Amy Winehouse - Lioness: Hidden Treasures

[Juanca]

Seeing her performance of You Know I'm No Good, forgetting lyrics, almost tumbling on the stage, but specially crying and trying to recover was too sad I cried. She needed help, but she couldn't escape the route she was taking. I know it was her life and only she could save herself, but it makes me wonder how so many people that watched her like that could not do anything to help her further. Sad :(

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2011 23:52:24 GMT -5 Juanca said:

I know it was her life and only she could save herself, but it makes me wonder how so many people that watched her like that could not do anything to help her further. Sad

I also questioned that.

Sharon Osbourne, however, said that both her record label and business manager tried. Amy refused assistance because of "internal demons," Sharon said.

[PDC1987]

New Zealand

#20 (RE) 71 Back To Black 2xPlatinum
#40 (RE) 06 Frank

[worldwide]

MW reports:"HMV ran out of copies of Back to Black following an initial rush on Saturday and Sunday."

[tearsdryontheirown]

For people who have never dealt with someone with an addiction, it is not as easy as "Im hurting myself, i should stop so I will." Its so frustrating to read articles and opinions of people who say that its her fault for starting and all she had to do was stop but didnt want to. Addiction is a disease just like all the other diseases and is just as unforgiving as this has proven.

[Sir Benji]

BTB is at #2 and #10 on iTunes. Frank is #6 and the BTB B-sides are at #9.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

Jul 26, 2011 7:17:18 GMT -5 tearsdryontheirown said:

For people who have never dealt with someone with an addiction, it is not as easy as "Im hurting myself, i should stop so I will." Its so frustrating to read articles and opinions of people who say that its her fault for starting and all she had to do was stop but didnt want to. Addiction is a disease just like all the other diseases and is just as unforgiving as this has proven.

Those same people should look at themselves and their own family members and question why so many of them are overweight. They want to stop eating poorly but can't because it's not as easy as wanting to.

[Deleted]

AMY WINEHOUSE REMEMBERED BY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT FUNERAL

Amy Winehouse’s family and friends gathered to say goodbye to the beloved soul singer. Mourners shared prayers, tears, and laughter at Golders Green Crematorium in London on Tuesday before heading to Southgate Progressive Synagogue for a private funeral that was attended by 300-400 people including the 27-year-old’s mother and father, brother Alex, recent boyfriend Reg Traviss, protégée Dionne Bromfield, and producer Mark Ronson. Kelly Osbourne sported her blonde hair in a beehive in tribute to her friend.

During the “joyful” celebration, Winehouse’s father Mitch spoke about his headstrong daughter. “Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and daddy love you ever so much,” he said at the end of his emotional eulogy. He plans to set up a foundation in her name to help people struggling with addiction.

The Jewish service included prayers in English and Hebrew and concluded with a rendition of Carole King’s “So Far Away,” which father and daughter had often sung together.

www.rap-up.com/2011/07/26/amy-winehouse-remembered-by-family-and-friends-at-funeral

[remix]

Jul 26, 2011 16:25:47 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

AMY WINEHOUSE REMEMBERED BY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT FUNERAL

Amy Winehouse’s family and friends gathered to say goodbye to the beloved soul singer. Mourners shared prayers, tears, and laughter at Golders Green Crematorium in London on Tuesday before heading to Southgate Progressive Synagogue for a private funeral that was attended by 300-400 people including the 27-year-old’s mother and father, brother Alex, recent boyfriend Reg Traviss, protégée Dionne Bromfield, and producer Mark Ronson. Kelly Osbourne sported her blonde hair in a beehive in tribute to her friend.

During the “joyful” celebration, Winehouse’s father Mitch spoke about his headstrong daughter. “Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and daddy love you ever so much,” he said at the end of his emotional eulogy. He plans to set up a foundation in her name to help people struggling with addiction.

The Jewish service included prayers in English and Hebrew and concluded with a rendition of Carole King’s “So Far Away,” which father and daughter had often sung together.

www.rap-up.com/2011/07/26/amy-winehouse-remembered-by-family-and-friends-at-funeral

heartbreaking

[popstop]

Glad to find the outlet here and see other folks who respected Amy's work. "Rehab" and "You Know I'm No Good" were on constant rotation on my ipod when it came out in the years following. I constantly looked online, hoping I'd find news of a follow-up album. It really kills me she won't be creating new music again. True, it was growing doubtful, but I was remaining optimistic.

[Bojangles]

Gone way too soon :( :( such a tragedy.

It amazes me how people jump on an artist's music only after they pass away, if only they were aware of the greatness before she passed.

[Deleted]

Winehouse's Bodyguards -- Posing with Amy's Ashes

In one final bizarre photo op with Amy Winehouse, the singer's former bodyguards posed with a box containing Amy's ashes as they left the crematorium in London earlier today...a family rep confirms to TMZ.

The man in the center of the photo is Andrew Morris -- the bodyguard who found Winehouse's body and called for help.

Winehouse was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium in North London ... following an emotional ceremony for close friends and family.



www.tmz.com/2011/07/26/amy-winehouse-bodyguards-pose-ashes-crematorium/

[Bojangles]

I hate seeing a box or urn with someone's ashes, just knowing that they're in there and all they are is those ashes now just..........freaks me out

[Deleted]

^ yeah, I know... what if she was still alive? those murderers!

[Arabella21]

I've had relatives who were cremated, but we never thought, hey, let's pose with the urn for a photo! Whatever helps people grieve, I guess...

Billboard has released Amy's numbers early:

Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' Re-enters Top 10 on Billboard 200 Chart
July 26, 2011
By Keith Caulfield, Los Angeles

In the wake of her death on July 23, Amy Winehouse's second album, "Back to Black" (2007), re-enters the Billboard 200 albums chart this week at No. 9 with 37,000 sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The week previous, it sold just 1,000.

The late British singer also returns to the list with her debut set, "Frank" (2004), at No. 57 with 8,000 (up 4,100%).

There were more Winehouse albums purchased in past week (ending July 24) -- 55,000 -- than during the first six months of the year. Through the week ending July 17, her catalog had shifted 44,000 copies.

More than 95% of her albums sold last week were downloads. The hefty digital share isn't shocking, as most consumers wouldn't have been able to find much physical stock of Winehouse's albums had they sought them out in brick-and-mortar stores.

As for the digital tracks, Winehouse sold a combined 111,000 downloads, up from just 5,000 the week previous. The biggest of the bunch was "Rehab," with 38,000 sold. It re-enters the Digital Songs chart at No. 46 and is the only Winehouse song on the tally this week.

It's expected that Winehouse's albums and songs will see even bigger sales next week, after a full week's worth of impact from her passing is felt on the charts.

[Bojangles]

Nov 25, 2008 20:34:46 GMT -5 SHOOTER said:

I hope it happens no time soon but this woman's death will be one of music history's greatest tragedies.

OH you guys......I need to quit reading through this thread. :'(

[SHOOTER]

I'm still in a bit of shock that her (what will be known as) legendary voice is now silenced forever.

[Musiq]

They need to put more physical product out there. Has anyone seen any physical product out there as of yet?

[floridagrl]

Whare More Could The Music Industry Have Done To Save Amy Winehouse?
July 27, 2011
By Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP

NEW YORK (AP) - Most entertainers prepare for a concert tour with rehearsals. For Amy Winehouse, it was rehab.

Just before her disastrous European tour last month, the infamously addicted singer entered a rehabilitation center on doctor's orders, ostensibly to ensure that she would be ready to perform. She left a week later, with her publicist announcing she was "raring to go."

She clearly wasn't. At the concert's kickoff June 18 in Belgrade, Serbia, Winehouse struggled to remember the words to her songs, stumbled around the stage and even tried to get one of her background singers to warble for her.

Her tour was soon canceled. A little over a month later, she was dead.

There's a long history, to be sure, of performers who wither away due to addiction while the world watches, but Winehouse's death Saturday at age 27 has rekindled questions about the role the music industry should play in helping stars kick self-destructive habits.

Why, for example, was Winehouse still being booked for concerts even though she was battling a devastating addiction? Could the entertainment community have done more to save one of its most gifted young artists?

Natalie Cole thinks so.

A former heroin addict herself, Cole was critical of the industry after Winehouse won five Grammys in 2008, including record and song of the year for "Rehab," the song where Winehouse rebuffed help for addiction.

Winehouse performed triumphantly during the Grammy telecast that year - but did so via satellite from London, in part because she couldn't get a visa to come to the United States, and also because she was in rehab at the time.

Her treatment facility gave her a brief reprieve so she could perform for a worldwide audience and receive her accolades.

Cole said the entire episode sent a bad message. "Her life was at stake. I mean, she was trying to get off heroin, which is probably one of the most difficult drugs to recover from," Cole said.

"I just don't get it. What more can we do other than everybody needs to grow up? Hollywood needs to grow up and stop glorifying this kind of behavior and thinking it's cute," she said.

Cole said Winehouse shouldn't have been trying to perform, given her condition. Winehouse had been in and out of rehab and battled a host of problems since her Grammy triumph, had not released another album and was performing only sporadically.

Pax Prentiss, founder of the Malibu, Calif.-based Passages treatment center, said it's often in an addicted performer's best interest to be working, rather than living an unstructured lifestyle without getting help.

"It keeps them busy. ... I don't think it's good to have idle time," said Prentiss, a former addict himself. "But in saying that, Amy was not ready to go back to work. ... She clearly was not ready for the stage, or for life in general."

Winehouse's management and record label did not respond to requests seeking comment for this story.

Prentiss said Winehouse's problem may have been that the underlying causes leading her to take drugs were not dealt with. But he added that he didn't think the music industry "should try and manage Amy's personal life."

Cole disagreed. She said the industry has a responsibility to step in and push an artist out of the spotlight until they get their personal act together.

"Somebody in that circle needs to be there to go, 'Uh uh, you're going to have to sit down and get some help,'" she said. She said she has seen past examples of a record label halting production of new albums until an artist gets clean.

"There's too many yes people around these artists. They're very easily influenced, they're very vulnerable," she said.

Neil Portnow, CEO and president of the Recording Academy, which puts on the Grammys, agreed that musicians who are battling drugs are sometimes given guidance from people who may not have their best interests at heart. But other times, he said, it's not that simple.

"Sometimes, that becomes a challenging decision to make," he said. "Do you say to an artist, 'Come off the road, don't make records, don't do endorsements, don't do anything on a business level because you have to deal with your health'?

"But at the same time, that will immediately cut off all income, not only to the artist but also to their representatives?"

Portnow added that those close to an artist sometimes don't know how to handle the situation, that sometimes it takes the artist to want to get better and do the work to achieve that. Yet the addiction may not let that happen, he said.

Clearly, Winehouse did try; despite her famous song, she attempted rehab several times.

Describing her own battle against addiction, Cole said she was at her worst when she was still performing. She said people in her camp "would be sitting back there with their fingers crossed, praying that I would get through a show.

"I even had a few people who no longer wanted to work with me, because they just didn't want to see me self-destruct," she said.

The Recording Academy's MusiCares assistance program is designed in part to help musicians battling such addictions, providing anonymous financial and other support. Portnow said there are also guides to help the people around an artist deal with such situations.

"The most basic premise is the welfare and well-being of a musical artist, or any artist, or any human for that matter, is paramount," he said.

Portnow said the academy thought Winehouse was getting the help she needed when they had her perform during the Grammys.

"Our understanding at the time was that she was cleared medically to perform," he said. "It was a performance of a lifetime for her, and it certainly appeared that she was in fine form to do that."

Cole said she wished Winehouse would have skipped the Grammys and other events and concentrated on getting clean. After years of abuse, Cole said, it took three members of her own business team to take her aside and threaten to quit working with her until she got help.

She remains grateful for that ultimatum.

"They cared. And that's all we have to do. We have to care," she said. "Somebody needed to care about that girl, and I don't know if she had that."

www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/whare-more-could-the-music-industry-have-1005293952.story

[esoteric76]

Jul 26, 2011 22:59:33 GMT -5 Arabella21 said:

I've had relatives who were cremated, but we never thought, hey, let's pose with the urn for a photo!

[/blockquote][/quote]

Good call. It's just wrong.

[Luckie Starchild]

Jul 27, 2011 8:00:11 GMT -5 floridagrl said:

www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/whare-more-could-the-music-industry-have-1005293952.story

Natalie has a point.

[stunnedout]

I remember when Natalie Cole voiced her opinion when Amy won thsoe Grammy's people were dogging Natalie.

[Deleted]

I disagree with what Natalie said at the time because she said Amy didn't deserve her Grammys because of her lifestyle choices. That has nothing to do with the music. But I do agree with her that it's disgusting that many times the people around an artist have more interest in the money than the artist's personal welfare.

[Ivy Leegue™]

Jul 25, 2011 16:21:01 GMT -5 @jazzysoul47 said:

I wish Amy could see the outpouring of love and respect from her peers in the music industry. I feel like she didn't realize how much people loved her, and that's really sad.

I agree. However, once people are in the complete grips of their disease, they fail to listen to logic, advice, etc. All reason goes out the door in favor of satiating that hunger. It's one of the worst things that can happen to a person. Once you start to go down that road, it's really hard to turn back.

Yeah...at the time, Natalie sounded disrespectful but now, I see it as the voice of someone who fought and won against addiction.

[Deleted]

An anonymous person supposedly from Amy's label has hinted at a new studio album, saying she's recorded 12 songs. He said, "she had put down the bare bones of tracks and some were further along than others. People were getting very excited, quite frankly they were really good. We heard rough cuts and they sounded like vintage Amy".

Her parents, management and label would have to agree to any material being released, but considering her father always seemed like the biggest vulture of all to me I can't see that being an issue.

[HER MINAJesty]

A day after her funeral, Amy Winehouse’s frequent collaborator Mark Ronson remembered his close friend during a show at Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London. Ronson, who produced Winehouse’s Grammy-winning album Back to Black, was joined by the late soulstress’ back-up singers while performing “Valerie,” their collaboration off his Version album.

“The genius in that woman and what she shared with us is pretty special,” Ronson told the crowd. “I’m not going to get all morbid on you. It’s just nice to be playing music to people who like good music. She is my sister, wherever she is.”

He encouraged the audience to sing along. “We want you to sing this shit as loud as you can. … Amy, this is for you.”

[Deleted]

Jul 28, 2011 15:52:05 GMT -5 HER MINAJesty said:

A day after her funeral, Amy Winehouse’s frequent collaborator Mark Ronson remembered his close friend during a show at Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London. Ronson, who produced Winehouse’s Grammy-winning album Back to Black, was joined by the late soulstress’ back-up singers while performing “Valerie,” their collaboration off his Version album.

“The genius in that woman and what she shared with us is pretty special,” Ronson told the crowd. “I’m not going to get all morbid on you. It’s just nice to be playing music to people who like good music. She is my sister, wherever she is.”

He encouraged the audience to sing along. “We want you to sing this s**t as loud as you can. … Amy, this is for you.”

This makes me sad... to hear her band and backing singers, and not hear Amy. :'(

[Nick]

Stevie Nicks on Amy's death:

www.accesshollywood.com/video_1343615

[Deleted]

Jul 28, 2011 19:10:37 GMT -5 Nick said:

Stevie Nicks on Amy's death:

www.accesshollywood.com/video_1343615

True and brutally honest words from a former long-term drug addict.

[Nick]

^Exactly!

Stevie recently said Betty Ford saved her life, and paid tribute when Betty died. Stevie is a true survivor, and it's so horrible that Amy couldn't get help, or as Stevie put it couldn't "help herself".