Goodbye Amy

Well, some may have said it was inevitable. Some seem to be raptured in a bout of 'I told you so' and some seem to think it is funny or even deserved.

Creative talent is a funny thing. It is almost a drug in its self. It is also true to say that those who don't have it will never ever understand its composition or the lengths an artist will go to, or the risks they will take, to keep that creative energy flowing.

Of course she was a good Jewish girl until Blake popped up and led her down the road to self destruction. But without him she would never have climbed the heights. Even when she still had a different regular beau, her and Blake were often to be seen smooching in The Mac Bar on a rainy Tuesday night. When he called time on their liaison, she retreated into herself, drank the Mac dry for several months, and wrote Back to Black to exorcize the pain. You see, Amy Winehouse was for real. She needed to feel the pain and emotion to be able to make it great art because that is what great artists accept they have to do.

She wrote a modern classic and for a while the garden was in bloom. However, that multi million selling record would never have existed without her suffering the heartache and pain she felt when she lost Blake first time around. Yes, they turned into a latter day Sid and Nancy, but he was the catalyst for her greatest work. Without him she would never have written that album and never have achieved that success. Blake's influence on Amy was as good and productive, as it was sometimes bad. She knew that, and that is why she loved him. Like all great talent, she knew the deal she had struck. She knew she had to suffer sometimes to be brilliant.

The Greek tragedy is that Amy got into the mind set that she could only repeat the success of Back to Black if she stayed mired in the grief hole that spawned her best work. She felt she needed to be close to the edge to make the magic happen. That is how great art often happens. It is musical Russian Roulette but many more than her have spun the gun and lived to tell the tale (or write their boring biography)

I'll remember her as someone who swore like a docker, was unbeatable at pool, and always got her round in.

The tabloids will run and run with this, if only to deflect from their own grubby machinations. Talent is always flawed. That is what makes it interesting and gives it facet and depth. A great talent is always built on a fragile foundation and we should never disrespect someone for showing us they are fragile. We should love them all the more.