Amy Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter successful in the UK. When most people heard her name they thought of a talented and successful artist. Now when heard, shes known for her mistakes and the problems she brought upon herself and her career. The reputation Winehouse now has, is due to her own choices. As an artist, Amy was percepted as a musical genius and her death left a heavy mark on the music industry. Even though Amy Winehouse became the object of attention because of her bad habits and addictions, many people can learn from her fall from grace.

Firstly, Amy Winehouse was born in London, England. Amy’s father was a cab driver and her mother a pharmacist (biography). Due to their music taste, she was brought up around jazz. Many family members on her mother's side were jazz musicians, which became her genre of choice. At a young age she also discovered other genres of music such as rap and hip-hop, leading her to form a group called “Sweet N’ Sour” (everyjoe). Amy was accepted into the Sylvia Young Theatre School where not long after she was expelled from for getting a nose piercing and not applying herself. After coming into contact again with Tyler James, a close friend looking for a jazz vocalist, this led her to a record deal with Island/Universal. After this record deal it led her to move into electric mixes of jazz, pop, soul, and R&B (biography).

In 2003 was when Amy Winehouse first came out to public attention. “Frank” was her debut album in which launched her career. After the album went triple platinum, she recorded a follow up album entitled “Back to Black.” In 2007 this album got her awards at the Brit Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards. With having the highest position ever held by a female british artist, she started her downfall (scotsman).

Winehouse started to show up to performances intoxicated and not sober enough to perform. Sometimes she would try to perform and get booed off the stage or start mumbling her words in song (biography). In August 2007 she cancelled several tour dates and was hospitalized for overdosing on heroin, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol (joonbug).

Amy had an off and on relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. Winehouse then started to develop her reputation as an “unstable party girl.” Fielder-Civil admitted to introducing her to hard drugs (scotsman). In public, there were always arguments and physical fights. Alone, their romance was doing drugs. They used hard drugs together such as heroine for 4 months before he was sentenced to jail in 2008 for assault. After his release, he soon went back to jail for failing a drug test. In January 2009, while in jail he filed for divorce after a short marriage of a year and a half (huffingtonpost). This was done to assure the public they were not together, but reassured each other there was a chance of remarrying.

The reason Amy Winehouse developed her bad habits leading to tragedies was due to this relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. Publicly and alone, their relationship consisted of fighting, drugs, and abusive actions. Once they were divorced, herself and her friends believed she overcame the drug addiction (scotsman). After her album back to black was determined to be the second highest selling album in the world, she created her own record label, Lioness Records, where she signed her 13 year old goddaughter first (biography). By the summer of 2011, she would stay away from drugs for a few weeks then begin relapsing. One relapse led to the end of Amy Winehouse’s life. When the report was released, it showed her Blood Alcohol Concentration was at (0.416%) which is over five times the legal limit. Winehouse’s death was titled “death by misadventure.”

The death of Amy Winehouse left a heavy impact on the music industry. Some of the biggest artists wrote songs expressing their feelings of her passing. After her death, Lady Gaga tweeted “Amy changed pop music forever. I remember knowing there was hope, and feeling not alone because of her. She lived jazz, She lived the blues.” This is an example of how much of an impact Winehouse’s messages left on others including the artists who she was first inspired by such as Lady Gaga and Adele (mtv). Different artists have taken measures to remember her and foundations have been created in her honor. The death of Amy Winehouse has shown that as fast as someone rises, a simple decision can make them fall down just as quickly.

In conclusion, Amy Winehouse left messages to the world. Drugs and alcohol of any kind can critically change someone after one time. This is what happened after Blake Fielder-Civil introduced Winehouse to hard drugs. The higher position you are, the more respect you gain and potential for others below to look up to you (medium). When Amy Winehouse died, many people said repetitive cruel comments about her. Genuinely, she was said to be one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, despite the bad paths she chose to follow. A major lesson to be learned from this is that your decisions can make a bigger impact on others then you would believe.

In situations such as this, Amy Winehouse gained a lot of respect considering how high of a position she had in the music industry. If she didn’t relapse frequently into drugs after being with Blake Fielder-Civil, who first admitted to introducing her to hard drugs, chances are she would still be around today. Us, as human beings, can look at her and realize that we need to be more careful about the decisions we make.