Have you ever seen so many people in complete shock over a story about which no one seems surprised?

The
tragic and premature, but almost inevitable death of singer/songwriter
Amy Winehouse puts her in the eternal company of some of the most
heralded young musicians in history. Another prodigious talent joins the
27 club* of Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and
others whose potential will forever remain a mystery.

As
I write this, the cause of her death is being classified by the media
as "unexplained", but I don’t need a medical degree to know that drug
and alcohol abuse played a headlining role.

The London Police issued a statement saying that to assume Winehouse’s death was drug-related, is inappropriate.

Say what?

Hey,
unless the investigation determines that she was killed in a terrorist
attack, or viciously mauled to death by one of Siegfried & Roy ‘s
rogue Bengal tigers, I defy anyone to hold a press conference with a
straight face, and claim that substance abuse was not at the root of the
cause.

Then again, the first stage of grieving is denial.

When Jimi
Hendrix died, the reports indicated that he "drowned in his own vomit,
consisting mostly of red wine." It also showed that in addition to the
various substances dancing through his system, were about 10 sleeping
pills, which may have led to his inability to awaken and save himself.

Get the point?

Herein lies the sadness.

The
young woman whose biggest hit stated, "They tried to make me go to
rehab, but I said, "No,no,no."", did eventually go to rehab kicking and
screaming, but it just didn’t take. More importantly, like so many
brilliant artists, there was something about all the success that she
simply was not ready to deal with.

Regardless of those facts, we will remember her more for her contribution to music, than for her human flaws.

There is little I can add that hasn’t already been said about
Winehouse’s exceptional talent, so I bow my head respectfully, and refer
back to my own words.

These are a couple of things I have stated about Amy over the last couple of years:

Amy
Winehouse: "Another young white brit who grew up listening to Al Green,
Etta James, and Donny Hathaway. The only thing I can say about her is
that I believed everything she has sung so far. There is soul in her
lyrics and her singing. I am a fan, and can only hope that she can
follow it up with something equally worthy of my admiration, but even if
she doesn’t, I’ll always have albums Back To Black and Frank. Thank you
for that, Amy." April 29th, 2010
http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/514966

"Best New Artist" Grammy 2008 – Amy Winehouse (Runners up – Feist,
Taylor Swift): I heard someone say, "Where?", and that’s a legitimate
question. She’s the Haley’s Comet of great artists, but no one disputes
the quality of the material she gave us. At least we now know that
rumors of her cohabitation with Osama Bin Laden were false. May 8th,
2011 http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/blog/post/854543