What Does Amy Winehouse's Death Really Mean?

At only 27 years old, the soulful and yearning voice of Amy Winehouse has been forever silenced.

Seeing "It" Coming

In her death, Winehouse joins the ranks of some of music's most tragic stories. Sadly, just as with Kurt Cobain, another member of "The 27 Club," Winehouse's death seemed almost to be ordained from the moment she broke out into the mainstream. Much like the Nirvana front man, Winehouse had very public struggles with substance abuse. After all, the song that put her on the map was "Rehab," an upbeat number that specifically tells everyone around her that she has no intention of giving up drugs.

Both Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse's deaths didn't exactly "come out of nowhere," as with some other members of "The 27 Club." Both singers had a very public battle with substance abuse. Winehouse's breakout song was "Rehab," a tune in which she makes it abundantly clear that a rehab facility was not in her future. Watching YouTube clips of her last few public performances, one gets the sense that the train had already left the track, and that it was barreling at high velocity right down on top of her.

"Cause" of Death

Should Winehouse's autopsy reveal copious amounts of drugs or alcohol, there is probably not anyone on the planet who would be shocked or surprised. However, beyond the medical explanation of the singer's death, there lies a fundamental question that some raise, but never seems to get answered. That question, simply put is, "Why?"

Why did Winehouse feel the need to destroy her life with drugs? Why did Cobain go so far into the breach with his own addiction that it ultimately cost him his life as well? What drove Janis Joplin to take that fatal dose of heroin? Why did Jimi Hendrix need to combine sleeping pills and wine?

On the surface, these seem like almost existential questions that can never really be answered. However, one answer seems to be abundantly clear. It would seem that for some celebrities the pressures and expectations of the very fame that put them into the consciousness of society is too much for them to cope with. Does the deification of celebrity and musicians in particular, push them over the edge, or did they all just have addictive and abusive personalities that would have cost them their lives, regardless of how famous they were?

27, why?

There's no denying the strange coincidence of so many talented and famous musicians passing away at the age of 27. What is it about the age of 27 and famous artists? There may not be an explanation for it, but on the surface it can seem like more than just an arbitrary number.

One interesting theory in the debate is that 27 is the magic number because it coincides with the age range that adult-onset Bipolar Disorder first appears. The assumption there of course is that most members of "The 27 Club" are have un-diagnosed Bipolar Disorders. Without evidence of a psychological exam, it's hard to say for sure, but it certainly wouldn't be surprising to find out that Jim Morrison or Joplin were self-medicating their psychoses. Winehouse and Cobain seem to almost be the archetypes for Bipolar behavior.

The truth is, of course, that in cases like Amy Winehouse, the root cause of her problems that led to drugs will never be known. She'll never be able to write a tell-all biography later in life, and so we're left to just speculation and conjecture. However, whenever someone does so young, it's incumbent upon the rest of us to try and discern if there is a lesson for us all to take away. Maybe it's a cliche, but the lesson could be "Be careful what you wish for."

Perhaps the lesson is that there is no lesson, and that there's never a reason or explanation for someone so talented dying so very young. Regardless of the reasons for it, Amy Winehouse's death leaves a hole in the record industry. She was an enormously talented singer, and she revitalized a style of singing that many had thought was long gone. Winehouse re-pioneered the sultry and soulful singer genre, and sadly she won't be around to see what that means years and years from now.