Amy Winehouse: A Losing Game

by Mick O'Shea

As well known for her fraught personal life as her chart-topping songs, Amy Winehouse was one of the most compelling vocalists in the world. The critical and commercial success she achieved with her multi-million selling second album, Back to Black, catapulted her to international stardom in 2007, but it was her life offstage that generated daily headlines in the tabloid press. Drinking binges, self-harm, eating disorders, drug abuse and a turbulent marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil overshadowed her music even as her record sales soared, and the world’s media watched eagerly as Amy’s world imploded, while her talent threatened to go with it. Tragically, on 23 July 2011 Amy lost her long-term battle with drugs and alcohol, passing away aged just 27.

This no-holds-barred biography tells her story in full, from childhood through to the pleasures and pains of superstardom, her blazing talent, the years she lost to her addictions, the final days before her death, and the lasting legacy of her raw and heartfelt music.

Genres: Biography, Music

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2011

Reviews

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that to commemorate artists who have too-soon passed is cultural necessity. True, Ms. Winehouse was a bit of a lush, and had habits of romance and narcotics that led to her ultimate ruin, but Amy Winehouse was an unparalleled modern talent, mixing modern production with a classic, sultry blues sound. She was heavily influenced from an early age by the jazz greats like Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Etta James, and the list, as we know, goes on. One of her biggest influences was her grandmother, her Nan, who played some of these records for her; her passing was a huge blow to a young Winehouse. That, coupled with her parents' separation, was something from which she barely, if ever, recovered.

I watched Amy, the 2015 Oscar-Winning documentary about her life and death, and I have to say one thing that I think this book leaves out is the nature of her affair with Blake, the big lost love for which she writes most or all of her Back to Black album (which is one of the pop/r&b albums of our generation, hands down). It is not noted in A Losing Game that Blake was seeing someone before he began hooking up with Amy, and their affair was not your average love affair, but a surreptitious one that had to be kept hush-hush, as Blake would not stop seeing his former girlfriend. Just a little tidbit that I think would interest readers that is not provided in the text.

This is a great read that I suggest taking your time with, just for the mere fact that there is such a wealth of information held therein: on music history and the history of Amy's career, producers, support systems, etcetera.

Amy has and will continue to be sorely missed, not just for her talent, but for the wonderful, jovial, playful person she was before addiction to alcohol, drugs, and dumb love took her away from us all.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

After watching the Amy Winehouse documentary 'Amy' I went searching for a biography that would fill in some of the gaps missing in her story. I knew very little about Amy before seeing the documentary and wanted a good in depth look at her life. It's been nearly 5 years since her death, you would think a bio would have made it to the shelves by now that wasn't just a quick cash grab. But that wasn't the case.

After searching reviews online, this one seemed like the best bet. The author did give an account of her life, and it was a decent read, but it was just filled with old interviews from magazines. The author also had a way of trying way too hard to turn a phrase. The pictures inside were beautiful though, so that was one thing I really did enjoy. But overall it felt like the TV movie version of her life when I wanted a full blow biopic.

[Lili Hansson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story about Amy written by Mick O'Shea is a Captivating story to be told. Mick does a great job telling the story, but I feel that the end of the story ended to abruptly. when the reader gets to the point where Amy is about to die the writer seems to just want to finish the book. At the same time it's a very short book only 200 pages long so maybe it wasn't supposed to be longer. Overall I do think the book is good I feel that he tells the music that Amy has written very nicely. He describes the feelings and the reasoning behind why she wrote the way she did. The sad story about Amy Winehouse made me appreciate her music in a new way. I now can listen to her lyrics and have a deeper understanding about why she sings the way she does.

[Johanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

While informative, “Amy Winehouse – a losing game” failed to impress. This tribute to Amy’s life is poorly written and contains little primary source material. While the author bestows glowing praise to Amy’s substantial talent, it is disappointing that the same could not be said of his writing capabilities. The colour photographs are gorgeous and a credit to whoever was responsible for design in this hackney biography; however, these images barely redeem this book. I would recommend this book for die-hard Amy Winehouse fans only as it does little to illuminate or entertain regarding her legacy of soulful music.

[Emma Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amy was obviously passionate about her music but obviously had so many demons. It's such a shame that she will be remembered by her addicting antics but it's nice to listen to her music which proves she wasn't a shamed to hide them.
A very interesting book which I read in just 2 days which was extremely detailed. However noone actually knows her actuall life story so most of it is possible hear say.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing here that you cannot research your self. I was a little disappointed

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another sad story of a life lost to drugs.

[Sally]

It's a good book

[Lucy Cioffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good to read about the rise of Amy Winehouse and how at first the music biz weren't into her jazz/soul style and how they were challenged later on with her powerhouse vocals and meteoric rise.

[Alexandra Agnrud · Rating 2 out of 5]

Halvtrist, ologisk kronologi som knappt bärs upp av det gripande livsödet.

[Andra P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to find out what made Amy tick but this book didn’t deliver. It reads like a long magazine article and is just a list of Amy’s achievements and disasters. There are no new insights from her closest friends and what insights there are I’ve read before. I suspect Amy was deeply insecure and on a self destructive path and a good psychological analysis from a respected professional would have been appreciated. I got fed up with this book 75% of the way through and skipped to the end to remind myself how she died. Are there lessons to be learned here? One could speculate that Amy was destined to end this way. She so abhorred convention that she was unlikely to ever straighten out and be happy with a regular life. She liked being a screw up IMHO, and the more drama the better. If she didn’t have Borderline Personality Disorder, she did an excellent impression of it. So much intelligence, sensitivity and talent gone to waste.
Hopefully there are better books about Amy out there.

[Diren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doğuştan yetenekli bir insanın yıldızının parladığı yıllar içinde ve birden fazla bileşenin etkisiyle nasıl yavaş yavaş yok olduğunu anlatan bir kitap.
Müziklerini her dinleyişimde onu anlatan ipuçlarını bulmam ve bunları melodilerle kaynaştırdıktan sonra yaşadığı süreçleri bir film şeridi gibi aklımdan geçirmem hiç zor olmadı. Çekilen fotoğraflar, hakkında söylenenler de onun için yarattığım tahminler dünyasına yeni dahil edilen elemanlardı aslında. Katkıları o derece yadsınamaz, o derece üzücü geldi bana. Şu an aramızda ve ölüm fermanını yazan medyadan uzakta yaşıyor olsaydı, daha büyük projelere imza atacak, manevi desteğe daha kolay layık olabileceği bir hayatı yaşayacaktı kuşkusuz. Ölümünün bile bana yaşamadığım halde bir şeyler öğreten bir tecrübe olduğunu söylemeden edemeyeceğim...

[Debesuota · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uzun bir sürece yayarak okumayı tercih ettiğim tek kitaptı. Öncelikle kitabın tasarımı içeriğinden daha güzeldi. Fotoğrafların bazıları iyi seçilmemiş olsa da güzeldi.
İçeriği ise Kızım Amy'ye kıyasla daha yüzeyseldi. Aslında daha çok "gündemdeki Amy"yi bizlere gösteriyordu. Kızım Amy ile yakın zamanlarda okunduğunda pek çok şeyin daha iyi kavranmasına yardımcı olur.
Amy'nin kariyerini yakından görmek iyiydi. Yine de yazarın sadece araştırması olması vb. sert yargılarından dolayı kitabı samimi bulmadım. Ve fazla Amy'ye uzak bir kitaptı. Sadece açıklamalarının toparlanmış hali gibi bir şeydi. Yine de okumak güzeldi.

[Julieanne Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

short book short life. great writing, research could have been deeper. too many secondary sources. I'm gutted she died. irreplaceable.

[Jena Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was okay but I read better books on Amy!