did not take kindly to women contributing to

music, her mixed race, social class and gender, meant that Etta was three times

disgraced compared to the average citizen.

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson, of the ‘The Beach Boys’ fame -who are one of the

most critically acclaimed, innovative, commercially successful, and widely

influential bands of all time, was born on the 20th June 1942, in California and

was the eldest of three boys – to Murry and Audree Wilson.

“The Wilson family was a claustrophobic, proudly dysfunctional

experience, with a broken, alcoholic mother, three terrified little boys and

Murry, the vicious ogre, at the head of it all” (Kent, 2007).

Murry Wilson was a domineering father who managed the Beach Boys.

Brian was regularly hit by his father, which resulted in him being deaf in one ear

28
at the age of two. Murry had lost an eye as a result of an industrial accident, and

a damaged ear, which his own father had ‘clawed’ in a drunken rage one night.

By 1968, Brian Wilson had courted an affair with cocaine, amphetamines,

marijuana and psychedelics. As a result, Wilson’s artistic influence was

nebulous, and resulted in his self-admission into a psychiatric hospital, where

he received numerous treatments including therapy, lithium and electroshock.

By 1971, Brian became increasingly reclusive, “increasingly withdrawn,

brooding, hermitic … and occasionally, he is to be seen in the back of some

limousine, cruising around Hollywood, bleary and unshaven, huddled way tight

into himself.” (Hind, 2008). The drugs he had been depending on for boundless

energy and bursts of creativity now plagued him with cold sweats, stomach

cramps and chronic paranoia.

Janis Joplin

Southern Comfort-drinking Texan, Janis Joplin, was born 19 January

1943 in Port Arthur, Jefferson County. Parallels between Amy Winehouse and

Joplin have been drawn, both 27, both blues treasures, both battling addictions,

and both suffering from body dysmorphia.

Janis developed severe acne, during her teenage years, which resulted in

deep scarring. In later years, during her musical career, she styled her hair to

cover the blotching on her cheeks.

She first began singing blues and folk music with her friends at school.

“She stated while in high school, that she was mostly shunned. As a teenager,

Joplin befriended a group of outcasts, one of whom had albums by blues artists

29
Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Lead Belly, whom Joplin later credited with

influencing her decision to become a singer”.(France, 1999).

Janis struggled with her appearance, yearning for stronger and more

striking features; this was compounded by her peers who would call her, ‘pig’,

‘freak’, and a ‘nigger lover’. During her time at Texas University, Janis was voted

the ugliest man on campus. These cruel torments resulted in Janis dropping out

of college. This stayed with Janis for the rest of her short life.

In 1963, Joplin headed for North Beach, San Francisco, where she

recorded a number of Blues tracks. Janis was a heavy drinker, her favourite

beverage – Southern comfort, “her bottle was so omnipresent that the company

gifted her with a lynx coat for all of the free advertising and boosted sales.”

(Phactual.com, 2014).

At this period, Janis’ affair with drugs commenced. Obtaining a

reputation as a ‘speed freak’, she also took psychoactive drugs and heroin. At

this stage, her companions noticed the harmful effect the drugs were taking on

her health and mentality. They threw Janis a bus-fare party so she could go back

home to Port Arthur.

Janis changed her lifestyle and became the total opposite. Her ‘unruly’

hair was coiffed into the 60’s beehive; she abstained from alcohol and drug

taking. She became engaged to Peter de Blanc, setting the supposedly happiest

day of her life into motion. However, Janis was left, yet again, heartbroken.

On the 4th October 1970, Janis was found dead. Her manager, John Cooke

drove to the hotel she was staying in after being concerned that she had failed to

turn up for a recording session at Sunset Records. Upon entering her room,

Cooke found Joplin dead on the floor beside her bed. Janis’ death has been ruled

30
as a heroin overdose assisted by alcohol and Cooke claims that the dose of

heroin was far more potent than usual as several other clients of Janis’ dealer

had also overdosed that very week.

Only her parents and aunt were allowed to attend the private funeral and

her ashes were scattered across the Pacific Ocean.

Kim France reported in The New York Times article, ‘Nothin’ Left to Lose’

(May 2, 1999): “Once she became famous, Joplin cursed like a truck driver, did

not believe in wearing undergarments, was rarely seen without her bottle of

Southern Comfort and delighted in playing the role of sexual predator”.

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain, the founding member of the grunge band Nirvana, was born on the

20th February 1967 in Washington. Similar to Winehouse, his parents divorced

when he was young, following a stormy marriage, which lead him to becoming

withdrawn.

Cobain became interested in music and art at a young age and learned to

play the piano by ear and fooled around with a toy drum kit that his parents had

given him. However, when his uncle gave him a guitar at the age of fourteen,

during a difficult time, he became inspired to learn to play. He was bullied at

school for his preference of art and music over sports, to the extent that he

dropped out of high school.

By the late 1980’s Cobain suffered from depression and developed a drug

habit and regularly took heroin. This intensified when he started a romantic

relationship with Courtney Love, a fellow drug user. They married in 1992.

31
 Following Nirvana's huge success, the couple's lives were closely

followed by the paparazzi. Their drug use became fodder for the tabloids, more

so when Courtney became pregnant.

The Cobain’s admission, in 1993, of their drug use led to the Los Angeles

County taking them to court, citing that they were unfit parents. Police were

called to their home on many occasions for incidents involving drugs and

weapons. Cobain was charged with domestic abuse.

Kurt Cobain’s life continued to decline. In March 1994, he attempted

suicide, by taking a drug overdose, whilst in his hotel in Rome during a break

from touring. He was rushed to hospital, with Courtney by his side. He returned

to America, where he became a hermit. Love was very concerned with his

continued drug addiction and suicidal tendencies and convinced him to seek

clinical treatment, which he checked out of after a few days.

On the 5th April 1994, he committed suicide leaving a lengthy note to his

wife, young daughter and fans.

Kurt Cobain expressed his anger, emotions and frustration into Nirvana's

lyrics and campaigned for the rights of women, gays, minorities and misfits like

himself.

Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith was one of the most influential Indie songwriters of the

1990’s. His gloomy tone and whispery voice was a theme that ran its course

throughout both his music and his life. Suffering from childhood trauma at a

young age, his parents divorced when he was six months old.

32
 It is known that Elliott endured mental, physical and possibly even

sexual abuse from his stepfather Charlie - which is mentioned in Smith’s song,

‘Some Song’; “how they beat you up week after week, and when you grow up

you’re going to be a freak”. Charlie’s name was also mentioned in his songs,

‘Flowers for Charlie’ and ‘No Confidence Man’.

Smith’s music has been described as, “a bone-tired weariness in his

singing that can’t let go of old business. However calm his songs sound, they still

roar like a car crash echoing in a seashell.”

Years of drug abuse tampered with Elliott’s mental health. He had

attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff, but – fortunately, yet in vain – the

branches of a tree broke his fall, leaving Smith with just a fractured arm. He

became severely paranoid at the fact that a white van was following him, he had

his friends drop him a mile away from the recording studio he was stationed at

and he would traipse through cliffs and shrubbery to get to the location. At this

time, Smith would barely eat, surviving off ice cream and not sleeping for

several days on end, then sleeping entirely for one day.

Smith was not shy, but he was a quiet man. His music and presence was

made globally when he curated the soundtrack of original music for ‘Good Will

Hunting’. His song was nominated for an Oscar up against Celine Dion’s My

Heart Will Go On – which ultimately won. Initially, Smith had not wanted to

attend the Oscar’s but he agreed to perform once he heard that his song would

be played either by him or “by some other guy”. Commenting on his experience

at the Oscar’s in an interview with The Boston Globe, Smith said, “That's exactly

what it was, surreal... I enjoy performing almost as much as I enjoy making up

songs in the first place. But the Oscars was a very strange show, where the set

33
was only one song cut down to less than two minutes, and the audience was a

lot of people who didn't come to hear me play. I wouldn't want to live in that

world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day”.

Elliott Smith met his premature death at the age of 34 in 2003. A violent,

shocking and distressing end, Smith died from self-inflicted stab wounds to his

chest.

34
Methodology

The overall aim and objective of this study is to analyse and demonstrate

a considered view on whether Amy Winehouse’s turbulent, short lived but well-

publicised life was self-manifested, prone to self-destruction, doomed by the

adverse publicity she received from the media, a combination of both or

otherwise.

To achieve these research objectives in this dissertation, I chose the

qualitative research process, which I have adopted as my literature and media

review.

I selected various biographical accounts about Amy Winehouse from

books, newspaper articles, web blogs, and digital media to read and review. I

also watched various film media accounts, interviews and her concerts. I found

Asif Kapadia’s Documentary ‘Amy’ (2015), in particular, to be a very revealing

source of information for this dissertation. Also, listening to Amy’s music and

lyrics kept my interest warmed.

I also researched how the media evolved over the years and how

technology has had a huge impact on how information, news, rumours and

gossip is processed and delivered to the public.

I chose to look into Hollywood, where the stars were born and groomed

to understand how the concept of the star was effectively created in the 20th

century.

It was also necessary to examine the lives of other stars, who had

troubles with addiction and their demise to draw any correlation with Amy’s life

and draw conclusions and any comparisons

35
Discussions and Findings

Amy Winehouse, like other well-known artists, such as Nina Simone, Etta

James, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Elliott Smith, have all being tarred with the

same brush. All of these stars suffered from some form of substance abuse or

addiction issues. Their predicament was such that they were all subject to

abuse, both by themselves and factors around them.

Kapadia’s condemnation of the media is important, and necessary, but

the key problem with a documentary like ‘Amy’ or article reading is that

“concern,” or the public’s reaction to Winehouse should be from the onset. As

early as 2007, the UK’s Daily Mail wrote an article asking why no one had

intervened to save her—“Why is no one acting to stop the headlong rush into

oblivion?”— but showed the most unflattering paparazzi photos it could find.

“Get your facts first then you can distort ‘em as much as you please.” Mark Twain

“These were people who’d gotten what they wanted, only to find out that

it was the last thing on earth they actually needed (adulation, creative lift-off) to

maintain their own mental equilibrium”. (Kent,2007).

Hollywood, the original star maker, were very protective of their stars or,

more to the point, their investment. Film companies went to great lengths to

protect their stars to ensure no bad publicity would ensue. This has certainly

changed over the years with media stars becoming very accessible to the public

domain through the press and digital media etc., where information, facts,

rumours even untruths can be publicised in an instant.

Amy Winehouse obviously had a lot of dysfunctional traits and addiction

issues from an early age. Her mother, Janis, did make reference to her being

36
spiteful, domineering and a ‘‘bit of a bully’’, as a child. Like the tragic Kurt

Cobain, her parents split up when she was quite young. Kurt Cobain did

contribute this to some of his unhappiness in later life. Her early dabbles in soft

drugs, her early bouts of depression, bulimia and medication certainly paved

the way for a chaotic and ‘train crash’ life.

In some ways, it can be said that Winehouse did court adverse publicity,

in particular, the incident where Terry Richardson, photographer, calmly took

the much-publicised photos of Amy carving the words ‘I love Blake’ into her

stomach with a shard of glass. Or was this a cry for help? Certainly, those close

to her could have stepped in and helped more, but for this to happen, like all

addicts, they need to want it in the first place. Her father, Mitch, famously

agreeing to take her to rehab, in one instance and then backing out. However, he

did predict that she would die young.

“By the time you hear the thunder, it’s too late to build the arc”. Unknown

Winehouse, in response to Rosanna Greenhearts question on her fears,

during an interview on the 13thJanuary 2007 (appendix), noted that one of her

greatest fears was dying old and or never meeting Tony Bennett.

Despite all of this, the press and media still haven’t learned to respect

stars lives. George Michael was portrayed as being obese and booking in one of

the world’s most expensive rehab clinics in Switzerland a year before he died.

Michael, who was well known for his dislike of the media, became a target for

the paparazzi. Even after his death, the media published unflattering pictures of

him.

37
 More recently, The European Court of Human Rights ruled on 21st

February 2017 that journalists must exercise prudence and caution when

reporting on celebrities’ private lives, siding with Mexican pop singer Paulina

Rubio in a case over remarks in media interviews about her relationships and

sexuality that allegedly harmed her reputation. In a unanimous decision, the

European court overturned a Spanish court’s decision to reject Rubio’s claims

that her reputation and private life had been harmed by remarks from her

former manager that the media circulated in 2005.

In its ruling, the Human Rights Court concluded that the commercial

interest of the TV channels in broadcasting the programs were trumped by a

person’s individual right to the effective protection of her privacy. The Spanish

courts were deemed wrong to conclude that the remarks did not violate her

privacy rights because those aspects of her life were already in the public

domain and she did not previously object to that disclosure.

“Report me and my cause aright.” Shakespeare

There is no doubt that Amy Winehouse was dynamic, unique and

talented but her flawed and addictive personality became ‘click bait’ which the

media wanted a piece of - the tabloids, and those websites with the most photos

of people you can click on. It’s the industry’s mission, it seems, to satisfy

consumer demand, during a time that the media was going digital.

38
Summary

Amy Winehouse was a very talented singer songwriter, who succeeded

in becoming a rising star, despite having dysfunctional and addiction issues at

any early age. Undoubtedly, Winehouse’s turbulent short lived but well-

publicised life was self-manifested and was probably prone to self-destruction,

which may not have been helped by the adverse publicity she received from the

media. Her “couldn’t care less” attitude and her courting of the media,

compounded this attention.

There are similarities between Winehouse and other stars who lead

turbulent and short lived lives, in particular Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith,

whose families broke up and had a lasting adverse affect on them. Her parent’s

divorce at an early age and unhappy and rebellious childhood, obviously shaped

her ‘self destructive mode’. Etta James, who was fatherless, also dabbled in

drink and drugs at an early age and lead a turbulent life, in and out of ‘rehab’,

but survived to the age of 73.

Other members of the 27 Club had addiction issues, which lead to their

untimely deaths, and all had unconventional characters and eccentricities.

The media certainly were opportunist in portraying the bad girl, or out of

control image, that Amy seemed to want to be publicised, however, they sought

to ridicule her in many instances, referred to in this dissertation. However,

when she died, they ‘put their daggers away’ and ‘lit some candles’. Asif

Kapadia’s ‘Amy’, (2015), the much-praised documentary about her protracted

death, once reflected on the media’s accountability for Amy’s downfall and

possibly her death.

39
 Kapadia hopes his documentary will kick start the music industry to re-

examine its handling of young, troubled talents. Record companies also have a

responsibility to their artists, of course, but the conversation has to start with

the family.

Unfortunately, it seems the media has to satisfy its consumer demand via

the tabloids and on demand websites, ‘click bait’. Some of the media coverage of

the recent death of George Michael (Dec 2016) whereby, the media published

unflattering pictures of him and speculated on his lifestyle and demise, tells us

that “it’s business as usual!”

The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled (21st February

2017) that journalists must exercise prudence and caution when reporting on

celebrities’ private lives, which hopefully will go some way to protect the ‘needy

media star’.

“I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets’.” Napoleon

Word Count 10,301

40
References

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Morris, A & Westover, C. Open Book: The Life and Death of Amy Winehouse,
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43
What Happened, Miss Simone?. (2015). [Documentary]. USA: Netflix

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44
Appendix

Amy Winehouse Q&A Interview by Rosanna Greenstreet

Saturday 13 January 2007, The Guardian

When were you happiest?

Last night on stage.

What is your greatest fear?

Dying old or never meeting Tony Bennett; if I never get to meet him, I might as

well be dead.

Which living person do you most admire?

No one. You're all bastards. Maybe Mark Lamarr for that precise fact.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

My fickleness and aggression.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Two-facedness and negativity.

What was your most embarrassing moment?

Having sex dreams about members of my crew.

What is your most treasured possession?

My loyalty.

Where would you like to live?

In Camden.

What would your super power be?

Super sexuality.

What makes you depressed?

Any/everything, any/everyone.

45
What do you most dislike about your appearance?

I wish my boobies were bigger sometimes, but I like the way I look.

Would you rather be clever and ugly, or thick and attractive?

I have no choice; I am both cripplingly stupid and hideous to look at.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Liza Minnelli.

What is your most unappealing habit?

Being an abusive drunk.

What is your favourite smell?

Petrol and hairspray.

What is your favourite word?

Fuckery.

What is your favourite book?

Catch-22 or Pigtopia or Beyond Black.

What is the worst thing anyone's ever said to you?

I wouldn't remember.

Cat or dog?

Tiny ones in all colours.

Is it better to give or to receive?

Give - I can't receive.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Having my cake and eating it, too.

What do you owe your parents?

About £450,000.

46
To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?

Myself for being a self-obsessed dickhead/my boyfriend for punching him often.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

Falling in love itself.

What does love feel like?

A disease that consumes you eternally.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

'Pssssshhh' - or, when drunk, 'whatever' and 'dickhead'.

If you could go back in time, where would you go?

To the 60s and I'd go out with the Ronettes.

How do you relax?

Sex.

How often do you have sex?

When I can.

What is the closest you've come to death?

I was hit by a car once on my bike, but I still rode home.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?

More sex and more gym.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

This album.

What keeps you awake at night?

Being sober.

How would you like to be remembered?

As genuine.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

47
That you learn things every day and life is short.

Where would you most like to be right now?

In my baby's arms.

Tell us a secret.

I've got a crush on my backing singer.

48