Amy Winehouse (1983 - 2011)
Dying at the age of 27, Amy Winehouse became the latest high-profile member of the “27 Club”, occasionally known as the “Forever 27 Club” or “Club 27″.
If not familiar with it yet, it’s a club you don’t want to enter. It’s a group of influential rock music artists who died at the age of 27. This infamous group was “formed” after the deaths of Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, all being rock stars dying at the same age, doomed 27.
To this impetus group was later also added Nirvana’s front man Curt Cobain, who died in 1994. According to Cobain’s biography “Heavier Than Heaven”, his sister claimed that as a child he talked about how he wanted to join the 27 Club. So, he might shot himself just to join the forever 27 rock star tribe.
Journalist and author Charles R Cross, who has written biographies about Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix, said the number of musicians who died at 27 is “truly remarkable”, so it’s no surprise that this phenomenon still attracts attention. Even today many are interested in watching the 2008 movie “The 27 Club” or reading “The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll”.
Let’s go back to Amy’s becoming it’s latest member. Did it surprise anyone?
Fans, yes. Amy’s parents, no. Unfortunately, people who were close to the 27-year old singer, were kind of “prepared” for her death.
In 2007, Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse wrote a eulogy for his daughter after one of her well-publicised alcohol and drug binges. He said: “I know newspapers have obituaries ready for people. Well, I’d written one. The doctors told us even a whiff of another drug could kill her.”
Only a year later, Janis, Amy Winheouse’s mother, said that her daughter could be dead within the year. These were her words: “I’ve known for a long time that my daughter has problems. But seeing it on screen rammed it home. I realise my daughter could be dead within the year. We’re watching her kill herself, slowly. I’ve already come to terms with her death. I’ve steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery. Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road. I look at Heath Ledger and Britney. She’s on their path. It’s like watching a car crash – this person throwing all these gifts away”.
Amy Winehouse’s cause of death has not yet been established. A post-mortem is due to take place today.
