Virtual Ministry Archive

Photo taken at Amy Winehouse’s last performance in Belgrade on June 18th, 2011. She was booed off the stage, and the Serbian defense minister called her performance a “huge shame and disappointment.” Just over a month later, she was dead. Amy Winehouse’s final show in Belgrade was a painful spectacle that laid bare the toll of addiction and fame. Arriving on stage clearly disoriented, she forgot lyrics, slurred her words, and at times stumbled through songs as her band tried to guide her. What was intended to be the start of a European tour quickly became a scene of public humiliation as the crowd grew restless and booed. Her management canceled the rest of the tour the next day. Behind the headlines, Winehouse was struggling to overcome years of substance abuse and pressure to perform after her Grammy-winning album Back to Black turned her into an international star. A month later, she was found dead in her London home at age 27 from alcohol poisoning. Her death became a tragic entry in the so-called “27 Club,” a reminder of the fragility of artists who burn too bright too soon. Added Fact: Amy Winehouse posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance for her duet with Tony Bennett on “Body and Soul.” Bennett later said she was “the best jazz singer of her generation.”