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Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.

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Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. The Club

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Speaker 1: is the production of I Heart Radio and Double Elvis.

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Speaker 1: Amy Winehouse died at the age of seven, and she

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Speaker 1: lived a life that was never not out of control.

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Speaker 1: I can give you twenty seven reasons why that statement

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Speaker 1: is true. Three would be the number of times she

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Speaker 1: said no in quick succession when talking to producer Mark

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Speaker 1: Ronson about rehab, a response that would quickly become musical legend.

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Speaker 1: Another three will be the number of weeks it would

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Speaker 1: take for Amy and Mark to craft half of an album,

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Speaker 1: during which time Amy would frequently disappear to the studio

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Speaker 1: bathroom to indulge in old habits. One more for the

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Speaker 1: number of landmark legal cases she waged against the paparazzi

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Speaker 1: after photographers invaded her privacy one too many times. Nine

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Speaker 1: would be the hour in the morning when Amy would

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Speaker 1: set up tequila shots during her supposed eight month long detox.

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Speaker 1: Another three would be the number of months that elapsed

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Speaker 1: between the announcement of a comeback tour and Amy once

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Speaker 1: again crashing and burning, this time as the headliner of

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Speaker 1: a jazz festival. Six would be the number of songs

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Speaker 1: she was able to stumble through during that show before

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Speaker 1: Mother Nature literally pulled the pluck into will be the

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Speaker 1: number of years she'd have left to live when that

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Speaker 1: show ended, all totally on this episode indulging in the

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Speaker 1: bathroom a landmark legal case Mother Nature in Amy Winehouse,

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Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this is the club, m Mercer Street,

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Speaker 1: New York City, March two six. There she was. It

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Speaker 1: was hard to miss, her jet black beehive piled on

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Speaker 1: top of a whispy body, just as she would look

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Speaker 1: in the tabloids when she became a daily fixture. But

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Speaker 1: in New York City in two thousand and six, her debut,

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Speaker 1: Frank hadn't even cracked the top fifty in the States,

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Speaker 1: so nobody knew who this strange looking creature was. He approached,

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Speaker 1: she didn't recognize him. She was expecting someone a little

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Speaker 1: more seasons. As she herself would later put in, she

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Speaker 1: was expecting an older man with a beard, some hip

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Speaker 1: hop geezer. Mark Ronson was no geezer. Mark Ronson was

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Speaker 1: a thirty year old producer with a bit of good

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Speaker 1: buzz following him when he landed the opportunity to work

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Speaker 1: on half of the tracks for what would become Amy

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Speaker 1: Winehouse's monster second album, Back to Black, but he was

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Speaker 1: still fighting for producer credits, so it was no surprise

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Speaker 1: she didn't recognize him. In fact, Amy wasn't all too

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Speaker 1: thrilled to even meet the guy. Amy knew Mark was

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Speaker 1: just another DJ who happened to get noticed at some

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Speaker 1: exclusive club, and now he was using that cultural currency

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Speaker 1: to break into record making all flash, probably just trying

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Speaker 1: to ride the coattails of the nearest popeye idol he

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Speaker 1: could find. Amy wasn't out to be a popeye idol,

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Speaker 1: and that was well established and well documented. She just

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Speaker 1: wanted to make good music, so excuse her if the

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Speaker 1: Abercrombie looking other fucker in front of her didn't necessarily

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Speaker 1: scream authenticity. But what the hell. He was here and

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Speaker 1: she was here and might as well give him a chance.

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Speaker 1: Amy and Mark went for a walk through New York

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Speaker 1: Soho shopping district. Amy discovered that, like her, Mark was

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Speaker 1: born in London, but that's where the similarities ended. Mark

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Speaker 1: was crafting pop and hip hop tracks with the likes

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Speaker 1: of Nicka Costa, while Amy had been busy recording two

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Speaker 1: thousand threes, jazz heavy Frank, and they were from different universes.

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Speaker 1: Mark's mission was to prove Amy wrong while also proving

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Speaker 1: himself to her. He knew he was the perfect guy

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Speaker 1: for the job, so he looked for common ground. They

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Speaker 1: were both children of divorce, both of them Jewish, both

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Speaker 1: led lives that were nowhere near conventional. Mark grew up

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Speaker 1: in both London and New York and had a hybrid

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Speaker 1: accent to match that experience. Also, like Amy, music had

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Speaker 1: always been central to Mark's life. He spent a lot

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Speaker 1: of his childhood in the house of his stepfather, Mick Jones.

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Speaker 1: So the nineteen eighties stadium rock powerhouse Foreigner Foreigner's monster

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Speaker 1: hit I Want to Know What Love Is was written

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Speaker 1: by Mick Jones about Mark's mother. Davious artists were in

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Speaker 1: and out of Mark's home. Robin Williams once tucked him

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Speaker 1: into bed. Daryl Hall played at early morning chess with

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Speaker 1: Mick Jones while Mark headed off to school. In the morning,

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Speaker 1: Mark would frequently wake up to the sounds of late

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Speaker 1: night jam sessions and parties that he routinely found himself

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Speaker 1: wandering downstairs in the middle of the night, unnoticed by

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Speaker 1: the adults, where he gravitate towards the stereo a magnet

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Speaker 1: to steal and press his body up against the speaker

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Speaker 1: to absorb the vibrations. Music had been his life since

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Speaker 1: as long as he could remember. His education was by

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Speaker 1: audio osmosis. He had a deep understanding of the relationship

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Speaker 1: between Jewish American songwriters and black music. Soul, hip hop,

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Speaker 1: and Amy's first love, jazz. Amy threw a curveball. She

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Speaker 1: didn't want to make jazz anymore. In her eyes, jazz

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Speaker 1: had been hijacked by snobs. She didn't want to make

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Speaker 1: snob music. She was now obsessed with the girl groups

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Speaker 1: of the nineteen sixties, the Shangri Las, the Crystals, the

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Speaker 1: Ronett's Big Beehive Music. Mark had little experience with the

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Speaker 1: sixties girl group sound, but he was intrigued. His shy,

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Speaker 1: saw spoken demeanor in non confrontational way of discussing music

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Speaker 1: in life allowed Amy to open up. She started to

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Speaker 1: talk about more than just music. She even told Mark

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Speaker 1: about the on again, off again relationship she had with

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Speaker 1: Blake Fielder. Civil Mark knew that being a producer wasn't

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Speaker 1: just about making music. Sometimes you had to play therapist,

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Speaker 1: as well a prester on Blake. It had been a

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Speaker 1: whirlwind romance, she said. Blake had gone back to his

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Speaker 1: ex girlfriend six months later. Amy was with another right now,

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Speaker 1: but god damned to Blake do a bloody number on her.

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Speaker 1: After they split, Amy got it bad, real bad, rock

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Speaker 1: bottom bad, drinking all the time bad, and everyone was

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Speaker 1: worried about her. She laughed just thinking about it. She

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Speaker 1: explained to Mark how she had been in and out

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Speaker 1: of the hospital and wound up living at her dad's

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Speaker 1: house so he could keep an eye on her. Mark

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Speaker 1: took it in stride. He wasn't in the business of

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Speaker 1: judging the people he worked with. Even if Amy was

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Speaker 1: painting herself as a major league hop mess, he was

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Speaker 1: there to help her pull that pain out and put

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Speaker 1: it down on wax. You know what else, say, he confessed.

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Speaker 1: Tried to make me go to Rhea. Oh yeah, Mark

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Speaker 1: was curious, what did you tell them? I told him No, no, no, wait,

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Speaker 1: Mark stopped deadness tracks, the attitude, the cynicism, the irony,

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Speaker 1: it was all there herew around the words in his head. No, no, no,

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Speaker 1: that was that was it. It was gimmicky hooky. It

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Speaker 1: was a song and the two decamped to mark stu dio.

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Speaker 1: Thirty minutes later, Amy emerged with Rehab fully formed, but

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Speaker 1: it was a slow, chugging blues tune. Mark wanted to

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Speaker 1: make it more pop, make it dance. Pop didn't sound

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Speaker 1: like a dirty word when it came from Mark's mouth.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't Simon Fuller. Mark was actually trying to understand

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Speaker 1: where Amy was coming from, how she heard the tune,

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Speaker 1: how she felt it, just like he had felt the

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Speaker 1: vibrations of the music come out of a speaker at

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Speaker 1: an after hours party when he was a kid. Mark

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Speaker 1: sat down at the drums, banged out of rhythm, and

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Speaker 1: Amy started strumming in time. Holy sh it. She couldn't

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Speaker 1: believe how quickly the song came. It was like it

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Speaker 1: was there in the room and she and Mark just

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Speaker 1: reached out and grabbed it. And the other songs came

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Speaker 1: just as quickly. When Amy returned to the studio the

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Speaker 1: next day, Market built out tracks for the song that

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Speaker 1: will become Back to Black. It was exactly what she

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Speaker 1: wanted the entire album to sound like. For three weeks,

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Speaker 1: the duo punched the clock at the studio, along with

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Speaker 1: the punchy support of the dap Kings, Brooklyn's Keepers of

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Speaker 1: the Old School, Soul, Flame, live horns, raw tunes, real music.

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Speaker 1: Amy sift rum and coke in between vocal takes. Mark

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Speaker 1: had succeeded improving Amy wrong first impressions be damned. Mark's

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Speaker 1: first impression of Amy, however, didn't include any red flags

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Speaker 1: that she was struggling. Her work ethic was much stronger

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Speaker 1: than her reputation. The two got on like a house

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Speaker 1: on fire. Songs like rehab played more like tongue in cheek,

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Speaker 1: declarations of independence and desperate cries for help. In the studio,

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Speaker 1: Amy kept her darkest secrets to herself. It wasn't just

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Speaker 1: rum and cokes. Between takes, she gorged herself with food,

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Speaker 1: like she was medicating anxieties with calories. And then she

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Speaker 1: disappeared into the bathroom minutes and back to the vocal booth.

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Speaker 1: Her makeup smeared in her appearance pale. Later, Studio Style

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Speaker 1: First would comment on how Amy would redecorate bathrooms every

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Speaker 1: time she disappeared into one. In her mind, she was

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Speaker 1: holding it together. She had it all under control, and

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Speaker 1: no one was the wiser. The people would get wise

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Speaker 1: and she would lose control. She couldn't hold it all

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Speaker 1: together on her own, and it would put her life

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Speaker 1: in mortal danger. Amy Winehouse sat on a beach in St.

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Speaker 1: Lucia and felt the warm salt air blow against her hair,

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Speaker 1: four thousand miles away from London and its prying eyes,

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Speaker 1: so many eyes in London. London was more than big brother.

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Speaker 1: London was big sister and big cousin, and big aunt

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Speaker 1: and uncle too. It was two thousand and eight and St.

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Speaker 1: Lucia was planned as a reset of sorts. After her

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Speaker 1: no show at the Rock on Senne in Paris, her

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Speaker 1: disastrous appearance at Best of All in the Isle of Wight,

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Speaker 1: and that dust up at the Prince's Trust Charity ball.

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Speaker 1: Amy was in desperate need of a reset for mind,

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Speaker 1: body and soul. She was determined to get clean. She

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Speaker 1: was rebuilding herself physically and mentally. She was seeing things

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Speaker 1: clearly now. She wanted out of this dog and pony act,

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Speaker 1: and she knew exactly what to do about it. She

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Speaker 1: hit the paparazzi where it hurt, hit them horror fuckers

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Speaker 1: from see it coming as it stood right now, She

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Speaker 1: could see them coming a mile away, all the way

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Speaker 1: in St. Lucia, she could still see them, and they

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Speaker 1: were right where she left them back in London. They

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Speaker 1: were always where she left them. She went to bed,

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Speaker 1: and when she woke up, and there was that time

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Speaker 1: when she was just trying to pick up a prescription

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Speaker 1: like a normal human being, and they didn't care. As

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Speaker 1: soon as the taxi pulled up to the curve, they

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Speaker 1: were on her flashes painted the back seat of the cab.

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Speaker 1: She stumbled out the door and towards her apartment, flanked

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Speaker 1: by a bodyguard, and one of the paparazzi noticed the

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Speaker 1: prescription slipping in his hand. The temptation was too strong.

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Speaker 1: It was right there, the extra strength medications Old Wino

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Speaker 1: was taking. He could not take the shot private medical information.

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Speaker 1: Are you fucking kidding me? Amy stormed after the scum,

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Speaker 1: halfway between distress and disorientation, nearly falling down in the process.

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Speaker 1: Her bodyguard pulled her back towards the door of her apartment.

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Speaker 1: And they had no common sense, none of them, As

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Speaker 1: if common sense would make any difference, as if after

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Speaker 1: years of hounding her, her assails would finally give up

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Speaker 1: the chase. And they didn't be on slot of clicks,

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Speaker 1: the onslot of flashes. They continued point blank, merciless, and

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Speaker 1: they haptured everything. The disheveled hair, the cracked lips, dry skin,

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Speaker 1: vacant eyes, the mass scare that streaked down her face

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Speaker 1: after an emotional afternoon, her Rah reaction when blake Field,

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Speaker 1: her civil was released from prison and wanted to be

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Speaker 1: sent straight to rehab. The man she loved and then

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Speaker 1: the man who broke her heart, and also the man

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Speaker 1: who introduced her to Class A drugs, the very same

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Speaker 1: man who inspired the album that ensured she'd never have

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Speaker 1: another private moment in her life, the man she reconciled

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Speaker 1: with and then married, only losing to prison six months later.

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Speaker 1: Amy was really just a few short years ago. She

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Speaker 1: was making the best music she'd ever made with Mark

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Speaker 1: ronson I'm Back to Black. The music they made together

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Speaker 1: liberated her from the heartache that had run her down

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Speaker 1: like a freight train. Now she couldn't even show her

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Speaker 1: face in public. She needed bodyguards everywhere she went. She

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Speaker 1: was a global superstar, and every time she left her

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Speaker 1: home to go to fucking McDonald's there were thousands of

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Speaker 1: pictures to document it. A little ship Back to Black

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00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,840
Speaker 1: wasn't just a blessing it was a curse. She felt

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Speaker 1: the strong hand of her bodyguard grabb her by the

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Speaker 1: shoulder and guide her to the door. She fumbled with

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Speaker 1: her key. The endless stream of flashes and clicks continued,

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Speaker 1: and the cameras snapped and snapped, and then Amy snapped.

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Speaker 1: She rushed the closest creeting with a camera she could

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Speaker 1: find and grabbed his lens. He pulled it away inside

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Speaker 1: stepped Amy. She staggered into the street, and then the

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00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:34,040
Speaker 1: taunts started. The paparazzi, Why oh, why no, why no.

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00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,800
Speaker 1: They continued to mock her, trying to provoke another explosion,

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00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,800
Speaker 1: another priceless photo, another story to sell to the Daily Mail.

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00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:46,360
Speaker 1: Amy turned around and surveyed the crowd of cameramen separating

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Speaker 1: her from the front door of her apartment, and he

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Speaker 1: was hopeless. Her bodyguard ushered her into the nearest calve

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Speaker 1: that he could, and they sped off. They didn't even

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Speaker 1: have the decency to let her enter her own guy

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Speaker 1: damn home without mobbing her, and that home was now

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Speaker 1: ground zero for the press. Each morning and each evening,

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Speaker 1: there would be a platoon of paparazzi waiting outside her door,

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Speaker 1: hoping to catch a glimpse of the beehive ballistic missile. Eventually,

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Speaker 1: people could tell if Amy was in town or not

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Speaker 1: simply by the presence outside her apartment. Months later, when

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Speaker 1: Amy headed to St. Lucia and the paparazzi were forced

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Speaker 1: to trail smaller games celebrities, thieves would break into her

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Speaker 1: house and steal a number of personal possessions and guitars,

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Speaker 1: recording equipment, thousands of pounds, all because they knew there

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Speaker 1: was no way Amy was in town if the front

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Speaker 1: of her home wasn't flooded at all hours. Fuck the

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00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,960
Speaker 1: one century, you were always in the wrong place and

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00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,360
Speaker 1: it was always the wrong time. The dawn of the

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Speaker 1: digital age, the golden age of reality TV celebrity in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eight was not your father's celebrity. Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Hendricks and Janice Joplin didn't have to deal with this ship.

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Speaker 1: The lines between reality and public perception were blurred. People

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Speaker 1: didn't want to see celebrities living her life that was

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Speaker 1: so high it was out of reach. They wanted the

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Speaker 1: glamorous stripped away. They wanted real people, flaws and all,

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00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,240
Speaker 1: but especially flaws, and in the case of Amy, Wino's

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00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,080
Speaker 1: people got to see it all. If she had a

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Speaker 1: bad concert, if she was drunk during the night out

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Speaker 1: on the town, if she showed up with Blake on

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Speaker 1: the street in front of her apartment, bloody and bruised,

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Speaker 1: if she chased down paparazzi, wild eyed and half conscious,

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Speaker 1: is she puffed from a crack pipe. People couldn't get enough.

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Speaker 1: They were printing money off of this bullshit, and nearly

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Speaker 1: everyone around heim Me cashed in. Many in her circle

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00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:48,960
Speaker 1: included ensuring the paparazzi would only become more of a nuisance.

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00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,520
Speaker 1: It would never really go away. She just wanted to

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Speaker 1: make music. All this other ship had him in part

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00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,920
Speaker 1: of the deal. It wasn't her vision. She felt unsafe

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Speaker 1: going about her daily life, so she decided that it

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Speaker 1: was long past time to reclaim her safety, her comfort,

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Speaker 1: her life. She wasn't going to take it anymore, so

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Speaker 1: she left. She stayed in St. Lucia for eight months,

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Speaker 1: and on May one, two thousand nine, she relaxed under

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Speaker 1: a hot sun on a beach while a High court

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00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:23,040
Speaker 1: back in London ruled in her favor to grant an

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Speaker 1: anti harassment injunction against Big Pictures. The leading paparazzi agency

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Speaker 1: in the country. It was a landmark victory. The paparazzi

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Speaker 1: were no longer allowed within a hundreds of Amy winehouse.

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Speaker 1: They weren't allowed to take photos of her in front

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Speaker 1: of her home, and they weren't allowed to photograph her

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00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:44,040
Speaker 1: friends and family members without consent for Amy. It wasn't

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00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:46,320
Speaker 1: just a victory, but it was a little fuck you

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Speaker 1: to the industry that had taken advantage of her for years.

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Speaker 1: She was in control now, and not just over who

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00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,240
Speaker 1: could and couldn't take her picture. She was in control

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Speaker 1: of her health, her career, her love life. She was

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00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,879
Speaker 1: over blazed. She was making plans to move out of

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Speaker 1: Campden to the more serene hadley Wood area of Enfield,

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00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,960
Speaker 1: north of the city. Her new house, her new life,

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00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,280
Speaker 1: would be waiting for her when she returned home. But

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00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:14,159
Speaker 1: there was something else waiting for her to and if

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00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:24,320
Speaker 1: she looked hard enough, she could see it coming. We'll

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00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:33,080
Speaker 1: be right back after this word word word. On the

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00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,440
Speaker 1: first day of the two thousand nine St. Lucia Jazz Festival,

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00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:41,360
Speaker 1: the rain was relentless. A tropical storm ripped through the island.

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Speaker 1: The eye of the storm aimed directly at the sight

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00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:48,400
Speaker 1: of the concert, hard driving rain, not just tropical, biblical,

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00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,680
Speaker 1: and the weather was so intense that the first day

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00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,919
Speaker 1: of the music festival was canceled and by the second

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00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,520
Speaker 1: day the rain had finally let up that there was

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00:18:57,560 --> 00:19:01,119
Speaker 1: another hurricane preparing to bear down on the main stage.

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00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,879
Speaker 1: This hurricane wasn't a tropical weather system, but rather the

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00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:10,320
Speaker 1: headliner of the festival, the main draw. The crowd waited

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00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:14,040
Speaker 1: eagerly under a bright, eerie full moon, and the hurricane

303
00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: picked up speed backstage. It was Amy Winehouse's first show

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00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,320
Speaker 1: since the the Bocle at the festival eight months prior.

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00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:24,520
Speaker 1: The show where she showed up late and left early,

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00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,160
Speaker 1: the same one where she ordered two cases of Jack

307
00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,160
Speaker 1: Daniels and did her best to consume every last drop

308
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,879
Speaker 1: of it and under an hour the show book ended

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00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,640
Speaker 1: a tumultuous two thousand and eight. That year started off

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00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,240
Speaker 1: well enough five Grammy wins, but it was all downhill

311
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,200
Speaker 1: from there or uphill, depending on your point of view.

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00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,119
Speaker 1: Amy's beloved Blake was sentenced twenty seven months in prison.

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00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,720
Speaker 1: Two bleak videos of Amy and the Libertines Pete Daherty

314
00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,480
Speaker 1: were posted online, and they were high as hell and

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00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,040
Speaker 1: playing with baby mice like a couple of dirty fingered

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00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,280
Speaker 1: little kids, though their fingers were dirty with presumably from

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00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,120
Speaker 1: a crack pipe. This behavior just added fuel to her

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00:20:05,119 --> 00:20:09,719
Speaker 1: ongoing public relations fire. Amy was arrested three times. She

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00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,280
Speaker 1: had lost complete control. It was now careening towards the

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00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,800
Speaker 1: predicted oblivion, unfurling in a wild fit. She was quickly

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00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:20,640
Speaker 1: becoming the next tragic chapter in the history of young

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00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:26,000
Speaker 1: talent who burned out before their time. Time to put

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00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:28,159
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight in the rear view. It was

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00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,600
Speaker 1: two thousand nine, and things were going to be different.

325
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,760
Speaker 1: Amy was healthy, She gained weight and was no longer

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00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,280
Speaker 1: looking dangerously thin. She had started a yoga regiment, was

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00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,720
Speaker 1: riding horses, and was bonding with the locals in St. Lucia.

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00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 1: She had physically moved herself far away from her old haunts,

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00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,280
Speaker 1: in her old habits. But old habits, you know what

330
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,879
Speaker 1: they say, They die hard. Her demons lingered in the

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00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,480
Speaker 1: air in her head, and they followed her like a

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00:20:56,560 --> 00:21:00,639
Speaker 1: dog follows its master. She was off jump it. She

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00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:04,360
Speaker 1: was frequently photographed sipping red wine and smoking what one

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00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:10,639
Speaker 1: Guardian article described as a strange cigarette. Come on. Amy

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00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 1: was writing a fine line of control one moment, having

336
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,560
Speaker 1: it in the next moment not so much. Her father, Mitch,

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00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,159
Speaker 1: brought a camera crew to St. Lucia, claiming that he

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00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:24,159
Speaker 1: was making a documentary about his life. Everyone knew the score.

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00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: Though if he needed money, he could provide it. She

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00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,560
Speaker 1: just didn't want the constant clicking and flashing of cameras

341
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,879
Speaker 1: back in her life. And then she received news that Blake,

342
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:37,639
Speaker 1: her Blake, had fathered a child while in rehab. Fuck,

343
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,600
Speaker 1: and that one hurt more than she thought it would.

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00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,119
Speaker 1: For all the good the island had done her, it

345
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:49,600
Speaker 1: seemed Amy couldn't escape her previous life. She stood backstage

346
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,720
Speaker 1: at the St. Lucia Festival, her trademark b I've Hair

347
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:56,159
Speaker 1: to Back in all its glory, hovering elegantly over her

348
00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 1: tattooed arms. A few stiff drinks took the edge off

349
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,359
Speaker 1: on what of it. She thought she'd been drinking regularly again,

350
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: but she figured out how to keep it under control.

351
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:10,720
Speaker 1: She'd been hospitalized in February for dehydration, but she convinced

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00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 1: herself that that had been an adverse reaction to her

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00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 1: medication and had nothing to do with the amount of

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Speaker 1: alcohol she was drinking. Right. St. Lucia was in England.

355
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,719
Speaker 1: Knew Amy Winehouse wasn't Old Amy Winehouse. She wouldn't let

356
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 1: the same old story be told, not again. Right. Her

357
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:29,439
Speaker 1: mind and body were healthier, and she was fixing to

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00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,080
Speaker 1: make sure her career was healthy too. And that's what

359
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 1: she told herself as she knocked back another vodka and coke.

360
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 1: Then she heard the announcer come over the p a,

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00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen. St. Lucia Jazz Festival introduces Hurricane. Amy

362
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,680
Speaker 1: jumped the gun. She blew onto the stage and blew

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00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,240
Speaker 1: her Q in the process. It wouldn't be the only

364
00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 1: cue she missed that evening. The drums thutted out a backbeat.

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00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 1: The backup dancers started to groove. Amy followed their lead,

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00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,679
Speaker 1: but found herself woefully off beat. As she turned her

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00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:02,919
Speaker 1: back to the crowd and steady herself with a deep breath,

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00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,480
Speaker 1: she faced them, but no words came out. She moved

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00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 1: the mic stand to the left and then to the right,

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00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,119
Speaker 1: and she called for the bass players to step forward,

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00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:13,960
Speaker 1: and then she shrugged her shoulders and she was completely

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00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 1: fucking lost. Amy swayed back and forth and what the

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00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 1: hell was happening? She had this. She had it under control, right.

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00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 1: A few nonsensical words scattered to the wind, her mind

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00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 1: raced the island, her dad, her blake, rehab rests, the alcohol,

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00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,919
Speaker 1: and music funk. That's right. She was supposed to be

377
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:35,880
Speaker 1: performing music, and for a full two minutes she wandered

378
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,200
Speaker 1: around as the music played, caught halfway between awkward dancing

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00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,679
Speaker 1: and nearly falling over on stage. With each step she

380
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,159
Speaker 1: leaned against the microphone stand. Her knuckles went white as

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00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 1: she gripped the mic and summoned every ounce of energy

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00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 1: she had, and finally she found her voice. Right here

383
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 1: we go. She barely made it through the first song,

384
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,359
Speaker 1: you know you now, slurring some words and right for

385
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 1: getting smothers sarcastic cheers from the crowd, and maybe she

386
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,679
Speaker 1: wasn't in control after all. She spied againness on the floor.

387
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: She steadied herself for long enough to pick it up,

388
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: and then steadied herself for a few seconds more and

389
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,919
Speaker 1: knocked it back. Hurricane Amy was picking up steam, and

390
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,199
Speaker 1: so was the weather outside. A steady rain began to

391
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 1: pummel the audience and the stage. Amy stumbled through two

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00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,479
Speaker 1: more songs, and the energy and the crowd began to shift.

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00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: This wasn't the new Amy wine House they had heard about,

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00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 1: the one who got her shipped together, the one staging

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00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 1: a massive comeback. And now they weren't just seeing a

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00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: rerun of the rundown old Amy Winehouse. They were getting

397
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,359
Speaker 1: fucking soaked. Amy lifted yet another cup to her lips,

398
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: this time a Voga and coke. Her mind wandered, she

399
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: could have been anywhere. Her head was heavy. She leaned

400
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,480
Speaker 1: against the drum riser. She just needed a moment to rest.

401
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 1: A backup singer pulled Amy off the riser, and she

402
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 1: played it off, jokingly flirting with him as she made

403
00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:01,800
Speaker 1: her way back to the mic and the bewildered crowd.

404
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 1: And then immediately after the next song, the lights went out.

405
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: Literally the rain had turned from steady to straight up,

406
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:15,160
Speaker 1: the downpour so heavy that it shorted the rigging on stage,

407
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,680
Speaker 1: and the torrential rain matched Amy's manic, drunken energy. By

408
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 1: the time the lights came back on, Amy had finished

409
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 1: her vodka and coke and meandered through an uninspired rendition

410
00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 1: of tears dry on their own. It would be a

411
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: minute before anything at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival was

412
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: dry and the entire scene was soaked Hurricane Amy made

413
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: a downturn. She walked off the stage in the middle

414
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: of the next song. Valerie staggered backstage and retraced her tracks,

415
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,120
Speaker 1: and there was no real escape from what her life

416
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,400
Speaker 1: had become, not even on St. Lucia. As she sat

417
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 1: on a couch backstage, absolutely wasted, she started to understand

418
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 1: the unsettling truth. If she ever wanted to take back

419
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 1: control role, she'd have to dry out first. Amy Winehouse

420
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,120
Speaker 1: sat with a friend at the bar of St. Lucia's

421
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: Cotton Bay Village resort. Her massive gold hooped earrings peeked

422
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,879
Speaker 1: out from her dark, luscious curls, day old mask, garraw

423
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,840
Speaker 1: smeared around her eyes, her clothes hanging from her wiry frame.

424
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,240
Speaker 1: She was perched barefoot like some rare bird, the kind

425
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,560
Speaker 1: the honeymooners and families on vacation and never seen before.

426
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 1: Amy was once again starting to look like things weren't

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00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,200
Speaker 1: going her way. One week removed from her complete meltdown

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00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,439
Speaker 1: at the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, she wasn't even supposed

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00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,439
Speaker 1: to be here. She was supposed to be home in

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00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 1: England performing at the Star studded Island Records fiftie anniversary

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00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: party alongside Bono and the Boys and you too. But

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00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 1: just because she was supposed to be there didn't mean

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00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 1: she wanted to be there. Far from it. Fucking Bono,

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00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 1: she thought, She chuckled to herself as she recalled the

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00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,480
Speaker 1: Q Awards back in two thousand six. You two up

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00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 1: on stage receiving some bloody award or another, Bono rambling

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00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: on with another pair of his fucking designer sunglasses. She

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00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: sat in the audience and suffered. He just went on

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00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,879
Speaker 1: and on, droning like the spoiled prick that he was.

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00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: She was beyond fed up, and she let Bonno know it.

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00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: She didn't hold back in the whole place hurt her.

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00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: Shut up. I don't give a funk. She wasn't on

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00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,120
Speaker 1: some trip to change the world, and she wasn't about

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00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 1: to rub shoulders at some namous record label birthday party.

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00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: If she wasn't getting ready Forget Island Records. She was

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00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,600
Speaker 1: going to keep doing her thing on an actual old island.

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00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,240
Speaker 1: She ordered a shot at tequila and trained it. If

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00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 1: she was going to make a comeback, it would be

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00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,919
Speaker 1: on her terms. She didn't need to be on stage again,

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00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: sucking hell. The Beetles stopped performing live and they turned

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00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 1: out all right. Amy could still hear the booze from

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00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,480
Speaker 1: the crowd echoing through her mind. She thought of the

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00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 1: years that had passed since she put a record out.

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00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 1: Universal kept rejecting her demos. They said the songs didn't

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00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: sound like they would sell eleven million records, like her

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00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,000
Speaker 1: previous songs dead. What do they even know about it?

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00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: It was the same people who enjoyed listening to Bono

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00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:39,600
Speaker 1: rambo on like he was fucking Gandhi. Amy downed another

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00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,480
Speaker 1: shot at tequila. The bartender looked at her anxiously. It

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00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 1: was anyone's guests if she'd walk out of the bar

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00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 1: casually or end up on all fours and making a scene,

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00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: and the bartender placed a cup of hot water in

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00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: a few tea bags in front of Amy and her friend.

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00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: Amy would have been insulted if it wasn't so funny.

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00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: She was doing quite well, thank you. Normally she would

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00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,680
Speaker 1: have had six shots by now. Today she'd only had two.

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00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 1: It was nine in the morning. Like almost everything the

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00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 1: past few years, Amy's time in St. Lucia didn't go

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00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: according to plan. She meant for St. Lucia to be

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00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 1: her escape, her detox, her rehab on her own terms.

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00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: Most importantly, it was a time to reconnect with herself,

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00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 1: to get back to the music in a way from

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00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:32,280
Speaker 1: the tabloids and paparazzi. But they followed her everywhere, and

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00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: now she was slipping the colt, the pills, the junk

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00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: that was all out of the picture. She kicked those

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00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: habits with the booze that never really went away. And

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00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 1: as Amy tried to sober herself up hours before noon,

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00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:50,240
Speaker 1: a wave of anxiety crashed through her mind. She couldn't

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00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 1: trust her fans, she couldn't trust her friends, she couldn't

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00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 1: trust her family, her father, her blake, her sweets was gone.

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00:29:57,800 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: But there was only one thing that truly let her

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00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,520
Speaker 1: get a away from it all. Amy reached over the

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00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,800
Speaker 1: bar grabbed the bottle of tequila. She knew she wasn't

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00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: supposed to. She took a massive gulp and felt the

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00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: liquor rocket through her body. Life was beautiful, and it

486
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 1: was fucked up, and at times it seemed predestined. Maybe

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00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 1: that was something people just told themselves when they couldn't

488
00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 1: get the ship under control, Because control, as it would

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00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 1: turn out was one thing Amy Winehouse would never regain.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan and this is the twenty seven Club.

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00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 1: Club is hosted and produced by me Jake Brennan for

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00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 1: Double Elvis in partnership with I Heart Radio. Zeth Lundie

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00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 1: is the lead writer and co producer. This episode was

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00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:00,120
Speaker 1: mixed by Matt Bowden. Additional music and score elements by

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00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: and Spraker and Henry Lumena. This episode was written by

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00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,680
Speaker 1: Ted Omo, story and copy ending by Pat Healy. Sources

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00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 1: for this episode are available at Double Elvis dot com

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00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:13,800
Speaker 1: on the twenty seven Club series page, talk to me

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00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 1: on Social Act, Disgrace Sland pod, and hang out with

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00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: me live on my Twitch channel Disgrace land Talks. For

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00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 1: more news on your favorite podcast, fallow at Double Elvis

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00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 1: on Instagram, Rock rolla, What's up here is