It was a tragedy foreseen in song. “Now my destructive side has grown a mile wide,” Amy Winehouse sang in 2003. That was long before the album Back to Black brought global fame, before the backstage dramas and the painfully premature end.
On Friday, the 10th anniversary of Winehouse’s death will be marked worldwide, with celebratory shows, plus the requisite revelatory documentaries. Her striking image and traumatic story now tend to overshadow the prodigious young talent. Regrettably, modern life intervened. But would things be different today?
Irish photographer Charles Moriarty remembers Winehouse, pre-fame. He took the photograph that adorns her debut album, Frank, and the two burgeoning talents became firm friends.
A mutual acquaintance brought them together. “He said: ’She hates everything that's been done by the record label,’” Moriarty recalls. They shot in London, then New York, and had fun, “as that pressure wasn’t there, yet”.
But the ambition was already apparent. “In New York, Amy did this whole hair-up thing, the beehive, which was the first time she'd done it for photos. I did ask, ‘Why were the other photos not working?’ And she was like, ‘They're not me.’”
That famous look was a personal choice (“it represented the sound she was creating”), but the narrative has shifted about why things went bad. Winehouse’s hedonistic ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, was the initial tabloid villain. Then Asif Kapadia’s remarkable 2015 documentary, Amy, pointed to callous management and family interference.
Perhaps that path was already in place, though. The lyrics quoted are from the song What Is It About Men, which laments her parents’ separation, apparently an early catalyst for her destructive behaviour. “You can point fingers to people, but – as much as that is the case – unfortunately, Amy was an addict,” says Moriarty. “I think she was in a constant battle with herself. Addiction is cruel.”
Talking about his early photos of the singer, Moriarty says: “Amy looks probably healthier, but she was not particularly well then. I don't know how long she'd suffered with her eating disorder. There's a lot of different levels, to how she ended up how she did.”
Watching Kapadia’s documentary inspired Moriarty to belatedly publish his Winehouse shots as an acclaimed book, Before Frank, in 2016. “The film broke my heart and I wanted people to see the person,” he says. On Friday those pictures will reappear at the event Back to Amy, raising funds for the Amy Winehouse Foundation and the charity MusiCares. Streamed live from Nashville, Tennessee, the event will include live performances and an exhibition, while Moriarty's images will also be transformed into wearable non-fungible tokens.
Music has changed since 2011, and so has the media landscape. This summer, journalist and broadcaster Suchandrika Chakrabarti debuted her live show I Miss Amy Winehouse, a comedic but cathartic look at how the singer soundtracked her life. “I’m the same age as Amy,” she says. “The older I get, the younger 27 seems.”
Her fate may seem inevitable now, but the media tone at the time was hardly sympathetic, as Winehouse missed shows or messed them up. The cruel jokes and stories are often conveniently forgotten, given what happened next.
“Oh, I remember, I remember,” says Chakrabarti. “As someone who has worked in news, I know that those headlines couldn't be written today. There would be pushback on social media now; rightly so. We're more informed. Amy never felt like a joke to me.”
I know that those headlines couldn't be written today. There would be pushback on social media now; rightly so... Amy never felt like a joke to me.”
Suchandrika Chakrabarti,
journalist and broadcaster
Did Winehouse’s death change things? “With Britney Spears's conservatorship in the news, I think this question is on a lot of people's minds,” Chakrabarti says. “I really hope so. I do think that Amy's story has had an impact on how we look at mental health and addiction now.”
According to research carried out in 2017 by music-focused academics Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave, Winehouse’s death was a turning point, “a significant moment” for the record industry, with “much soul-searching and discomfort” caused by Kapadia’s film. Their research helped to inspire a dedicated collective.
Music Industry Therapists and Coaches was founded by Tamsin Embleton, a successful live booker who retrained as a psychotherapist and teamed up with mental health professionals with experience of the industry's unique pressures. Embleton’s own speciality? “The psychological impact of touring,” she says.
Tours are often tipping points, even before they begin. Winehouse’s final days included a breakdown caused by imminent shows. Today that trip would surely be cancelled, and support for musicians’ welfare is improving, says Embleton. Labels “are getting involved”, but making mental health a priority remains difficult.
“If someone like Amy was suffering and needed financial assistance for therapy, we currently don’t have a way to help them,” she admits. And Covid-19 is compounding those complaints. “It’s higher in musician populations, too," Embleton says. "[British charity] Help Musicians UK conducted a survey of 700 musicians: nine out of 10 said their mental health has deteriorated.”
Thankfully, bodies such as Music Industry Therapists and Coaches are tackling these issues, and today, artists have more immediate outlets to express themselves. Moriarty echoes Chakrabarti’s view that social media can actually be positive, offering fan support and a place to share difficult subjects. “It promotes the wrong things a lot,” he admits, “but it has given people a voice.“
Winehouse’s outlet, originally, was music. In the great soul and blues tradition, her struggles inspired her songs, which now influence new generations. That happened directly to Brittany Butler, from Boston. In 2017, her soaring cover of Winehouse’s song Just Friends won a contest hosted by the Amy Winehouse Foundation. That link “was very emotional for me,” she says. “Channelling her troubles made her one of the few modern artists whose raw talent cut through.”
It is hard to recall a singer from the past decade – and beyond – with such a varied fan base, from cool teens to Sinatra-loving grandparents. Winehouse’s heroes were jazz legends “but she still managed to be distinctly Amy,” says Butler, who has forged a very post-millennial career as a singer and podcaster. “She created something beautiful and new out of something old, while remaining unapologetically true to who she was. As a musician, that’s really the ultimate goal.”
And a decade on, she remains a compelling soul.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The years Ramadan fell in May
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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SEMI-FINAL
Monterrey 1
Funes Mori (14)
Liverpool 2
Keita (11), Firmino (90 1)
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Roma 4
Milner (15' OG), Dzeko (52'), Nainggolan (86', 90 4')
Liverpool 2
Mane (9'), Wijnaldum (25')
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
THE SPECS
GMC Sierra Denali 1500
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Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
RESULTS
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner: Yas Xmnsor, Sean Kirrane (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
5.30pm: Falaj Hazza – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Arim W’Rsan, Dane O’Neill, Jaci Wickham
6pm: Al Basrah – Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Kalifano De Ghazal, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi
6.30pm: Oud Al Touba – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Pharitz Oubai, Sean Kirrane, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm: Sieh bin Amaar – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Oxord, Richard Mullen, Abdalla Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Conditions (PA) Dh85,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: AF Ramz, Sean Kirrane, Khalifa Al Neyadi
8pm: Al Saad – Handicap (TB) Dh70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Sea Skimmer, Gabriele Malune, Kareem Ramadan
Generation Start-up: Awok company profile
Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
