The famous British Soul and Jazz singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her flat in north London at the age of 27. The award-winning artist, famous for hits including “Rehab” from the critically acclaimed album Back to Black, was discovered by police in the late afternoon. Her death was being treated on Saturday night as “unexplained“.
The Metropolitan police said: “Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 16:05hrs following reports of a woman found deceased. On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Winehouse was last seen with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield earlier last week when the teenager performed at the iTunes festival.
On June 18, Winehouse performed the first show of that European tour at Forest Fest in Belgrade, Serbia, but things went terribly wrong. The Brit songstress reportedly showed up more than an hour late and then once there, she repeatedly left the stage mid-performance. Winehouse forgot lyrics to her songs and even dropped the mic as a disgruntled crowd of 20,000 booed her set. After the show, she canceled festival appearances in Turkey and Greece.
The singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, had arrived in New York this weekend to prepare for his U.S. performing debut Monday night at the Blue Note jazz club, but upon receiving news of his daughter’s death was heading back home to London to be with his family.
She recorded a version of Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” for legendary producer Quincy Jones’ Q: Soul Bossa Nostra album, and was also tapped to sing with Tony Bennett on his upcoming Duets II album, which is due in September.
Winehouse had been working on her long-awaited new album for the past three years and spent a stint on the Caribbean island of St Lucia in 2009 working on new material.
In the hours following her death, Winehouse’s American record label, Universal Republic, said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer. Our prayers go out to Amy’s family, friends and fans at this difficult time.”