Feb 28, Amy, a documentary on Amy Winehouse’s life and death, directed by Asif Kapadia, was awarded as Best Documentary at the Oscars.  You might remember Winehouse as a young English singer with tatted arms and dramatic black liner. You are also probably familiar with her tragic end as a result of a drug overdose. This is a short story of how one of greatest singers of all time rose and fell.

Winehouse was born in London, England, on September 14, 1983. As a young kid her musical background impacted her life. Winehouse’s family was made up of professional jazz musicians and her father sang as a child with his own family. She received her first guitar at age 13 and taught herself how to play.  Rebellious Winehouse was expelled from Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, London, later on piercing her nose and tattooing her body. She got into the music business at age 16 when one of her schoolmates and close friend, Tyler James, passed her demo tape to his label, leading her to a record deal with Island/Universal.

In early 2003, Winehouse met the love of her life: Blake Fielder-Civil, a music video production assistant. The two developed a toxic romance which was centered on alcohol, drugs and physical and mental abuse. They were having what was arguably popular culture’s, druggiest, most chaotic, and most volatile love affair.

She signed her first record deal as a jazz vocalist, creating music as a mix of jazz, pop, soul and R&B. Winehouse won many awards during her fame period, winning five Grammy Awards for her album Back to Black, and earning acclaim for songs like the title track, “Rehab,” “Valerie” and “Love Is a Losing Game.” Winehouse’s debut album Frank was also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, as well as two BRIT awards for Best Female Solo Artist and Best Urban Act.

Winehouse’s relationship with Blake was the foundation for much of her destructive behavior. She admitted in interviews that he was introducing hard drugs to her. Winehouse also admitted to “drowning her sorrows” in booze; thus beginning the start of her addiction. However, she used the heart break as a bedrock in writing her songs. Her drug and alcohol intake increasingly affected her live performances.

By 2006, it was suggested Winehouse enter rehab for alcohol abuse. Instead, she refused and created the single for her second critically acclaimed album Back to Black. The song “Rehab,” which addressed her refusal to receive treatment for her drug addiction, became an instant Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom. Winehouse was hitting higher on the Billboard music charts than any other American debut by a British female recording artist in history.

Her downfall continued once she married Fielder-Civil and she fell back into her bad habits. From reports of continuous drug use to not being able to perform on stage she quickly began falling apart. On August 8, 2007, the singer was reported to have  overdosed on a mix of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine, whisky and vodka during a bar crawl in London. Later in October she was arrested with possession of marijuana. In January 2008 a video showed Winehouse smoking crack and she was arrested for questioning but not formally charged. After admitting to her drug use she was denied a U.S visa, preventing her from performing live at the 2008 Grammys. She did, however, perform in London via Satellite, and won five awards.

Although she had many personal setbacks, her album Back to Black was declared the second-highest selling album in the world, and in 2009, she earned entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for “Most Grammy Awards Won by a British Female Act.”

Her life unfortunately ended on July 23, 2011 when Winehouse died tragically at the age of 27 in her London home, from alcohol intoxication, following her long-running battle with alcohol addiction.