and I said no, no, no

Two years ago, on the 23rd July 2011 Amy Winehouse died.
The news reached me while waiting for boarding my flight to Frankfurt airport. My Mum texted me before the news screens started to report it
The first reaction was "it had to happen", the second was nevertheless a bit of a shock.
I adored her music and still do. I always felt she was someone special and extremely precious.
When I flew over London that night approaching Heathrow I looked down at the labyrinth of roads and houses and thought "down there somewhere lies the body of her now...that´s how it ended"

Two weeks ago I went to the Jewish Museum in London (which is situated rather hidden near Camden Town in London - it's not very big, costs entry free and still is very worth a visit).
They have a special exhibition about the jewish girl Amy Winehouse on at the moment. It is rather small and doesn´t display much but it struck a chord with me. Seeing photos of her as a girl, looking different than the others already. Listening to the records she loved, staring at her cd collection and wondering when and where she bought them and when did she last listen to them. Seeing one of her ridiculously tiny dresses, the Louboutins, the famous ballet slippers...
I left feeling that I wanted to know more.

Two days later I went to the library and borrowed Mitch Winehouse´s biography about his daughter. I read it very quickly and it only made me more sad.
I´m aware that his opinions are more than biased being her Dad and manager. I´m sure not everything he writes can be taken 100%  for granted. Maybe he should have handled some situations different, maybe her on/off husband Blake was that evil, maybe not...but it all doesn´t change one thing: she died too young and ain´t coming back.
I can recommend reading it to everyone who is interested in Amy Winehouse and her music. It is not written in a particulary eloquent style and sometimes it gets very tedious to read about the constant "This time I will stay clean" closely followed by the next relapse. But if it is difficult to read, how awful must those years have been for the people who loved her? Definitely a fascinating, thought provoking and sad biography and a documentation of an addicts life.

Just look at those two videos, one from 2004 when she had just recorded her first album "Frank" and another one from her last gig in Belgrad 2011...it is so sad that it gets hard to watch.

Rest in peace.