Amy Winehouse found dead at home; singer was 27

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Amy Winehouse has been found dead in her northern London home, according to London police and ambulance crews who responded to the scene around 4 p.m. Saturday.

Though police confirmed that a 27-year-old woman had been found dead in Camden, they did not offer a cause of death for the soulful, bluesy singer whose father said only days ago that despite going through some rough stuff, ‘the last few weeks she’s been absolutely fantastic.’

Winehouse, whose second album, ‘Back to Black,’ featured the hit ‘Rehab’ and earned her five Grammys in 2008, had struggled with drugs and alcohol for years, recently canceling a European tour after being booed off the stage in Serbia.

Her father Mitch Winehouse, who started a jazz-singing career only recently, tweeted Thursday that he was off to New York, where he was booked for two Monday shows at the Blue Note. His daughter came to most of his London performances, he’d told the New York Times.

‘She always gets up onstage and refuses to rehearse,’ Mitch Winehouse said. ‘So we end up doing a couple of songs which are terrible. We just end up in fits of laughter. Everyone enjoys it because they can see we are enjoying it.

‘She’s very, very supportive and she’s a great kid and she’s going through some rough stuff at the moment, but the last few weeks she’s been absolutely fantastic.’

Winehouse had been in and out of rehab over the years, and in and out of a relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and in court over allegations that she’d assaulted a fan. Winehouse had reportedly been working for years on a third album as well. She had recorded a song for Tony Bennett’s ‘Duets II,’ which is scheduled for release in September, according to Pop & Hiss.

In her 90-minute Serbia set in June, Winehouse had mumbled through songs and occasionally left the stage, leaving her band to cover for her. Shortly before heading out on the road she’d checked herself out of rehab after a week, and her hotel was reportedly stripped of alcohol before the show. After the Belgrade gig, her camp decided that she should head home.

‘Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen,’ a spokesman said at the time.

Here’s a link to the video for ‘Tears Dry on their Own,’ a Ministry favorite. (How Winehouse of her to include that one well-placed cuss word that prevents us from embedding it. Sigh.)

‘I cannot play myself again / I should just be my own best friend.’

RIP Amy Winehouse.

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Amy Winehouse checks back into rehab. Was she swigging vodka en route?

-- Christie D’Zurilla
Twitter.com/dzurillaville

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.