Amy Winehouse in Prosebox Desert Island Discs
- Feb. 27, 2016, 6:51 p.m.
- |
- Public
I really love Amy Winehouse. Here is a unique sound, an instrument which is a voice.
I was watching the documentary this evening which I’d put off watching because it felt like a very scary story for me.... my history is not as well documented but there are a lot of parallels.
What struck me about the whole thing is that the whole sorry story would never have happened 15-20 years ago.
Have you ever questioned how so many people who should be dead are still alive? Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osborne, Keith Richards, Robbie Williams etc? Well mostly it’s because their record companies put them into strategic stints of rehab in order to protect their investment.
Someone at the label would have been watching over them and realised that something was going wrong and shoved them in a facility or at least put a zero tolerance security crew in place and cleared all booze and drugs from any place they might be along with a tour shrink.
But the quantity of people at labels have shrunk so much that each a&r manager is probably looking after 20 different acts. None of whom are especially significant for their bosses as they never heavily invest in anyone long term - in fact usually someone has already recorded the album and the record company just licences it. They don’t have time to go sit in the studio and hang out any more. They don’t have enough people to get proper security in place or to ensure that the artist manager is actually up to the job.
I’ve been in enough meetings where it is politely suggested to the band that they need to fire their “manager” - who is usually a chancer who happened to have a van when they first started as opposed to anyone with any sort of experience booking international routings or checking the accountancy. Artists were very strictly managed by the record company but that whole balance has changed…
I guess it goes back to how the big film studios were… They would sign a starlet for a 7 movie deal paying them an advance and making them into that star as long as the aspiring actress agreed to do as they told her. These days actors just pick whatever film they want to make and get paid what it earns… I tend to think we will get to that model in music too - eventually!
My friend tour managed her for a while - they actually had paramedics at each show with cardiac panels charged in case she went into shock. I can’t imagine what state her body must have been in to warrant that “precaution”. She should never have been out on the road… and in fact the promoter most probably did not have any insurance should she drop dead because he would have had to have gotten a medical beforehand. Clearly that did not happen.
An accident waiting to happen… and yet a sweet soul.
Deleted user ⋅ February 27, 2016
This is a great entry :)
I watched the doc Amy it was good ... then I put her songs into heavy rotation on my Ipod again hehe
I need tea. ⋅ February 28, 2016
Herzog ⋅ February 28, 2016
Some record labels seem to like building their 'indie' reputation through alcoholism, drug use and violence. How Creation Records ended up with their key line-up still alive is beyond me (though I think those nice lads from Teenage Fanclub were with them - I doubt they went to the record launch parties). Amy W's death was particularly sad, though. My brother used to do stand up comedy in Camden when she was huge there, and I was a bit shocked at how entrenched drugs were within that clique - how many of that Camden party scene are either dead or drug-reduced husks now?
Camdengirl Herzog ⋅ February 28, 2016
Me, for one!
Herzog Camdengirl ⋅ February 28, 2016
Yup, you're one. And my brother's going OK.. though some of his poor health now might be a legacy from that time.
Deleted user ⋅ February 28, 2016
This was really interesting because it's an insight into a world far removed
From
My own
Camdengirl Deleted user ⋅ February 28, 2016
The thing is everyone knows it goes on and mostly what they do is make sure that whatever dealer the star is using is not giving them unsafe stuff and that they aren't going to kneecap them for unpaid debts. Fridays at the record company I worked at always had deliveries of brown jiffy bags which i was to hand directly to whoever's name was on the front... and then they'd cut lines of coke out and crack open the champagne once Pete Tong had left to do his radio show. I never got that - he did loads of drugs but it was zero tolerance in the office. Maybe he just didn't like his PA drinking all the expensive champagne... i have no idea.
Etoile Filante ⋅ February 28, 2016
I am dying to watch Amy but I loved her so much I've not quite psyched myself up to it yet! xXx
Camdengirl Etoile Filante ⋅ February 28, 2016
It is quite distressing - some of the photos I found very disturbing and I'm usually pretty hardened.
Etoile Filante Camdengirl ⋅ February 29, 2016
That's what people have told me. Because I eschew all tabloids I only see those sort of shock photos rarely so I have only seen her looking thin and unwell via gig footage etc but nothing toooo scary xXx
Complicated Disaster ⋅ February 28, 2016
I watched Amy on the plane on my way back from Canada last year. It's shocking to me how the people in her life who should have been looking after her were in many ways most responsible for her death. She was a delicate flower who couldn't survive in the wild. :-\ xx
Camdengirl Complicated Disaster ⋅ February 28, 2016
It's very surprising that the record company didn't step in sooner. It's surprising that her family were such douches. And you wouldn't expect friends to have the resources to do the necessary. Management... Well I think she made some very poor choices.