The Sad Death of Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse is dead. The news flashed around the world by tweet before it hit the major networks. The inevitable jokes ensued, but the saddest thing about this is that no one was shocked by her death. Surprised, perhaps, that her death occurred so young but not surprised at all that she died. It's as if the world was waiting for the other Amy Winehouse shoe to drop.

She lived a troubled life, not uncommon for young celebrities, but her fame was coupled with addiction that virtually paved the way for her demise. She was, by all accounts, a full blown alcoholic and drug addict. And she appeared defiant and in denial. Even her hit "Rehab" with its chorus of "They tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no" said Amy was not willing to accept that she was an addict and the song was a musical flip of the bird of sorts to all that suggested she was. Remember, though, she did not set out to be an addict. Addiction creeps up unexpectedly, tells you it's your friend, and then destroys your life. Throw in celebrity life and you have a volatile cocktail waiting to explode. And explode it did.

Her music lives on and it's the music that should be remembered. Amy was an addict, so what. She was a talented singer and the tragedy is that we will never know what she could have accomplished. She enters the pantheon of rock stars that have died young -- Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons, Kurt Cobain, to name a few. And guess what? They were addicts too, with the exception of Cobain who committed suicide. But we remember them for their music not for how they died.

We should remember Amy Winehouse the same way.