WEBVTT - ‘I Told You I Was Trouble’: The Amy Winehouse Story (Part 1) 0:00:24.884 --> 0:00:30.884 You're listening to a MoMA mea podcast if you love 0:00:30.924 --> 0:00:34.644 extraordinary stories. M plus subscribers get early access to new 0:00:34.644 --> 0:00:38.364 episodes and seasons of the show. To listen to unreleased 0:00:38.404 --> 0:00:41.844 episodes right now, head to mamama dot com dot a 0:00:41.964 --> 0:00:46.604 U forward slash M plus that's mp l us, or 0:00:46.924 --> 0:00:55.444 follow the link in the episode description. As a black 0:00:55.484 --> 0:00:59.524 Mercedes pulls up outside Grovesnor House, a luxury hotel in 0:00:59.564 --> 0:01:05.444 London's Mayfair, Amy Winehouse readies herself. She's chewing gum and 0:01:05.524 --> 0:01:09.884 wearing a strapless corset zebra print mini dress by American 0:01:09.924 --> 0:01:13.644 fashion designer Betsy Johnson. It's the same dress she will 0:01:13.724 --> 0:01:16.804 during a talk show interview on British TV the week earlier. 0:01:17.364 --> 0:01:21.404 But surely no one will notice that her eyeliner is 0:01:21.444 --> 0:01:25.124 thick her hair is out. Tonight, She's a ten the 0:01:25.124 --> 0:01:30.804 British music industry's most highly regarded songwriting awards, the Ebor Novello's. 0:01:31.324 --> 0:01:34.004 She's up for Best Contemporary Song for Stronger than Me, 0:01:34.444 --> 0:01:38.044 her lead single from her debut album, Frank you should. 0:01:37.764 --> 0:01:45.364 Be stronger than You've been here seven longer than me. 0:01:47.364 --> 0:01:53.724 You should be strong good. The car comes to a 0:01:53.804 --> 0:01:58.204 halt and an usher opens the door. This is it 0:01:58.284 --> 0:02:00.844 the night that could cement her future as a bona 0:02:00.924 --> 0:02:05.924 fide songwriter. She steps onto the pavement, adjusts her dress 0:02:06.164 --> 0:02:10.684 once twice, puts her candy pink clutch underneath her armpit, 0:02:10.884 --> 0:02:13.284 and makes her way over to a crowd that's lined 0:02:13.364 --> 0:02:18.204 up outside. She signs, autographs, poses for photos, and chats 0:02:18.204 --> 0:02:20.244 with dozens of waiting fans. 0:02:20.804 --> 0:02:32.764 How are you okay? 0:02:33.724 --> 0:02:35.804 It's two thousand and four, which, in the world of 0:02:35.884 --> 0:02:39.644 music means lots of Coldplay, Diadoh, the Sugar Babes, and 0:02:39.724 --> 0:02:46.084 The Darkness Tonight. Amy's competition includes Kylie Minogue and Dizzy Rascal. 0:02:46.724 --> 0:02:49.564 At just twenty years old, she's tipped as the underdog, 0:02:49.964 --> 0:02:53.444 but in front of a room full of songwriting legends, 0:02:53.724 --> 0:02:59.084 her contemporaries, and so called industry bigwigs, Amy Winehouse wins. 0:02:59.724 --> 0:03:00.124 Wow. 0:03:01.924 --> 0:03:02.724 I don't believe this. 0:03:04.244 --> 0:03:05.764 Thank you, Soddam. 0:03:06.324 --> 0:03:07.324 There's my picture of them. 0:03:07.884 --> 0:03:11.244 Slam is the most desporational producer I can work with. 0:03:12.044 --> 0:03:15.844 Many is surprised, but none are as shocked as she is. 0:03:16.284 --> 0:03:17.124 I can't believe it. 0:03:17.404 --> 0:03:19.284 You seem genuinely surprised, are you yeah? 0:03:19.444 --> 0:03:21.484 I'm like, no, no, you know. 0:03:23.364 --> 0:03:24.284 I ain't got no words. 0:03:24.884 --> 0:03:28.804 No, Amy's winternight is just the beginning. She sets her 0:03:28.884 --> 0:03:33.484 sights on the Grammys and international acclaim, But as she 0:03:33.524 --> 0:03:36.284 heads off to celebrate her victory, is this one of 0:03:36.324 --> 0:03:39.684 the last times Amy Whitehouse would be in control of 0:03:39.684 --> 0:03:40.564 her own life? 0:03:41.164 --> 0:03:43.844 My greatest fear is probably dying with no one knowing 0:03:43.884 --> 0:03:48.044 of any contribution I'd ever made to creative music. But 0:03:48.164 --> 0:03:49.764 that's cool because I made it now. I'm already that. 0:03:49.804 --> 0:03:52.124 I'm so proud of that. You know, if I died 0:03:52.164 --> 0:03:56.164 tomorrow touch words, you know, I would still feel fulfilled 0:03:56.284 --> 0:03:56.964 it in a way. 0:04:01.284 --> 0:04:04.844 You can recognize it in an instant. That iconic voice 0:04:04.884 --> 0:04:08.764 and a candid style of songwriting beyond her years. The 0:04:08.804 --> 0:04:12.164 sound of Amy Winehouse was a sound unheard of since 0:04:12.204 --> 0:04:23.884 the days of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. You know, 0:04:24.924 --> 0:04:41.644 the old familiar place. The name Amy Winehouse today seems 0:04:41.644 --> 0:04:44.764 to be as synonymous with talent as it is tragedy, 0:04:45.204 --> 0:04:48.004 with lyrics that tore at the heart strings and songs 0:04:48.124 --> 0:04:51.604 that story booked her life. The world watched a young 0:04:51.644 --> 0:04:54.444 woman climb to the heights of fame, only to have 0:04:54.524 --> 0:04:59.364 the darkness of her success consume her. On the mountaintop depression, 0:04:59.684 --> 0:05:04.924 eating disorders, self palm, alcohol, substance abuse, and a toxic 0:05:05.244 --> 0:05:10.484 codependent relationship. Amy Winehouse was plagued by her demons from 0:05:10.564 --> 0:05:15.204 childhood until she met her untimely end at just twenty 0:05:15.364 --> 0:05:19.884 seven years old. On this season of Extraordinary Stories, will 0:05:19.964 --> 0:05:23.444 dive deep into the life of Amy Winehouse, her rise 0:05:23.484 --> 0:05:27.684 to fame, her ar try, her pain, her loves, and 0:05:27.724 --> 0:05:32.404 her losses. What really killed Amy? Could she have been saved? 0:05:33.084 --> 0:05:36.084 And what does her death tell us of the pervasive 0:05:36.164 --> 0:05:41.244 grip of addiction and fame. I'm Emma Gillespie and this 0:05:41.684 --> 0:06:05.084 is the Amy Winehouse story. Ah too. That's the voice 0:06:05.124 --> 0:06:07.604 of fourteen year old Amy singing to her friend on 0:06:07.644 --> 0:06:12.484 a home video. She's been singing her entire life ever 0:06:12.524 --> 0:06:16.604 since she could teenage. Amie didn't yet know it, but 0:06:16.644 --> 0:06:20.404 she's not just a singer. She's a talented and prolific 0:06:20.524 --> 0:06:24.684 songwriter too. The poems she furiously scribbles in her journal, 0:06:25.084 --> 0:06:30.084 they're actually lyrics, and they're accompanying melodies already within her. 0:06:30.044 --> 0:06:33.644 And I write lyrics, I write songs, and I sing. 0:06:34.124 --> 0:06:36.684 Music played a very important role into her life from 0:06:36.684 --> 0:06:39.844 the very beginning. She was very talented as a young 0:06:39.884 --> 0:06:43.644 person and she had really big dreams of herself. 0:06:44.004 --> 0:06:48.284 That's Eleni Papa Vasiliu. She's the senior curator and collection 0:06:48.404 --> 0:06:51.844 manager at the Jewish Museum of Australia, where an exhibition 0:06:51.924 --> 0:06:54.684 all about Amy's life, put together by her brother Alex, 0:06:54.884 --> 0:06:56.724 was hosted back in twenty eighteen. 0:06:56.964 --> 0:06:59.524 It was a really beautiful and expansive show that aimed 0:06:59.564 --> 0:07:03.524 to portray Amy in a different light, I suppose, and 0:07:03.684 --> 0:07:07.764 just remind audiences of the you know, the young, ambitious 0:07:08.164 --> 0:07:10.284 and very talented young person that she was. 0:07:11.684 --> 0:07:15.164 Amy Jade Winehouse was born on the fourteenth of September 0:07:15.244 --> 0:07:18.924 nineteen eighty three at Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield in 0:07:19.004 --> 0:07:22.684 North London. Her mother Janie and her father Mitch had 0:07:22.684 --> 0:07:25.684 already become parents a few years earlier, when Amy's brother 0:07:25.724 --> 0:07:29.484 Alex was born. A Lenni says music played an important 0:07:29.564 --> 0:07:32.724 role in Amy's life right from the very start. 0:07:32.724 --> 0:07:36.724 Through her father's, mother's and grandmother's influence. Actually, her father 0:07:36.844 --> 0:07:39.404 was a taxi driver and her mother was a pharmacist, 0:07:39.444 --> 0:07:43.204 so you know, her upbringing was humble but incredibly ambitious. 0:07:43.524 --> 0:07:47.044 The white Houses had lived in London since the eighteen nineties, 0:07:47.244 --> 0:07:52.724 when Amy's great great grandfather arrived from Belarus thinking it 0:07:52.804 --> 0:07:53.564 was New York. 0:07:53.884 --> 0:07:58.604 Her grandparents, who had roots from Belarus, Russia and Poland, 0:07:59.084 --> 0:08:03.684 emigrated to the UK in the nineteen hundreds. Specifically, Amy's 0:08:03.724 --> 0:08:07.404 great grandfather, Harris, emigrated from Minsk in eighteen ninety one, 0:08:07.964 --> 0:08:10.764 and he was one of millions of Jews that had 0:08:10.804 --> 0:08:14.804 to flee Eastern Europe to destinations like Britain, South Africa, 0:08:14.844 --> 0:08:19.164 the US, even Australia and the late nineteenth century early 0:08:19.364 --> 0:08:20.404 twentieth century. 0:08:21.004 --> 0:08:23.964 Like many Jewish immigrant families of the day, they came 0:08:24.004 --> 0:08:27.284 through London's poor East End before settling in the fairly 0:08:27.364 --> 0:08:32.404 Jewish area of Southgate in London's northern suburbs. Amy's dad, Mitch, 0:08:32.444 --> 0:08:35.004 told the BBC in two thousand and eight that the 0:08:35.004 --> 0:08:37.764 first few years of Amy's life were happy. 0:08:38.084 --> 0:08:40.204 You know, my kids, you know, they grew up in 0:08:40.724 --> 0:08:42.884 you know, in a large extended family as I did 0:08:42.964 --> 0:08:45.884 as a child, you know, and they were surrounded by 0:08:46.004 --> 0:08:49.564 music and love and laughter, and we just all had 0:08:49.564 --> 0:08:52.524 a good time, as we continue to do now. Smashing kid. 0:08:53.044 --> 0:08:58.284 Young Amy attended Hebrew school every weekend and every Sunday 0:08:58.404 --> 0:09:01.404 she would beg her father not to make her go. 0:09:01.764 --> 0:09:05.044 It's not a typical of children that grow up in 0:09:05.204 --> 0:09:08.724 diverse cultural backgrounds. To show a degree of resistance, you know, 0:09:08.804 --> 0:09:11.764 to weekend activities and have to do with engaging with 0:09:11.764 --> 0:09:15.404 a cultural heritage is not uncommon. But Amy's family was 0:09:15.444 --> 0:09:18.924 not actually religious. They observed some of the traditions and customs, 0:09:19.324 --> 0:09:21.964 but their experience and the way that they expressed their 0:09:22.004 --> 0:09:26.004 Jewish identity sits within the great diverse of how people 0:09:26.044 --> 0:09:29.484 define themselves and express those customs and how they observe 0:09:29.604 --> 0:09:30.724 those traditions. 0:09:32.004 --> 0:09:36.844 While as a Lenny describes, the Winehouse family wasn't particularly religious, 0:09:37.364 --> 0:09:41.404 they held weeklish about dinners at Amy's grandmother's home. They 0:09:41.444 --> 0:09:45.564 were a close knit and fairly spirited lot. In a 0:09:45.604 --> 0:09:49.764 handwritten application to the Sylvia Young Theater School teenage, Amie wrote, 0:09:50.124 --> 0:09:52.524 all my life, I have been loud to the point 0:09:52.524 --> 0:09:55.164 of being told to shut up. The only reason I 0:09:55.204 --> 0:09:57.284 have had to be this loud is because you have 0:09:57.364 --> 0:09:59.884 to scream to be heard. In my family. 0:10:00.244 --> 0:10:02.844 There was a lot of accounts about how several guests 0:10:02.964 --> 0:10:05.524 musicians are the friends of Amy's would also sit through 0:10:05.524 --> 0:10:09.484 some of those dinners. So I think that those traditions 0:10:09.564 --> 0:10:13.004 and her jewishness. The way that they were observed connected 0:10:13.044 --> 0:10:15.884 to her heritage and her ancestors, something that she was 0:10:15.924 --> 0:10:18.484 really very fond of, as she was very interested in 0:10:18.524 --> 0:10:19.604 her own family history. 0:10:20.044 --> 0:10:22.684 By the time she was primary school aged, Amy was 0:10:22.724 --> 0:10:28.244 described by friends and family as boisterous and defiant, notoriously 0:10:28.364 --> 0:10:29.804 good at getting her way. 0:10:30.084 --> 0:10:32.084 Teachers complained when she was ten years old, you know, 0:10:32.124 --> 0:10:35.444 she couldn't be quiet in class and she was always 0:10:35.524 --> 0:10:36.284 wanting to sing. 0:10:36.684 --> 0:10:40.844 That's doctor Peter Hughes. He's a UK based psychologist, philosopher 0:10:40.924 --> 0:10:44.084 and writer. Peter says it was clear from a very 0:10:44.124 --> 0:10:48.444 early age that Amy was a rebel. Her parents didn't 0:10:48.484 --> 0:10:50.964 know how to say no to her, but there was 0:10:51.004 --> 0:10:56.924 always one person who could. Amy's paternal grandmother, Cynthia, who 0:10:56.924 --> 0:11:01.124 became a steady stalwart of Amy's life. A flamboyant character 0:11:01.164 --> 0:11:05.004 who taught Amy to read tarot cards and even allowed 0:11:05.044 --> 0:11:07.524 her and her older brother Alex to smoke around her. 0:11:07.804 --> 0:11:12.804 She was particularly close to Cynthia. Cynthia's described as very 0:11:12.884 --> 0:11:16.604 glamorous and dependent, stylish woman. That was even a mention 0:11:16.924 --> 0:11:19.884 in the exhibition that she dated musician Ronnie Scott in 0:11:19.884 --> 0:11:23.084 the nineteen forties. And that she loved jazz herself. So 0:11:23.284 --> 0:11:26.484 it's really interesting to see how how you know, that spirit, 0:11:26.604 --> 0:11:30.644 that dynamic energy that Amy had herself finds its roots 0:11:30.644 --> 0:11:34.124 back to this woman as her love for music. There 0:11:34.164 --> 0:11:37.364 were some old photographs of Cynthia and the exhibition, so 0:11:37.764 --> 0:11:39.964 you know there was a connection there. There was actually 0:11:40.084 --> 0:11:43.244 quite a close resemblance, but also a connection to Amy's 0:11:43.244 --> 0:11:45.684 distinctive style and her sense of fashion. 0:11:47.044 --> 0:11:50.204 Cynthia's love for all things jazz and mid century music 0:11:50.284 --> 0:11:53.244 rubbed off on Amy quickly. Her grandmother introduced her to 0:11:53.284 --> 0:11:58.084 the sounds of Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, voices 0:11:58.124 --> 0:12:01.644 that inspired Amy's lifelong love affair with music. 0:12:01.844 --> 0:12:04.964 Like singing on stage, it's like breathing, like I'm probably 0:12:05.284 --> 0:12:07.244 most of peace when I'm singing on stage. 0:12:07.324 --> 0:12:09.724 It wasn't just a love for old world music that 0:12:09.764 --> 0:12:14.084 Amy shared with her grandmother, Cynthia. Amy became enamored with 0:12:14.164 --> 0:12:18.244 gangster films, the Godfather franchise. She'd tell her friends as 0:12:18.284 --> 0:12:21.804 a kid how she fantasized about life as a gangster's wife. 0:12:22.524 --> 0:12:25.884 But beyond their bond over music, Cynthia came a dependable 0:12:25.924 --> 0:12:28.804 shoulder for Amy, to lean on during her parents' divorce 0:12:28.844 --> 0:12:33.564 when she was just nine years old. Amy's dad, Mitch Weinehouse, 0:12:33.924 --> 0:12:36.324 had been having an affair with a colleague for most 0:12:36.404 --> 0:12:39.724 of young Amy's life before he and her mother, Janis, 0:12:39.804 --> 0:12:43.684 eventually split. It was a turning point for Amy, and 0:12:43.764 --> 0:12:46.804 the years to come saw a strained relationship with her father. 0:12:47.764 --> 0:12:50.324 The collapse of her family unit, and the toilet took 0:12:50.364 --> 0:12:54.124 on her would become clearer over time, but almost immediately 0:12:54.164 --> 0:12:57.404 she began acting out in school. It's a pain that 0:12:57.444 --> 0:12:59.404 Amy would eventually write about through song. 0:12:59.724 --> 0:13:02.764 This is a preview pessant girl. She's growing up, she's 0:13:03.004 --> 0:13:05.644 finding her identity, you know, at the age of ten, 0:13:06.084 --> 0:13:09.684 you know, she teachers couldn't control her at school, and 0:13:10.604 --> 0:13:12.684 she was always singing, and she formed her first band, 0:13:12.684 --> 0:13:15.284 a first rap band called Sweet and Sour, And she 0:13:15.364 --> 0:13:17.604 was on this kind of path. And who knows how 0:13:17.644 --> 0:13:19.884 traumatic she felt that For all we know, it might 0:13:19.924 --> 0:13:22.444 have been deeply and profoundly traumatic, and meant much of 0:13:22.444 --> 0:13:26.404 her behavior may have been synonymous with or exhibiting symptoms 0:13:26.724 --> 0:13:29.444 of post traumatic stress disorder. Because for a nine year 0:13:29.484 --> 0:13:33.044 old girl to watch her parents split, we don't know 0:13:33.084 --> 0:13:35.764 how her affections were distributed between them. We don't know 0:13:35.804 --> 0:13:38.124 whether the extent to which our world fell apart, but 0:13:38.204 --> 0:13:42.524 I think it's fair to assume that warring parents and 0:13:42.604 --> 0:13:45.324 a messy divorce at the age of nine is not 0:13:45.444 --> 0:13:48.604 psychologically healthy for anybody, male or female, and it wasn't 0:13:48.604 --> 0:13:50.444 psychologically healthy for Amy. 0:13:51.004 --> 0:13:54.324 Doctor Peter Hughes says it's fair to assume the divorce 0:13:54.324 --> 0:13:56.884 of Amy's parents would have been corrosive on a nine 0:13:56.964 --> 0:13:59.564 year old girl. A clue to the impacts of that 0:13:59.604 --> 0:14:02.524 pain were found years later by Amy's older brother. 0:14:02.884 --> 0:14:05.524 He said that she kept tucked away in a drawer 0:14:05.564 --> 0:14:08.884 all her life, preserved perfectly a school jumper from her 0:14:08.884 --> 0:14:13.004 primary school. And that's actually quite fascinating because amidst all 0:14:13.004 --> 0:14:16.204 the chaos, all the madness, all the trauma, all the violence, 0:14:16.724 --> 0:14:19.084 some of it inflicted on or some of itself inflicted, 0:14:19.764 --> 0:14:23.244 that she hung onto this and maybe it was talismanic 0:14:23.284 --> 0:14:25.164 for her. Maybe it was an anchor for her, something 0:14:25.164 --> 0:14:28.884 to keep her grounded to something that was essential, and 0:14:28.924 --> 0:14:31.204 perhaps hoping one day that they might be stronger than 0:14:31.244 --> 0:14:31.724 an addiction. 0:14:32.324 --> 0:14:36.924 Those who knew Amy, people like Russell Brand, recognized quickly 0:14:37.084 --> 0:14:41.524 how talented she was the unlikeliness of that huge voice 0:14:41.564 --> 0:14:45.604 from that tiny frame, an element of surprise that sparked 0:14:45.644 --> 0:14:50.164 intrigue everywhere she went and every place she sang. 0:14:50.284 --> 0:14:51.964 Because she was a jazz singer, right, I was like, 0:14:52.004 --> 0:14:54.484 who gives a shit about Jack? Like, you know, she 0:14:54.604 --> 0:14:56.004 was sort of around there, and I thought she was 0:14:56.044 --> 0:14:58.244 sort of sweet and lovely and unusual and strange, but 0:14:58.244 --> 0:15:00.124 I didn't pay that much attention. Then I went into 0:15:00.484 --> 0:15:02.884 the roundhouse and she like did some sort of drop 0:15:02.964 --> 0:15:06.764 in thing, and like just hearing her sing before seeing, 0:15:06.804 --> 0:15:08.764 you know, when going up trying to get into a 0:15:08.844 --> 0:15:12.924 venue her the voice was so unbelievable and powerful and 0:15:12.964 --> 0:15:14.444 then like, yeah, I saw it for what it was. 0:15:14.484 --> 0:15:15.724 I saw it for what it was. She was a 0:15:15.804 --> 0:15:18.084 channel man, Like that's what you get from certain people. 0:15:18.084 --> 0:15:20.204 They're channeling. You see it in sport, and you see 0:15:20.244 --> 0:15:22.164 it in art, like no one can do that. You 0:15:22.244 --> 0:15:23.004 can't do that. 0:15:23.404 --> 0:15:25.964 She was a young person and that was really ambitious, 0:15:26.084 --> 0:15:29.804 had really big dreams about herself and chased those dreams 0:15:29.804 --> 0:15:33.044 and really made something out of herself through her beautiful 0:15:33.084 --> 0:15:34.364 talent and her big voice. 0:15:34.604 --> 0:15:38.164 And as Eleni Papa Vasiliu from the Australian Jewish Museum. 0:15:38.204 --> 0:15:43.604 Discovered as a teenager, Amy found inspiration from all music genres. 0:15:43.884 --> 0:15:47.244 We had a playlist on loop, a soundtrack and the 0:15:47.284 --> 0:15:50.804 exhibition from a tape that she called Songs from a 0:15:50.884 --> 0:15:54.844 Chill Out tape that included Frank Sinatra to Pearl Jam 0:15:54.884 --> 0:15:57.004 and the Offspring, so some of her favorite songs. 0:15:58.404 --> 0:16:01.204 When Amy struggled to conform in the environment of a 0:16:01.284 --> 0:16:04.524 mainstream school, she took matters into her own hands. But 0:16:04.644 --> 0:16:08.044 helping Amy to realize her potential via the conventional means 0:16:08.084 --> 0:16:11.164 of vocal training, it was no easy feat. 0:16:11.444 --> 0:16:13.964 She managed to arrange her own audition to get into 0:16:14.204 --> 0:16:16.044 a Sylvia Young Theater school in London. 0:16:16.044 --> 0:16:19.804 I think when she was fourteen, aspiring young performers all 0:16:19.964 --> 0:16:23.404 over the UK treamped of getting into Sylvia Young. It 0:16:23.564 --> 0:16:26.884 was the school for hope, future starts. Could this be 0:16:27.004 --> 0:16:31.124 it Amy's big break? Her lift off moment from the 0:16:31.204 --> 0:16:37.684 launchpad of a prestigious performing arts academy, Well not quite. 0:16:38.244 --> 0:16:42.764 Amy was eventually asked to leave. She flouted uniform rules 0:16:42.764 --> 0:16:47.044 by wearing a nose ring, and despite a powerfully intellectual mind, 0:16:47.564 --> 0:16:49.644 she didn't care a bit for academia. 0:16:49.764 --> 0:16:52.324 She got expelled from there. So there's always been a 0:16:52.444 --> 0:16:56.524 kind of a rebellious, rebellious streak to em your own house. 0:16:56.764 --> 0:16:59.604 But it didn't slow Amy down, and before long she 0:16:59.724 --> 0:17:03.604 was accepted into the prestigious Brits School. Sure enough, though 0:17:03.644 --> 0:17:07.844 the ever defiant, willful Amy dropped out. By sixteen, she 0:17:07.964 --> 0:17:10.764 was working part time and performing with jazz groups. 0:17:11.004 --> 0:17:13.484 When I was about eighteen, I've started playing gigs. I 0:17:13.564 --> 0:17:14.404 just played pub gigs. 0:17:14.444 --> 0:17:15.204 I've had some songs. 0:17:15.244 --> 0:17:16.084 I just to pup gigs. 0:17:16.124 --> 0:17:18.564 I'm going with my with my strata or something. You 0:17:18.684 --> 0:17:19.484 just played pub gig. 0:17:21.404 --> 0:17:26.124 But beneath the facade of bravado and ambition, teenage Amy 0:17:26.484 --> 0:17:29.244 was in the throes of more than one silent battle 0:17:29.644 --> 0:17:33.444 as patterns of self destructive behavior began to emerge. When 0:17:33.484 --> 0:17:37.524 Amy told her mother she'd discovered a great new diet, 0:17:38.524 --> 0:17:42.684 it would eventually manifest into an eating disorder, and at fourteen, 0:17:42.764 --> 0:17:47.484 Amy was diagnosed with depression and prescribed antidepressants as her 0:17:47.524 --> 0:17:49.124 behavior grew ever erratic. 0:17:49.764 --> 0:17:53.404 Amy's vulnerabilities tell us a lot about her state of mind, really, 0:17:53.444 --> 0:17:58.084 because these were multiple vulnerabilities, you know, anxiety, self harm, 0:17:58.324 --> 0:18:02.164 eating disorders, depression. This is an enormous amount for anybody 0:18:02.244 --> 0:18:05.564 to cope with psychologically and her history of eating disorders. 0:18:05.564 --> 0:18:08.484 Her brother Alex said in an interview that that all 0:18:08.484 --> 0:18:12.364 the girls on her her estate were all filling themselves 0:18:12.404 --> 0:18:15.004 up and vomiting it out, but Amy never stopped the 0:18:15.044 --> 0:18:17.124 other girls. Most the other girls stopped, they moved on. 0:18:17.204 --> 0:18:17.924 Amy never did. 0:18:18.364 --> 0:18:21.524 It was through her music, her songwriting that Amy sought 0:18:21.644 --> 0:18:27.204 to self soothe, and eventually it would captivate fans. Fans 0:18:27.284 --> 0:18:30.564 like writer Polly Taylor, Muma MIA's commissioning editor. 0:18:31.044 --> 0:18:34.204 She was so real, so raw, like every lyric, every 0:18:34.244 --> 0:18:36.804 song was a story that she was telling you about 0:18:36.804 --> 0:18:37.244 her life. 0:18:37.484 --> 0:18:39.204 Could you know I've been three times where I've been 0:18:39.244 --> 0:18:42.484 so fucked up about a situations that I've had to 0:18:42.524 --> 0:18:46.564 just be like write everything down, you know, even feelings 0:18:46.564 --> 0:18:49.324 that I don't want to acknowledge, especially feelings I don't 0:18:49.324 --> 0:18:51.444 want to acknowledge, and things that I wish were not 0:18:51.444 --> 0:18:54.324 true and they are. And you know, it's just good 0:18:54.404 --> 0:18:57.964 because someone else might hear that and be like, I'm 0:18:57.964 --> 0:18:59.764 not an idiot for feeding any things. 0:19:00.004 --> 0:19:03.964 By the time she'd reached adolescentce, Amy was feeling lost 0:19:04.564 --> 0:19:08.204 and directionless. She knew her life's purpose was to sing, 0:19:08.724 --> 0:19:11.844 but she didn't know how or if she could make 0:19:11.884 --> 0:19:14.844 a career of it until a chance meeting with a 0:19:14.884 --> 0:19:19.884 man called Nick Schiminsky that would change everything, a guy 0:19:19.924 --> 0:19:23.084 who'd become a rare force for good in Amy's ever 0:19:23.324 --> 0:19:24.324 complex life. 0:19:26.844 --> 0:19:30.124 Nick Joy is Amy your favorite during girl. 0:19:31.204 --> 0:19:34.644 At from your Mum, I don't know what you're playing 0:19:34.644 --> 0:19:36.404 at you. 0:19:36.964 --> 0:19:39.004 There was very much I love you. 0:19:41.324 --> 0:19:45.004 She was sixteen and he was nineteen. Both of them 0:19:45.044 --> 0:19:49.484 were sort of as clueless as each other. Sure, Nick 0:19:49.604 --> 0:19:53.004 was working in the industry, but even he since admitted 0:19:53.044 --> 0:19:56.164 he didn't really know what he was doing. Nick was 0:19:56.204 --> 0:19:59.564 managing an artist called Tyler James at the time. It 0:19:59.684 --> 0:20:03.644 was Tyler who convinced Nick he had to hear Amy sing. 0:20:04.484 --> 0:20:07.404 In an interview with The Guardian in twenty fifteen, Nick 0:20:07.484 --> 0:20:10.764 recounted his first phone call with Amy, one where he 0:20:10.844 --> 0:20:13.884 pretended to be a hot shot manager that could make 0:20:13.964 --> 0:20:16.164 things happen. But Amy didn't. 0:20:15.884 --> 0:20:16.404 Go for it. 0:20:16.724 --> 0:20:19.084 Obviously she thought I was a wanker. She made it 0:20:19.204 --> 0:20:22.684 very clear. I realized humor was the backup plan, and 0:20:22.724 --> 0:20:23.644 that's how we connected. 0:20:25.004 --> 0:20:25.204 Time. 0:20:25.204 --> 0:20:28.244 She was saying she had absolutely no interest in making music. 0:20:29.284 --> 0:20:31.004 I got this package through the post with a demo 0:20:31.084 --> 0:20:33.444 tape with two songs on, and the Jiffy bag was 0:20:33.484 --> 0:20:36.564 covered in stickers of hearts and kisses and had Amy 0:20:36.604 --> 0:20:39.404 scribbled all over it about one hundred times. It didn't 0:20:39.444 --> 0:20:41.244 fit with the girl who didn't want to be noticed. 0:20:42.004 --> 0:20:43.964 I put it on in my car and it blew 0:20:44.164 --> 0:20:47.324 my mind. As soon as producers heard her, they were 0:20:47.444 --> 0:20:50.764 in from the off. She was very funny, very blunt. 0:20:51.324 --> 0:20:52.004 She was different. 0:20:52.564 --> 0:20:57.924 She was a personality, and so a friendship and partnership blossomed. 0:20:58.604 --> 0:21:01.324 By age twenty, Amy was on the cusp of achieving 0:21:01.444 --> 0:21:05.524 her dreams. After years of scribbling lyrics of her innermost 0:21:05.604 --> 0:21:10.684 thoughts onto notepads in her bedroom, she recorded a studio album. 0:21:11.364 --> 0:21:13.724 It would be called Frank. 0:21:14.924 --> 0:21:19.684 Help You, If You help yourself. 0:21:21.204 --> 0:21:25.324 I would absolutely describe myself as a huge Amy House fan. 0:21:25.884 --> 0:21:27.724 I was thinking about this, and I feel like there 0:21:27.724 --> 0:21:31.244 aren't many artists where you can remember where you were 0:21:31.364 --> 0:21:34.164 the first time you heard their voice. But I remember 0:21:34.164 --> 0:21:36.724 it so clearly. I think I was about seventeen or eighteen. 0:21:37.444 --> 0:21:40.204 I had a friend who was studying or working in music. 0:21:40.284 --> 0:21:43.164 She was super into her music. Got in her car 0:21:43.284 --> 0:21:45.524 and she was like, you have to hear this new artist. 0:21:45.964 --> 0:21:48.124 Put a CD in because obviously that's how long ago 0:21:48.244 --> 0:21:51.004 this was. It was a CD and it must have 0:21:51.044 --> 0:21:53.204 been the Frank album. I can't remember what song it was, 0:21:53.244 --> 0:21:55.404 but the second I heard her voice, I was like, 0:21:55.564 --> 0:21:59.044 Oh my god, who is this? This is something special? 0:21:59.324 --> 0:22:01.884 And yeah, from that moment I was just obsessed. 0:22:02.444 --> 0:22:05.324 Literally. They said, we'll give you all the studio time 0:22:05.404 --> 0:22:07.044 you want. I said, why would you do that and 0:22:07.044 --> 0:22:08.404 they were like, because you're going to make an album 0:22:08.444 --> 0:22:09.844 for us and we'll make a return off that. And 0:22:09.884 --> 0:22:13.364 I was like, yeah, okay, right, I see that. 0:22:13.964 --> 0:22:16.884 And on the twentieth of October two thousand and three, 0:22:17.604 --> 0:22:21.964 Frank was released. In the days after Amy's dad, Mitch, 0:22:22.164 --> 0:22:23.804 was on a shift behind the wheel of a cab 0:22:24.004 --> 0:22:26.884 before he stuck, brought upon a billboard of his daughter. 0:22:27.604 --> 0:22:29.804 Here's what he told the BBC about it. Back in 0:22:29.844 --> 0:22:30.604 two thousand and. 0:22:30.564 --> 0:22:33.084 Eight, Amy's album came out, the first album, Frank. It 0:22:33.164 --> 0:22:35.644 was October two thousand and three and we were driving 0:22:35.644 --> 0:22:38.284 through London and there was this massive poster up on the 0:22:38.324 --> 0:22:41.204 wall with Amy with Frank, and I said to the 0:22:41.244 --> 0:22:43.244 bloke behind, I said, I said, here mate. I said, 0:22:43.244 --> 0:22:46.764 shaid that picture over there. He said yeah, I said, 0:22:46.764 --> 0:22:49.124 that's my daughter. He said, do me a favor, will you? 0:22:49.204 --> 0:22:51.964 He said, I'm on the phone. He said, do you mind. 0:22:52.524 --> 0:22:54.564 He said, I'm trying to. I'm trying to. He said 0:22:54.604 --> 0:22:57.404 I'm not interested. He said, just drive and I thought, 0:22:57.404 --> 0:22:57.764 well it is. 0:22:58.084 --> 0:23:13.684 It was rude. Frank climbed the UK charts immediately. Amy 0:23:13.764 --> 0:23:17.044 set off on to work captivating audiences around Europe with 0:23:17.084 --> 0:23:20.244 her other worldly sound Here's Polly again. 0:23:20.484 --> 0:23:22.764 The first time I saw her was not that long 0:23:22.804 --> 0:23:25.524 after the first time i'd heard her the Frank album, 0:23:26.124 --> 0:23:29.044 and it was completely by chance. I was in Harrogate, 0:23:29.044 --> 0:23:31.164 which is a northern town in the UK. I was 0:23:31.164 --> 0:23:33.644 there for a writer's festival and I was in this 0:23:33.724 --> 0:23:36.044 tiny little hotel and I walked up to the reception 0:23:36.684 --> 0:23:38.484 and there was a sign on the reception desk that 0:23:38.564 --> 0:23:44.004 said Amy Wynehouse Tickets for tonight sixteen pounds that's about 0:23:44.004 --> 0:23:46.444 thirty dollars. I was like, oh my god, I'm going. 0:23:46.484 --> 0:23:48.484 So I just bought a ticket and went that night. 0:23:49.124 --> 0:23:51.244 And it was a tiny little venue. I was probably 0:23:51.284 --> 0:23:54.244