I’m off message today to commemorate Amy Winehouse who died yesterday of a suspected drugs overdose. Her meteoric rise to fame and rapid descent into Hell was tragically predictable. Her seminal album Back to Black is work of a genius with lyrics laced with sorrow and utter desperation. Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin and now Amy – all died at the same age. It’s not called the 27 Club for nothing. She just couldn’t come back from the black. Let’s hope she’ll be remembered more for her art and less for her addictions.
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Perking the Pansies 
my sentiments , she had a great talent, and will be missed for her music
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I did not know she had passed
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you place a one hit wonder who was more famous for her drug use than her music on the same list as hendrix, morrison, cobain. ect. She will be forgotten shortly
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THANK YOU! i cant believe this writer put her in the ranks with hendrix and morrison. the only song i know of hers has something to do with rehab…that says it all
not to mention the tragedies going on in Norway at the moment, COME ON. Amy had a great voice yes, but it was all wasted on her addiction
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You are SO wrong!!!
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so sorry to hear of amy’s death, she will be missed by many people all over the world, god be with her.
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Such a talented, fresh voice and songwriter, taken so soon.
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I was very sad when I heard the news earlier today – what a great talent, and what a great waste. I can also empathise with the comments about Norway. Ironically we live near Lorca, where 10 people died in the recent devastating earthquake. How can you compare these tragedies? A talented young woman who (presumably) died through her own actions. A natural disaster, where 10 people died and thousands were made homeless (plus the psychological damage done to people living there, who have to decide about returning to their homes) and at least 85 innocent young people (and others) killed in Norway.
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Others may draw their own comparisons. To comment on the death of one person does not take away the tragedy of the deaths of others. There is a famine of unparalleled ferocity unfolding in the Horn of Africa. Let’s not forget the Congo, Liberia, Burma, the Balkan conflict, 9/11, 7/11 and countless others. No doubt there are catastrophes occurring elsewhere on our fragile world that haven’t yet hit the news. My blog is not a political essay but I’m thinking of starting one. All death before three score and ten is a waste regardless of circumstance.
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Well said Jack. I have been very frustrated at people comparing Norway with Amy. As you say, there are terrible tragedies going on all over the world. They should not be compared. This is not a competition!!
All are vile and horrible. If a person comments on Amy, its not that they are dismissing Norway. But I note plenty of people are very ready to dismiss Amy’s death for their own (very judgemental) reasons.
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Should there be only one sort of ranking? I don’t believe so!
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I guess there will always be the Beas and Jeffs of this world that choose to focus on the tragic aspects of a person’s life – I was quite surprised by their callousness. Amy Winehouse was a prodigous talent and, sadly, a troubled soul surrounded by many whose only motivation was their own self interest. One can only imagine what it must be like to be the focus of sensationalist journalism and pack mentality ridicule if you are already a fragile individual. A ‘one hit wonder’ …hardly! Rest in Peace
Amy
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Appearently she passed away due to violent seizures which was brought on by heavy drinking, she had been off drugs for a while…..
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She was somebodies child, somebodies daughter. As a mother I love my children unconditionally. her parents must be going through hell. My thoughts are with them.
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Mine too. It’s a tragedy when someone so young dies, but having seen so much stuff on sites such as Facebook recently, it concerns me how the young in particular seem to glorify someone who chose a path of self-destruction. ıt’s the parents and other loved ones, left behind, who have my sympathy. Amy was very talented, it’s true, but sadly she will be remembered more for her self-abuse than her talent. She had so many chances, and the wealth, to get clean, but she chose not to…just as she chose to take drugs in the first place. So many don’t have those chances.
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Amy was a soul who I think was totally misunderstood by everyone. At the age of 27 few could of withstould the pressure she was under when all she wanted was to express herself. All highly creative people tread the thin line of insanity and their desperate need to create. Please give these people a chance we have a lot to learn from them and if you don’t think we do you don’t deserve the knowledge.
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Sadly, all we have learned from Amy’s death is that abusing yourself with alcohol and drugs kills you. What a shame that we were prevented from learning how much more she would have been capable of.
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The loss of a unique talent and promise unfulfilled. People can quibble whether she ‘belongs’ on that list of greats, but the point still stands. Wouldn’t we all love to hear what each of them would have given the world at 37, 47, etc.? If all you know is ‘Rehab’, that tells me you’re just listening to top pop radio. Tragic that her downward spiral was so drawn-out and obvious to all, yet no one could help her help herself.
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I agree. A life unlived is always a tragedy.
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