Following Amy Winehouse’s death, friends took to their Twitters to express their sorrow. Russell Brand, who bonded with Winehouse before she was famous, avoided Twitter and instead dedicated a post on his website to the deceased musician.
“When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone,” stated Brand on his website.
Brand continued, “Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.”
The British actor explained how he had known Winehouse for many years. He first met her when she was an unknown in a “pink satin jacket shuffling round bars with mutual friends” and described the singer as ” sweet and peculiar but most of all vulnerable.”
Brand, a recovering alcoholic, went on to explain how they both shared an affliction, the disease of addiction, “All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they’re not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil.” And that “Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his “speedboat” there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they’re looking through you to somewhere else they’d rather be. And of course they are.”
Through his post, Brand acknowledged Winehouse’s increasing fame and his experience and “awe” seeing her perform:
“Entering the space I saw Amy on stage with Weller and his band; and then the awe. The awe that envelops when witnessing a genius. From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness. A voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine.”
But Brand also acknowledged that to the media, Amy’s talent was nothing compared to her addiction she soon became defined by her addiction, “Our media though is more interested in tragedy than talent, so the ink began to defect from praising her gift to chronicling her downfall. The destructive personal relationships, the blood soaked ballet slippers, the aborted shows, that youtube madness with the baby mice. In the public perception this ephemeral tittle-tattle replaced her timeless talent.”
“Now Amy Winehouse is dead, like many others whose unnecessary deaths have been retrospectively romanticised, at 27 years old. Whether this tragedy was preventable or not is now irrelevant. It is not preventable today. We have lost a beautiful and talented woman to this disease,” stated Brand on his website. “All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill.”
Click Here To Read The Whole Amy Winehouse Tribute.
Other friends and acquaintances of Winehouse took to Twitter to express their feelings.
“I can’t even breath right now im crying so hard i just lost 1 of my best friends. i love you forever Amy & will never forget the real you!” tweeted Kelly Osbourne.
“Amy Winhouse..So sad. Unfortunately the world lost an incredibly talented woman to such a powerful disease… addiction.” tweeted Demi Lovato.
“Truly sad news about Amy Winehouse. My heart goes out to her family. May her troubled soul find peace.” tweeted Demi Moore.
“Dear God have mercy!!! I am SICK about this right now!” tweeted Rihanna.
“Its just beyond sad, there’s nothing else to say. She was such a lost soul, may she rest in peace,” tweeted Lilly Allen.
