Amy Winehouse: On artists dying young

Much is being made of the fact that like many notable artists in rock history, Amy Winehouse has passed away at the age of 27. It is, after all, a somewhat eerie coincidence. But unlike Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, and Jim Morrison, to name a few members of this doomed cabal, Winehouse's death comes as no big surprise. We have, after all, witnessed her downward spiral for several years.

But losing an artist at such a young age, especially one with the kind of enduring talent Winehouse possessed, is indeed a tragic event and one that will surely be marked in the coming years. Like those who have gone before her, we will never know what direction she would have taken had she been able to pull herself together and celebrate her talent.

I'm old enough to remember my three favorite artists who died at 27 - Joplin, Hendrix, and Morrison - in their prime. Their music formed the soundtrack to my youth and there are songs that still transport me back vividly to certain people, places, and things. Morrison's "Riders on the Storm" propels me to Narragansett, RI and a dark bar painted entirely in black. When I hear that song, I can feel the way I felt when I stepped in the door and experience once again the thrill of the forbidden!

Seeing the cover of Joplin's album Pearl where she is bedecked in feathers and beads, takes me back to a time when I aspired to the same carefree exuberance and free-wheeling attitude. I never came close, but she made me feel something. And Hendrix, with his complete abandon. What could be better?

Drugs and alcohol robbed us of these artists and the music that they could still be making. These individuals could have only gotten better as they matured and perhaps shucked off the shackles of their addictions. With clarity comes even more depth, after all, and for musicians, these kinds of life experiences only make them stronger artists.

But we will never know. And now another artist is gone, lost to the darkness. Whether Winehouse overdosed or took her own life, it really doesn't matter. Her voice is silenced now and for future generations. And it is indeed a tragedy.