Amy tragedy won’t be last

AMY WINEHOUSE’s tragic end could easily happen again today, says her former bandmate.

The legendary singer, whose life is subject of new biopic Back To Black, died in 2011 aged just 27 following a battle with drugs and alcohol.

Her final years were erratic, partly due to the pressures that came with her career, and the music industry hasn’t learned those lessons yet.

Dale Davis, Amy’s original musical director and bass player, told me: “Business is business. An artist will need that promotion but it comes at a cost.

“No matter what steps the industry takes to look after people there’ll always be somebody who slips through the net – that’s life rather than an industry thing.”

Dale accompanied Amy from the start to the bitter end: “I was out with her two nights before her death and spoke to her on the last night.

“She was always great fun even through hard times, that side never changed. Things got erratic towards the end, but the first four years were great.

“We lived in hope that things would turn around and unfortunately that didn’t happen, but she still treated us all really well so it was quite hard to see that.

“She’d done so much singing until the age of 23, so she packed in a lifetime of work by then.”

Dale is also music consultant on the biopic Back To Black but says Amy would NOT like the movie. He said: “I don’t think she would have liked a film about herself. Amy wasn’t that egocentric, the only reason we’re doing it is because she’s not here.

“She was quite humble and an interesting person and always wanted to know how you were instead of herself.

“That was the generous nature of her personality.”

For Dale and his bandmates, the movie experience was like going back in time: “I couldn’t get over the surrealism of the whole thing.

“We played concerts that are referenced in the film and then we had actors to play us which I had to direct. It’s been an interesting process.”

Dale is a fan of the movie’s lead star Marisa Abela, despite mixed reviews of her performance: “It’s difficult to get someone to sing like Amy because she was a one-off, but it’s when Marisa talks that’s when she sounds like Amy and it’s quite unnerving. And she looks like Amy once the make-up is on. There will always be people who like it and those who don’t.”

Dale now tours the world as the Amy Winehouse band. Check out foreveramylive.com for live dates.