Amy Winehouse's private life is on display at a new exhibition at the Jewish Museum in London. Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait was created in collaboration with Winehouse's brother, Alex, who hopes the exhibition will show a rarely-seen side of the singer, reports Reuters.
The exhibition's curator, Liz Selby, says that the Winehouse family tree is revealed through the display of intimate items owned by the singer, showcasing her cultural beliefs.
"Amy herself said that her Jewishness is really about family, and I think that really comes across very strongly in the exhibition," said Selby. "You get to see lots of exhibition related to her family life. In terms of her Jewishness, she was more of a cultural Jew, but she and her family did partake in religious ceremonies."
Winehouse struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and died in 2011 at the age of 27 from alcohol poisoning. As the two-year anniversary of her death approaches, Winehouse's family hopes that the exhibition presents the singer from a fresh perspective.
"I think what we're trying to do in the exhibition is show her as a well-rounded person," said Selby. "A person with faults, [but] a person with some great, positive traits as well."
Dionne Bromfield claims her late godmother Amy Winehouse came to her as a butterfly.
The 17-year-old singer - who was signed to Amy's label Lioness Records in 2009 - believes the singer was at her own funeral in spirit and has written the song 'Black Butterfly' about the 'Back to Black' hitmaker, who tragically died in 2011 aged just 27.
Dionne exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "The butterfly was at Amy's funeral service. The butterfly came at the beginning of the service and sat on one of the guests shoulders for the whole service and when they rolled up the coffin the butterfly flew out with it. Everyone knows that a butterfly would not sit on a shoulder for nearly 30 or 40 minutes and I've never seen a black butterfly in my life - so I thought it was pretty crazy. It was almost like she was the butterfly and she was there with everyone even though she wasn't."
Dionne - who was guided and inspired by Amy when she started her career - considers the emotional track "probably one of the best songs" she's ever wrote.
She explained: "When you hear it you won't even need to know what I have to say about it because it speaks for itself - it's very personal and it's very graphic. When you hear the actual song itself you can picture exactly what I'm saying and understand the whole story of it - it's like an anecdote really."
The soul singer insists her music has changed now that she is older but remains thankful to her godmother Amy for everything she did to help her career as "without her none of it would have actually been possible".
Dionne - who was speaking to promote 'The Sims 3 Island Paradise', which is available to buy from today (28.06.13) - said: "Every time something good happens musically I'm always like, 'Amy's probably watching over or maybe Amy helped that happen'."
Amy was last seen in public when she joined Dionne on stage at The Roundhouse venue in Camden, north London.
Amy Winehouse's mother didn't ever expect the late star to make it into her 30s. Janis Winehouse insists she "wasn't surprised" when her daughter died of alcohol poisoning in July 2011 aged just 27 because she couldn't ever imagine the 'Rehab' hitmaker, who would have been celebrating her 30th birthday in September, as an older woman.
She said: "When I think Amy would have been 30 this year, it doesn't feel right. I'm not saying I always foresaw this but I wasn't surprised. I couldn't see Amy as an older person. She was this young girl who exploded into the world like a firecracker and then it was, 'OK, I'm done -- I'm off'. Amy was never meant to be 30."
Janis believes the singer was "bored" of performing the same songs at her gigs, and insists the 'Back to Black' hitmaker - who battled alcohol and drug addiction - went through life thinking she was "immortal".
She explained: "Amy was getting there. She had kicked the drugs but I also know she was bored -- bored with doing the same gigs and same music. I would definitely say Amy was bored with life. I believe in life after death and that when Amy passed she probably met with her grandma, who said to her, 'You see, I told you this would happen! I told you to stop your mad way of life.' And Amy probably said, 'Oops, I didn't mean to do that.' I think she surprised herself. She probably thought she was immortal."
Janis - who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS) - let Amy eat what she wanted because she didn't feel strong enough to fight her, but the 58-year-old retired pharmacist thinks her daughter often looked like a "concentration camp victim" because she was so thin after going on crazy diets.
She added to The Sun newspaper: "Her attitude to food was also very upsetting because she was always trying a dreadful diet. She'd say, 'I found a really good diet Mum, I chew the food and spit it out'. So she'd get her favourite KFC every night and spit it out. She lost 2st until she was stick thin, like a concentration camp victim. I don't know whether I would have been a different mother if I hadn't had MS.
"I would certainly have had more energy and more fight against Amy."
Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty plans to sell cigarette ends smoked by Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse at a stall in a London market.
The rocker, who is reportedly sharing a flat in Paris with Macauley Culkin, told NME he wants to set up a stall in Camden Market to sell off "all kinds of sh*t", including memorabilia linked to Moss, an old flame, and Winehouse, his late friend.
"I've got fag butts that belong to Bobby Gillespie, Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse, and I've got Christmas paper that [former Coventry City goalkeeper] Steve Ogrizovic sent to the guy from Black Sabbath," Doherty said.
The revelation comes a year-and-a-half after the Libertine famously displayed a collection of rubbish from his Wiltshire mansion at a Camden gallery, including paintings made from his own blood.
Doherty is also planning a headline UK tour in September, in support of a new Babyshambles album slated for release in the same month.
July 23rd marks the day of Amy's death. Two years already... Personally, I can't even believe she's not alive anymore. Hope you guys have a good weekend!
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