Winehouse biopic star ‘does not sound like’ late singer

AMY WINEHOUSE fans have criticised the vocal ability of the actress who stars in an upcoming biopic, as a voice coach said she “doesn’t sound like” the late singer.

Marisa Abela, who plays the late Rehab singer in the film Back to Black, trained her voice for three months before filming. But a newly released clip of her depicting the early stages of Winehouse’s singing career has caused controversy online.

Some fans, upset by the footage of Abela singing as Winehouse, have described the vocals as “offensive”.

One posted: “Wait, this is supposed to be Amy Winehouse?”

Another asked: “Why would [the filmmakers] not use Amy’s voice though.”

Anne-marie Speed, Abela’s vocal coach, said: “It’s full-time preparation, it’s like an athlete. You’ve got to get the body working in the right way to truly produce the voice.” The vocal coach with 14 years’ experience said: “Amy Winehouse was something very, very different. I’ve heard Marisa do a few bits and pieces and her voice does sound lovely, but it sounds too clean.

“I think what we heard of Amy’s voice was very, very organic. I think they’ve just tried to make it sound too perfect and you can’t work on perfection when you’re trying to sing an Amy Winehouse song.”

Abela, 27, portrays Winehouse’s whirlwind years living in London and her journey to fame in the movie directed by Sam Taylor-johnson, which will be released on April 12.

Winehouse died in 2011 at the age of 27. She was found unresponsive at her Camden home, dying shortly afterwards. The cause of death was accidental alcohol poisoning.

The singer had struggled with addiction, using heroin and cocaine among other drugs. Taylor-johnson told The Sunday Times’s Culture magazine the film is not controversial “in any way”, adding: “Noise will always be big about something like this but nobody has really seen it yet and we’ve made it through Amy’s words, music, her perspective.”

For the singing in the biopic, the initial plan had been to use original Winehouse vocals but Abela trained intensely four times a week for two hours at a time meaning the vocals could belong to the actress. Speaking about taking on the responsibility of portraying Winehouse, Abela said that she would never put herself “on the chopping block” unless she felt she could do it.

“I never wanted to trick anyone. Sometimes you audition and you say you can ride a horse, speak Spanish or sword fight, when you can’t. I was never, ever going to do that here.”