Amy Winehouse Found Dead - Hub Tribute to her Life

Today, a press release from the Metropolitan Police says:

"Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased. On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene. Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained." As reported on tmz.

The past few months have been some of the most unsteady of her career, which has always been rocky to say the least. Last month Amy Winehouse was forced to cancel her European tour after she appeared to be extremely intoxicated during a performance in Serbia. She finished her last stunt in Rehab in May of this year.

Amy Winehouse has been an iconic figure in recent years, for both her chart-topping success and her downfalls battling with drug & alcohol addiction. Like myself there are probably a lot of people out there who aren't that into her genre of music, but still applauded her obvious talent which wasn't fueled by gimmicks and didn't reach success simply by going viral like too many of todays "stars".

Amy Winehouse was born on the 14th of September 1983 (I'm pretty chuffed to share the same birthday) in Enfield, London to parents Mitchell and Janis. She was brought up surrounded by Jazz music which was enjoyed by her entire family, including her brother who's guitar she picked up until her 13th birthday when she was given her own, she led a rebellious childhood which led her being expelled from the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, London, but quickly landed back on her feet and briefly attended the BRIT School in Croydon. Aged 16 she was intent to make it in the music business and began performing at small club spots with a jazz band while working as a showbiz journalist at the World Entertainment News Network. After being signed to 19 Management, her demo was accidentally heard by Universal A&R Rep Darcus Beese after listening to a showcase demo of The Lewinson Brothers on which Amy featured as a vocalist. Due to Amy being kept an industry secret while she was being developed by her management company, it took months for Darcus Beese to find out her name and when he did, he quickly put into motion a chain of events that would push Amy Winehouse straight to the foreground of the global music entertainment arena.

Her break came when she released her debut album "Frank" in 2003, which quickly shot to the top of the UK charts and in 2004 she was nominated for a BRIT award in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act", not long after her album made it Platinum and she became one of the hottest new Artists in the world.

The Media soon switched its attention from Amy Winehouse's talent to her troubles with drug abuse, even egged on when she admitted in a number of interviews that she battled with drug addiction, depression, self-harm and eating disorders. A number of press-pieces on Amy during 2005 showed alarming weight loss and what looked like serious fatigue, though her family believes that the real trigger to her spiraling out of control was the death of her Grandmother in mid-2006, always having been close to her Grandmother, Amy looked to her for support, praise and a way to keep her grounded, with that connection gone she had no stabilizing influences left as her family relationships were strained and she had a string of volatile relationships.

In August 2007 she was hospitalized for an overdose of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol. Then in December of the same year, a video of a woman alleged to be Winehouse was leaked to the press, it contained footage of her smoking crack cocaine and speaking about abusing other drugs such as valium and ecstasy. The Metropolitan Police got involved but no charges were made, instead she was checked into a rehabilitation program, a vicious cycle that she would continue to repeat for years to come.

There's no doubt that Amy Winehouse was one of the most talented Artists to have ever graced the charts in recent years, in a reaction to Reality TV and similar media outbursts at the time, the public became disillusioned and were no doubt starved of the kind of young genuine talent that Amy Winehouse became. While it's extremely saddening to see her life ended this way, solace can be found in the fact that her name will always be among the greatest of our generation, and her downfall can serve as a warning to young artists and people alike, about the dangers of drug abuse and the grasp they can have on a person.

Amy Winehouse, a true artist and icon. 1983-2011