Amy, my daughter

What happened to Amy Winehouse? The biography Amy, My Daughter, written from the perspective of the singer's father, describes the turbulent trajectory of a brilliant and witty English star, from childhood until her death at the age of 27.

Amy Winehouse's untimely death in 2011 was a shock, but it didn't catch her fans completely off guard. She had spent several years grabbing headlines in major newspapers around the world—with her partying, love affairs, excesses, and self-harm. The impression was that she didn't care about her own voice or her career. Her inexplicable behavior shocked and attracted the attention of the press and fans as much as her striking voice, unique style, and devastating talent.

More than a simple biography, Amy, My Daughter is a confession from Mitch Winehouse, the singer's father and a controversial and pivotal figure in the star's career. The narrative is direct and sincere. At the same time, as expected of a father's speech, it's equally emotional. The events intertwine with the author's subjective impressions, and between the lines, we see a portrait of the relationship that shaped both their lives. Amy expected Mitch to be a superman. Mitch wanted Amy to be a fully realized daughter.

There's no way to know, not exactly, what led her to become deeply and irreversibly involved with hard drugs. Early in her career, she despised them, drank moderately, fell in love with good guys, and was crazy about '60s bands. This is explicitly evident on her first album, Frank, a collection of lyrics about the end of her first serious relationship and her relationship with marijuana. The themes are treated with a lightness that wouldn't reappear on Back to Black, her second album. Produced after one of her numerous breakups with Blake—the infamous husband who allegedly led Amy to ruin—the album is heartbreaking, and singing it became an increasingly heavy burden in live performances.

In a sincere and moving way, Mitch Winehouse recounts how his daughter became a huge star who succumbed to drug addiction and died prematurely at the age of 27. Featuring stories and never-before-seen photos from the family archive, Amy, My Daughter is also a portrait of a cruel struggle. A story of beauty and ugliness, of art and annihilation, of what keeps us alive and what destroys us, it attempts to answer the question everyone asked upon hearing the sad news of the singer's death: what ultimately happened to Amy?