The Gut-Wrenching Story Behind the Death of Amy Winehouse

The British-born singer Amy Winehouse was one of those vocalists where words and notes just leapt off her lips. They became bouncing, buoyant sounds so pleasant that tens of thousands of people would travel daily to see her perform.

Sadly, the photogenic and supremely talented Winehouse died way too early, at just 27 years old, driven to her demise by a combination of addiction, poor choices, media insatiability, and family troubles. Want to know more? Then let’s dive in.

Rehab

It’s almost too tragic to note, but in 2006, Amy Winehouse released the single “Rehab” from her all-time classic record Back to Black, and it made her an international star. At the time, Winehouse was already a beloved singer in England—though, perhaps, beloved is too strong a word. Many media members and tabloids did not treat her with respect, but more like an object of fascination.

In 2003, Winehouse, who was just 20 at the time (born in 1983), released her debut LP, Frank. She was a rising star with a voice that was both classical in the Billie Holiday sense and new in the Erykah Badu sense. She was a dame and a hip-hop aficionado all at once. And she might have been the best singer since Aretha Franklin—a voice that was big, rich, and exceptionally capable.

In England, she was known as a drunk and someone who was promiscuous. She had “daddy issues,” as is the phrase. And instead of treating her with a more needed sense of care, public figures often needled Winehouse. Much of this is highlighted in the fantastic (and very sad) 2015 documentary Amy.

So, when “Rehab” came out, the song gave Winehouse a way to hide in plain sight. No, she wasn’t going to solve her drinking problem, and she could laugh with the world while doing so—all the way to the bank.

Back to Black

When Winehouse released her still-beloved album, Back to Black, in 2006, she became an international star. And because she was a crossover artist, beloved by all races and backgrounds, she became a media fascination. Beautiful and haunted by drug addiction and issues with men, Winehouse became the “perfect” subject for grocery store line magazines.

Slowly, gleefully almost, these tabloids watched her diminish in real-time. There were reality shows, cancelled tours, unflattering photos, and a failed marriage onlookers could see happen from miles away.

In 2008, Winehouse won five Grammy Awards, then-tying a record for most awards by a female artist in one night.

Death

Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011. She was 27—then the newest member of the dreaded 27 Club, along with others like Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix. Upon her death, Back to Black became the U.K.’s best-selling album of the 21st century.

While she got to do so much in her life, including record music with one of her idols, Tony Bennett, her passing at such a young age and for all the wrong reasons remains tragic.

Leading up to her passing Winehouse’s bodyguard said she had come home to her flat in the U.K. three days before she died. She had been drinking but had been in decent enough spirits. The next morning, he tried to wake her around 10 a.m. local time but she had died. Her body had given out.

Two ambulances arrived later that afternoon and she was pronounced dead at the scene. In the wake of her passing, media crews swarmed the scene. In the early 2000s, tabloids were at their height and the internet had not yet rounded into the shape it’s in today. People were ravenous but there was no “clap back” just yet. Winehouse was the victim of an era as much as herself.

In Winehouse’s room, authorities found three bottles of vodka—perhaps contributing to her passing in the wee hours of the night. Her blood-alcohol was about five times the legal limit.

In later years, the singer’s brother Alex Winehouse said that Amy was bulimic, too. This weakened state likely contributed to her death by drinking. Bulimia is an eating disorder (and mental illness) in which the victim makes themselves throw up. Like addiction, it’s often considered something of a slow suicide, Alex said in 2013,

“She suffered from bulimia very badly. That’s not, like, a revelation—you knew just by looking at her… She would have died eventually, the way she was going, but what really killed her was the bulimia… I think that it left her weaker and more susceptible. Had she not had an eating disorder, she would have been physically stronger.”

Winehouse’s funeral was on July 26, 2011. And the singer’s ashes are buried near her grandmother’s at Edgwarebury Lane Cemetery.

Photo by Gary Miller/FilmMagic