Dubai: Two months after Amy Winehouse’s controversial performance in Dubai, the singer checked into a treatment programme in London. Doctors at the Priory clinic, where she’s been four times since her rise to fame in 2007, had then told her it was her last chance at reformation.
"Doctors have come down hard on her because of the severity of her situation. It's a harsh reality but she had to hear it," a source had told a UK tabloid.
The singer’s half-hearted February performance in Dubai was met with boos and catcalls from audience. Winehouse looked bored and aloof, rarely engaging with her fans during her short performance. Many disappointed Gulf News readers wrote in after the concert, demanding a refund.
Interestingly, Winehouse’s January performance at the city of Florianópolis in Brazil was a largely trouble-free night, her first full public performance since 2008.
By the time she got to Dubai the following month however, she seemed to be on a downward spiral.
The London rehab in May was, according to those close to her, her final opportunity to sort out her addictions – before her condition became life threatening.
The next and last time fans got to see Winhouse live on stage was in Serbia, in the now scandalous clip which immediately went viral on the internet.
Winehouse, who turned up an hour late stumbled on stage and mumbled through her songs before she was booed and jeered by the crowd. The performance at Belgrade’s fortress was to kick of her European tour, which many fans had hoped, would culminate in a release of her next album.
Back to Black, Winhouse’s 2006 album, her second, won five Grammy Awards holding a record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night and made her the first British singer to win five Grammys.
Ironically, three of the five Grammys went to her lead single from the album, Rehab, about her refusal to go into rehabilitation. The song won Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
