Goodbye, Amy: Family and friends gather at Miss Winehouse's funeral to pay their last respects to the tragic star

By GEORGINA LITTLEJOHN and SARA NATHAN

Saying goodbye: Kelly Osbourne - wearing a beehive in tribute to her friend - and friends Remi Nicole arrive at Amy Winehouse's funeral this afternoon

Friends and family of Amy Winehouse said emotional goodbyes to the star today as they came together for her funeral.

Among those paying their respects to the tragic star was her entire family, friends Kelly Osbourne, Mark Ronson and her music 'family' including her backing singers and manager.

A convoy of black vehicles with tinted windows silently made its way inside the Edgwarebury Cemetery in north London this lunchtime for the private service.


In mourning: Producer and DJ Mark Ronson made his way to the service on foot as did Amy's friend Nick Grimshaw


Amy, who died at her London home on Saturday aged 27, will be cremated after the service attended by her loved ones.

Family spokesman Chris Goodman said only family members and close friends would be present and added: 'Cremation is part of the family's tradition.'

Kelly, one of Amy's best friends, had flown into the UK from Los Angeles as soon as she heard the news about her death.


Nearest and dearest: Amy's friends and family made their way inside the cemetery to say goodbye


Her face was solemn as she was driven into the cemetery and she appeared to have paid tribute to her friends by styling her hair in a beehive do, similar to Amy's trademark style.

Kelly hid her eyes behind large dark sunglasses and clutched a white rose in her hands.

She was followed into the service by another of Amy's close friends, DJ and producer Mark Ronson, who looked deep in thought as he arrived on foot alone.

There was a heavy security presence outside the cemetery as guests made their way inside.



Remembering: Amy's singers Heshima and Zalon Thompson jin the mourners including Amy's manager Raye Cosbert


Winehouse's bandmates, Zalon and Heshima Thompson, who were seen in tears outside her home yesterday, were also among the select group.

Her singer songwriter friend Remi Nicole, who was very close to the star, was in tears as she got our of her car and Amy's manager Raye Cosbert cut a solemn figure as he joined the funeral party.

One person not attending today was Amy's ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who, according to sources, was refused compassionate leave from Armley Prison in Leeds.

It was also reported that he had already been warned away from the funeral by Amy's father Mitch who 'hates his guts'.


source: dailymail

Goodbye, Amy: Family and friends gather at Miss Winehouse's funeral to pay their last respects to the tragic star

By GEORGINA LITTLEJOHN and SARA NATHAN

Saying goodbye: Kelly Osbourne - wearing a beehive in tribute to her friend - and friends Remi Nicole arrive at Amy Winehouse's funeral this afternoon

Friends and family of Amy Winehouse said emotional goodbyes to the star today as they came together for her funeral.

Among those paying their respects to the tragic star was her entire family, friends Kelly Osbourne, Mark Ronson and her music 'family' including her backing singers and manager.

A convoy of black vehicles with tinted windows silently made its way inside the Edgwarebury Cemetery in north London this lunchtime for the private service.


In mourning: Producer and DJ Mark Ronson made his way to the service on foot as did Amy's friend Nick Grimshaw


Amy, who died at her London home on Saturday aged 27, will be cremated after the service attended by her loved ones.

Family spokesman Chris Goodman said only family members and close friends would be present and added: 'Cremation is part of the family's tradition.'

Kelly, one of Amy's best friends, had flown into the UK from Los Angeles as soon as she heard the news about her death.


Nearest and dearest: Amy's friends and family made their way inside the cemetery to say goodbye


Her face was solemn as she was driven into the cemetery and she appeared to have paid tribute to her friends by styling her hair in a beehive do, similar to Amy's trademark style.

Kelly hid her eyes behind large dark sunglasses and clutched a white rose in her hands.

She was followed into the service by another of Amy's close friends, DJ and producer Mark Ronson, who looked deep in thought as he arrived on foot alone.

There was a heavy security presence outside the cemetery as guests made their way inside.



Remembering: Amy's singers Heshima and Zalon Thompson jin the mourners including Amy's manager Raye Cosbert


Winehouse's bandmates, Zalon and Heshima Thompson, who were seen in tears outside her home yesterday, were also among the select group.

Her singer songwriter friend Remi Nicole, who was very close to the star, was in tears as she got our of her car and Amy's manager Raye Cosbert cut a solemn figure as he joined the funeral party.

One person not attending today was Amy's ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who, according to sources, was refused compassionate leave from Armley Prison in Leeds.

It was also reported that he had already been warned away from the funeral by Amy's father Mitch who 'hates his guts'.


source: dailymail

Goodbye, Amy: Family and friends gather at Miss Winehouse's funeral to pay their last respects to the tragic star

By GEORGINA LITTLEJOHN and SARA NATHAN

Saying goodbye: Kelly Osbourne - wearing a beehive in tribute to her friend - and friends Remi Nicole arrive at Amy Winehouse's funeral this afternoon

Friends and family of Amy Winehouse said emotional goodbyes to the star today as they came together for her funeral.

Among those paying their respects to the tragic star was her entire family, friends Kelly Osbourne, Mark Ronson and her music 'family' including her backing singers and manager.

A convoy of black vehicles with tinted windows silently made its way inside the Edgwarebury Cemetery in north London this lunchtime for the private service.


In mourning: Producer and DJ Mark Ronson made his way to the service on foot as did Amy's friend Nick Grimshaw


Amy, who died at her London home on Saturday aged 27, will be cremated after the service attended by her loved ones.

Family spokesman Chris Goodman said only family members and close friends would be present and added: 'Cremation is part of the family's tradition.'

Kelly, one of Amy's best friends, had flown into the UK from Los Angeles as soon as she heard the news about her death.


Nearest and dearest: Amy's friends and family made their way inside the cemetery to say goodbye


Her face was solemn as she was driven into the cemetery and she appeared to have paid tribute to her friends by styling her hair in a beehive do, similar to Amy's trademark style.

Kelly hid her eyes behind large dark sunglasses and clutched a white rose in her hands.

She was followed into the service by another of Amy's close friends, DJ and producer Mark Ronson, who looked deep in thought as he arrived on foot alone.

There was a heavy security presence outside the cemetery as guests made their way inside.



Remembering: Amy's singers Heshima and Zalon Thompson jin the mourners including Amy's manager Raye Cosbert


Winehouse's bandmates, Zalon and Heshima Thompson, who were seen in tears outside her home yesterday, were also among the select group.

Her singer songwriter friend Remi Nicole, who was very close to the star, was in tears as she got our of her car and Amy's manager Raye Cosbert cut a solemn figure as he joined the funeral party.

One person not attending today was Amy's ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil, who, according to sources, was refused compassionate leave from Armley Prison in Leeds.

It was also reported that he had already been warned away from the funeral by Amy's father Mitch who 'hates his guts'.


source: dailymail

Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

Genius, but Amy's was not a life to admire

By AMANDA PLATELL

A friend of Amy Winehouse conceded after she drank herself to death on Saturday that, yes she had her problems, but ‘she never did anyone any harm’.

If only that were true. The packets of cigarettes and bottles of vodka, beer and rum left outside her home in Camden, North London, by adoring fans bear testimony to how much she affected vulnerable young people.



Along with flowers and farewell notes, this was their way of saying goodbye to a woman they worshipped and emulated — not just because she was a musical genius, but also, I suspect, because of her car-crash lifestyle.

How tragic that her fans think a bottle of Smirnoff is a fitting farewell to a woman they loved — for it was vodka that killed her.

Or that a packet of cigarettes was an appropriate offering to leave at this shrine, given she suffered from emphysema, a smoking-related lung disease.


Amy’s love of vodka was legendary. Even in her hard-drinking, rock  ’n’  roll set, no one had ever seen anyone drink so much of it so fast. In her final few weeks, she had been found comatose several times by her bodyguards after binges.

How can her lifestyle be seen as glamorous after she died in such terrible and lonely circumstances?

I’m not sure what’s saddest: that this recovering drug addict was annihilating herself with spirits, having been ‘clean of drugs’ — so her father says — for 18 months; or that it was not a friend, lover, mother or any other family member who found her body, but a security guard, someone paid to watch over her.


We’ve come a long way from the days after Princess Diana’s death when people left carpets of flowers outside Kensington Palace. Today, it’s bottles of the vodka that killed their heroine.

Amy’s music was so resonant not just because of her talent, but because she sang of her isolation and pain.


This was a young woman who came from a broken home and whose relationships always seemed to result in despair.

Her very public solution to easing this pain was to take drugs and to drink. Her life was a lesson in self-destruction. The tragedy is that it wasn’t just for her, but for countless other young women who hero-worshipped her.

The result was that, for the vulnerable and impressionable, I fear Amy Winehouse made crack cocaine cool. She made alcoholism attractive. She made abusive, violent relationships exciting.

Even when her ballet pumps were covered in blood after she’d injected heroin between her toes or when she was photographed battered and bruised after yet another encounter with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, young women empathised with her.One obituary said: ‘Rock stars act out our wildest desires and darkest dramas on our behalf so we do not have to.’



Would that it always were the case. After all, if Amy Winehouse could get hammered and out of her head yet still tour the world and make millions, what was the problem with her lifestyle?

For an answer, you have only to visit any High Street on a Saturday night to find countless wasted young women so drunk they don’t care what man they go off with, so out of their heads on drugs they’re anyone’s.

And why should they think this is anything other than normal behaviour when their idol Amy Winehouse downed six shots of tequila for breakfast?



For all her talent, she was a role model of the worst kind. And her eight years in the music business mirror a shocking increase in alcohol among women.

Figures published in 2009 showed 250 girls were arrested every day for violence, mostly fuelled by alcohol. One in four were aged between ten and 17.

In the years Amy was a star, a generation of ladettes was born, out of their heads and out of control, but thinking they were oh-so-cool.








source: dailymail

'Tonight the streets are filled with love': Royal family and prime minister lead the nation in mourning as crowd of 150,000 gather in Oslo for 'rose..

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Tribute: Over 150,000 people gathered in Oslo to take part in a 'rose march' vigil to mourn the 76 people who were killed on Friday's twin attacks

Tonight 150,000 Norwegians gathered in Oslo carrying red and white roses to show their support for the 76 people who were slain on Friday.

Joining them in the 'rose rally' were Norway’s prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, his wife Ingrid, and members of the country’s royal family - Crown Prince Haakon and his wife Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Martha Louise.

Prince Haakon addressed the solemn crowd outside the city hall, saying that ‘tonight the streets are filled with love'. Rallies were also being held in other cities around the nation.


Unity: The streets of Oslo were turned into a sea of flowers by those attending the memorial march



Bond: Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit stood among the crowds during the demonstration as a mark of unity


Pain: Princess Mette-Marit, right, and Princess Martha Louise pay their emotional respects during the rose march


Distraught: Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and his wife Ingrid joined the vast crowed taking part in the rally


Leading Norwegian figures took part in the rose march. Pictured here are, from left to right: Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, his wife Ingrid, Princess Martha Louise, Prince Haakon and his wife Princess Mette-Marit, former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and the chairman of the Labour Youth Movement, Eskil Pedersen


The huge gathering, thought to be the largest solidarity rally in Norway since World War Two, was the result of a Facebook campaign that started up over the weekend.

Prince Haakon urged the huge crowd to work for tolerance and freedom, while Prime Minister Stoltenberg, his voice trembling with emotion, said: 'Evil can kill a human being but never defeat a people.'

He added: 'By taking part you are saying a resounding "yes" to democracy.' He called the Rose March a 'march for democracy, a march for tolerance, a march for unity'.


Support: There were many rallies in Norway today including a 20,000-strong march in Bergen (pictured)



Tragedy: Hearses take victims from Utoya Island following Friday's twin extremist attack


One of the marchers, Jonas Waerstad, 26, said: 'We are a small society and I think that makes everyone feel affected whether directly involved or not.'

A concert formed part of the tribute, with those watching holding flowers aloft in moments of silence and many coming to the front of the crowd and laying down their flowers as a mark of respect.

Earlier in the day, thousands of Norwegians observed a dignified silence to remember the victims of the right-wing fanatic who murdered dozens in bomb and gun terror attacks.

Dressed all in black, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg led the nation in its solemn vigil, standing on the steps of Oslo university next to a flame.


Leading the nation: Norway's royal family and prime minister stood shoulder to shoulder with their people


Mr Stoltenberg greets members of the public standing in line to sign a book of condolence in Oslo University, which King Harald also signed before taking part in the minute's silence


Untold grief: People pay their respects at a sea of floral tributes to the victims of Friday's attacks, outside the cathedral of Oslo


Spirit of togetherness: Tearful mourners embrace as Norway begins to come to terms with the terror attacks, which claims the lives of dozens of innocent people



Solemn: A couple stand in central Oslo as they observe a minute's silence to pay tribute to victims of the twin attacks


International support: British scouts observe a minute of silence on the Town Square in Copenhagen, in memory of the victims of last Friday's attacks in Norwa


A people in mourning: Thousands observe a minute's silence near the Blue Stone in Bergen


Life savers: Volunteers from the Red Cross and other organisations stand to attention during a one-minute period of silence at noon near Utoya island


Deep sadness: Members of the public lay flowers opposite Utoya Island


Hurt: Relatives gather to observe a minute's silence opposite Utoya Island

source: dailymail