It would appear that a year after her death, her sins are finally being laid to rest by the incorrigible press. The stories being published lately seem to feature Winehouse in a more sympathetic light, reflecting back on the tragic loss of the industry, her incomparable talent and impressive credentials, hastily backtracking on their damning accusations of a year ago. As tragically gifted stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Heath Ledger and Kurt Cobain were all persecuted for the private antics also, it seems we as a society just cannot bring ourselves to think badly of the dead for too long, no matter how harshly they we persecuted them while they were alive, which is perhaps the ultimate irony.
From the 9th of July, a large billboard poster featuring an exquisite portrait of Winehouse by Johan Andersson will be erected in Camden Town underground station and remain for two weeks to mark the anniversary of her passing. Her home in the North-West London town has also been turned into an unofficial shrine by adoring and still-mourning fans who will gather on the 23rd to pay their humble respects. Ms Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, has also revealed plans for a new life-sized bronze statue that is to be erected outside the popular live music venue the Camden Roundhouse on Chalk Farm Road. Mr Winehouse is currently working actively with his new charity ‘The Amy Winehouse Foundation’ which aims to raise awareness for people struggling with drug abuse and to help others notice the warning signs of such destructive behaviour.
As a society so governed by media influences, we are so innately programmed to condemn those in the public eye who behave irrationally. So perhaps this July 23rd we should take a leaf from ‘Amy, My Daughter’, and consider Ms Winehouse as if she were our daughters, our godmothers, our aunts, our friends, and as just a fellow human being in trouble, not this public menace she was branded by the media. Under any other circumstances, Ms Winehouse would have been a tragic heroine, and in her wake she leaves a powerful legacy which helps to reach out to other troubled people and make us as a society more tolerant and more aware of those who so desperately need our help.
With a book, a charity, a proposed statue and a posthumous album in her name, Amy Winehouse is far from being forgotten, and this July the 23rd, amongst all the excitement of the Olympics, I know I for one, will be taking one moment to stop still and remember the extraordinarily talented and helplessly tragic superstar that society just couldn’t quite save, and then a thought for all the lives that have been changed by this magnificent woman, and the work that has been created in her memory.