I was never really a fan of the late Amy Winehouse, nor did I know her music very well, besides her hit "Rehab". Nonetheless I could tell that the stumbling and slurring of her words in the 2008 concert I watched today on TV was not part of the performance. When she spoke to her audience, you couldn't tell what she was saying and for the most part Amy staggered around the stage and paused in odd places. It was like watching the concert of someone who had suffered a stroke.
I don't say any of this to be judgemental. I'm saying this because it scares me.
As most readers will be aware, Amy Winehouse was 27 years old when she died. Of course the cause of her death won't be released or probably known for a long time but given the nature of her death the majority of speculators seem to have accepted drug overdose as obvious.
Regardless of the cause, 27 is too young to die. One of my sisters is 27. I have another sister who's close to that. I have cousins that age, friends, schoolmates and so on. That's only eight years older than I am. The current life expectancy in the UK is ~80, meaning that Amy died about 53 years before her time.
An aspiring performer myself, it really worries and saddens me to see someone buckle under the pressure of their career, under expectations of others, under the public eye, anything that causes them to fall into addiction. I can only hope, perhaps unrealistically, that no one I know and love ever finds themselves in such a low place that they feel substance abuse is the only way to cope. Maybe it's more realistic to ask you all to promise yourself that if you ever get to that point that you'll talk to someone and get help. The world doesn't need any more of this. The world needs you.
"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love." - Sophocles
I don't say any of this to be judgemental. I'm saying this because it scares me.
As most readers will be aware, Amy Winehouse was 27 years old when she died. Of course the cause of her death won't be released or probably known for a long time but given the nature of her death the majority of speculators seem to have accepted drug overdose as obvious.
Regardless of the cause, 27 is too young to die. One of my sisters is 27. I have another sister who's close to that. I have cousins that age, friends, schoolmates and so on. That's only eight years older than I am. The current life expectancy in the UK is ~80, meaning that Amy died about 53 years before her time.
An aspiring performer myself, it really worries and saddens me to see someone buckle under the pressure of their career, under expectations of others, under the public eye, anything that causes them to fall into addiction. I can only hope, perhaps unrealistically, that no one I know and love ever finds themselves in such a low place that they feel substance abuse is the only way to cope. Maybe it's more realistic to ask you all to promise yourself that if you ever get to that point that you'll talk to someone and get help. The world doesn't need any more of this. The world needs you.
"One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love." - Sophocles
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