Later on in the evening I was at a friend's BBQ talking to a psychologist who specialised in heroin addiction who'd got a text that simply said "Amy, so sad" but knew immediately what it meant. For Amy Winehouse was one of those artists whose creatively was intertwined with their self-destructive forces.
I was fortunate enough to see her live at the Brixton Academy, way back in 2004, before Back to Black, before Valerie, before Rehab, before all those Grammys, when it was still acceptable for me to ask "Amy who?" But that was not a question anyone asked after hearing her smoky voice and sultry jazz.
What can one add over all those acres of print space and gigabytes of online articles but what a tragic loss, another member of the infamous 27 Club.
Updated: Its well worth reading Russell Brand's article on addiction and Amy Winehouse in the Guardian here.
