It’s been nearly 15 years since Amy Winehouse tragically died. Gone but certainly not forgotten.
The renowned British singer-songwriter was just 27 when she died on July 23, 2011 due to alcohol poisoning. Three years earlier, she would dominate the Grammy Awards thanks to her iconic album Back to Black, which includes the chart-topper “Rehab.”
But Friday, June 19 marks exactly 15 years since one of the last times Winehouse took the stage, kicking off her 12-day European tour with a show in Serbia that wouldn’t exactly end well.
The BBC reported on the concert at the time, writing that Winehouse — who had struggled with addiction — was “booed by crowds in Serbia’s capital Belgrade after appearing to be too drunk to perform.”
“For almost 90 minutes, Amy Winehouse mumbled her way through parts of songs. She sang a few strained notes, before stumbling across the stage and at one point throwing her microphone to the floor,” the BBC article continues. “At times she left the stage altogether – her band attempting to fill in. She was frequently booed by the crowd. Many had paid up to €45 (£40) to see her in a country in which wages are some of the lowest in Europe, and their anger was clear.”
In other Winehouse news, producer Mark Ronson recently spoke out about their first meeting — which resulted in one of the late legend’s biggest hits.
“Amy Winehouse, the first day that I met her, we went and wrote ‘Back to Black,’ the lyrics and the melody, in like 10 minutes,” he revealed on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, going on to describe leaving the room and coming back moments later to hear Winehouse say, “Alright, I’m done!”
“And she sang it and it was just incredible, and that was the first truly great artist I ever worked with, one of the greatest artists, I couldn’t believe it,” added Ronson, 50.