Entertainment | 06/11/2009 11:00 pm
Mr. wOw on Why Amy Winehouse Is Not Billie Holliday!
Image: Wikipedia;Ivo Garcev/Flickr
The other night Mr. wOw was stopped, fork in midair, when somebody said, "Amy Winehouse is the new Billie Holiday!"
A hush descended on … my place. Because unfortunately, my dinner companions were all decades younger than I. They either had never heard of Billie Holiday or knew her name only on the basis of Diana Ross’s biopic — an unworthy, racist, untrue piece of crap, Miss Ross’s strenuous and Oscar-nominated acting effort notwithstanding. So they were quick to nod assessment to this asinine remark. What did they care? Dessert was on the way. Amy Winehouse is a crackhead with a deep voice. Miss Holiday was an artist who also happened to be a heroin addict.
In case any of you don’t know Billie, here’s what to know — she had a grueling childhood and an oft-grueling adult life. Heroin was her undoing; she died at 44. Her art was a voice that could break your heart or lift you up, often at the same time.
Billie had two voices: the clear, high tones of her youth, and the darker, ragged sound of her maturity. Hard living affected her voice, some say to its detriment. Not Mr. wOw. The radical alteration in her voice is similar to what happened to Judy Garland and Maria Callas. But Garland and Callas had huge instruments with great range; when they started to go off track, it became a train wreck of wobbling vibrato. Billie had a smaller voice and limited range. Heroin and misery bit into her in increments, slowly deepening her early chipper swing into soulful jazz and pop. The remnants of Billie’s voice were like a beautiful medieval tapestry, faded, but with some of the bolder dyes still visible, and more precious for their presence.
Listen to her first and last versions of "Strange Fruit" — that stunning recognition of racism — and hear the depth of feeling that living had wrought. If Mr. wOw had to recommend one and only one Billie Holiday album, it would have to be "Lady in Satin," her last and most controversial recording. She — and her voice — were utterly shattered by then. She sings songs of lost love and abandoned hope: "I’m a Fool to Want You," "You Don’t Know What Love Is," " I Get Along Without You Very Well," "You’ve Changed." It should be pathetic. It is not. The use of her interpretative skills, the challenge of her own experience lifts the material even higher.
Mr. wOw, to use one of the album’s own tracks, is "Glad to Be Unhappy" listening to "Lady in Satin." It is a wallow in wrist slitting, but there is some odd uplift in her tone, still. It’s terrible to have suffered so, wonderful to have felt so much!
Mr. wOw tried to explain all this, simply, to his dinner companions. They exclaimed, "Oh, come on, you’ve got to love Amy Winehouse’s beehive?!"
No, I do not.
Mr. wOw fears the apocalypse is near. He is pulling out his vinyl copy of "Lady in Satin" tonight!
Read more about: Amy Winehouse, Billie Holiday, Blues, Celebrity, Drugs, Entertainment, Generations, Jazz, Legends, Mr. Wow, Music, Style
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32 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Amy Winehouse has obviously lived a complete different life from these black american singers who have had massive influence on her voice and musical style. She is a white jewish girl from north london but people will compare these two artist because like Billie had her problems, Amy has her current problems. Like Billie’s voice, Amy has that same rare thing in her, voice when she sings, she is completly involved in every single word of her lyrics emotionally and you have to be death not to hear this emotion. You can tell she means every single word she sings. Amy writes all her own lyrics and music and her songs are like small diary entries about her love life. You should go and look at some old live recordings of amy’s to see exactly why people will compare her to Billie Holiday.
Although she will never get the same respect as Billie and will always have her critics. I think people should respect her music just for being what i think, some of the best music to come round in years.
Amy is definetly the closest you will get to Billie without listening to Billie Holiday although I don’t think she is a particular huge fan of Billie Holiday but maybe deep down inside she is scared of herself becoming another Billie Holiday.
James Kurt you have got to be joking! …Amy is definitely the closest you will get to Billie without listening to Billie Holiday. Although I do not think she is a particular huge fan of Billie Holiday but maybe deep down inside she is scared of herself becoming another Billie Holiday. Amys drug abuse, glorification of drugs and refusal to seek help has absolutely nothing to do with Billie Holiday!
Amy does not deserve to be placed in the same leaque as Billie Holiday! … This is the same lame comparisons whites have always made when ripping off the artistry of Blacks!
You are entitled to think whatever you desire! … Hey, you can always wish! … If Amy does it for you fine so be it!
Amy Winehouse is not the first white artist to attempt to imitate the sound and music of Black artists and she will not be the last! … Like others before her she is neither an original nor profound! … Amy will never be another Billie Holiday not even her wildest dreams!
Amy is what she is a sad young woman with a lot of unresolved issues! … A young woman who chooses to be a drug addict!
This is utter nonsense!
Amy Who? I’m afraid I’ve never heard her sing. I have however, read about her various troubles on tabloid covers as I check out at the grocery store.
Since I’m not familiar with Amy Winehouse’s work, I’ll reserve judgment until I do. I’m quite curious now though!
Oh, and Mr. Wow, I agree about Billie’s voice. People can be quite critical of a woman’s voice as it changes over the period of her life, but I enjoy both sides of the spectrum. It makes me think of Joni Mitchell’s most recent recording of Both Sides Now. Hearing Joni sing the song in her youth was always good, but hearing the same song with richness, experience and maturity in her voice is enough to bring tears to my eyes. Billie only lived to 44, but her voice reflected her long journey.
And now, I think it’s time to open a bottle of wine and kick back with Lady in Satin.
Amy Winehouse is a crackhead with a deep voice. Miss Holiday was an artist who also happened to be a heroin addict.
after I read that I figured that you are cleArlt someone who knows nothing about Amy Winehouse other then Rehab and or her SECOND ALBUM Back to Black. Amy wasn’t a crackhead first. She feel into drugs doing her second album. Try listening to her first Album Frank and some older perfromance before you place judgement
SG, you are spot on! … Let Amy be Amy artistically! … There is no need to make comparisons! … Why this cloning obsession?
It is tragic when someone has been given a gift and literally destroys it and themselves in the process!
I wish the best for Amy! She can afford the best psychiatric care. The problem is she has to want it! … Yes, Yes ,Yes, Yes, Yes !
I worked as a social worker with drug addicts many many years ago.
There are seasoned adults who literally love drugs and have no desire to quit. Drug addiction cost taxpayers in this country millions yearly and and in lives! … 90% of the drug cartels money comes from American consumers of illegal drugs. There’s a law enforcement organization(Law Enforcement Officers Against Drug Prohibition.) I believe that’s their name. They’re lobbying for the legalization of drugs. They believe if drugs were legalized the cartels would cease to exist and kidnapings and murders would cease. We can only hope!
L.C, I think she is the closest you will get to Billie out of todays mainstream artist. I do not believe in whites imitating black voices either. She is not an actress, she is a singer who has a voice which is heavily influenced by black americans. Think about it, most people talk like the people around them talk, they pick up an accent. People often don’t sing in their accent, they sing in there own voice. your talking voice is influenced by people and so is your singing voice.
Like i said before -Amy Winehouse writes her own lyrics and her own music. The lyrics are genious and the singing is heart felt. You cannot deny this.
I’m not saying she is like BH and i am not saying her voice is better but i understand the comparison and which modern artist is any closer to BH today?
james hurt,
I do not want to beat a dead horse! … What is this fixation with comparisons? … It’s bordering on obession!
I am not attracted to artists because they remind me of other artists! ,,, I’m moved either emotionally, spiritually or intellectually by the message and ones originality! ,,, Why should I spend my precious time and hard earned recession dollars on an imitation when I can listen to the ORIGINAL ?
I do not care nor am I interested in who sounds the closest to Billie Holiday!
This converation reminds me of an interview many years ago. This Englishman nearly ejaculated in his pants because he was so proud he played a role in discovering Tom Jones. It was embarassing to watch and listen to him. He said, Here’s this white kid sounding black. Man it was unbelievable! He had this huge kool-aid grin on his face like he had discovered the cure for cancer. It’s nothing more than the same old story of whites pimping African-American culture. Historically, it reminds me of Race Records. Albums of Blacks were covered by whites. Speaking of history the late elvis presley use to come to the Apollo theater to watch the Black artists perform. He would then take his poor imitations of Black artist back to his white audiences and the little girls would go crazy. Psychological ly we could do a study on this alone.
The only news I’d like to hear about amy winehouse is that this Krak addict finally decided to get help for her drug addiction and psychological help for her other unresolved issues.
STICK A FORK IN ME I’M DONE!!!!
Tom Jones, Elvis presley, Amy Winehouse they arn’t tribute acts. Why is it so hard to believe that a white person can grow up listening to blues and jazz and motown etc and it have an influence on the way they sing? Tom Jones, Elvis and Amy to me sound like themselves. Not imitations. Artist will always be compared to other arists because you can’t be an artist without hearing the work of another artist.
All these "original black artist" will have there influences. No smoke without fire.
I personally love to hear somone singing and here influence in there voice from there favourite artist. You can tell a lot by somones voice. They don’t go on stage and think "I need to sound as black as possible".
People all over the world from different countries often sing in british and american accents because british and american artist often have more mainstream success in countries around the world.
Vocal dynamics can change.