This is going to strike a chord with anyone even remotely familiar with Barry's record. Winehouse was mentioned briefly in "Winner Go Down". Although I don't think anyone "loved" to see this news. On the contrary, I think everyone familiar with her was rooting for her to have a positive, happy ending, just like "Everything's Gonna Be Alright". It would have been a welcome change from watching one tragedy after another in the entertainment news.
From the article above:
Winehouse shot to fame in 2006 with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse - with her black beehive hairdoand old-fashioned sailor tattoos - one of music's most recognizable stars. But her personal life, with its drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders and destructive relationships, soon took over her career..I've heard the story a million times but I'm always still amazed when the "fame" story always follows the same plot, block by block, just like a macabre
Last month, Winehouse canceled her European comeback tour after she swayed and slurred her way through barely recognizable songs in her first show in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Booed and jeered off stage, she flew home and her management said she would take time off to recover.Even Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew would have been a better outcome. At least those souls have a chance.
"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician.".
Now this is a departure. But it still sounds familiar. Right, Barry?
But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet.The "Trainwreck" mention is too obvious.
She acknowledged struggling with eating disorders and told a newspaper that she had been diagnosed as manic depressive but refused to take medication.That explains almost everything. From what I understand from people in the field, the sense of "ten feet tall an bulletproof" - the feeling that you dont' need your medication anymore when you reach a high point, is actually a symptom of the disease. Ironic - and deadly - as hell.
I think Barry and Enoch are wrong in "Winner Go Down". "They" (however you define it) don't "love to see" this. It's horrible to watch. Even for the seeming vultures in the media reporting the info because deep down they know, if not for the Grace of God (or whatever deity you acknowledge) it can happen to anyone.
Rest in peace, Amy.
A new note was posted on The Barrynet (www.barrynethomepage.org) co-signed by Barry with Enoch Anderson:
ReplyDelete"This is a sad day for music.
Nick and I want to express our sorrow and our sympathy to Amy Winehouse's family, friends, and her many fans.
Barry Manilow and Enoch Anderson"
There's also a note about the slaughter in Oslo yesterday.
More commentary from other entertainers.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2011/07/amy-winehouse-kelly-osbourne-kelly-clarkson-and-more-react-to-amys-passing.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The supreme comment on Amy's passing comes from Kelly Clarkston, which was also reposted on the alt.fan newsgroup:
"Sometimes I think this job will be the death of us all, or at least the emotional death of us all. Maybe that is why as a little kid in sunday school I learned that God didn't want false gods or idols. I thought it was terribly selfish of God as a child but I think I get it now. He didn't want us following people or things that are imperfect and not so much for the followers but for the gods and/or idols who will never be what everyone wishes or needs them to be because we are made imperfect. He knew we wouldn't be able to handle the pressure, the shame, the glory, or the power the spotlight brings."
This is just an excerpt. The rest of Clarkston's statement is in the above link.