Amy Page #8

---

She just felt like,

"My dad's doing a lot of stuff

for money or the limelight."

- Want me to go with you?

- Yeah.

You can follow down,

if you want.

I'll ask her.

Amy? How do you do it?

Just push and hold the button.

I'm really sorry.

Is that alright?

All the way from...

Okay!

- Is that okay?

- Thank you.

- Pleasure.

- Thank you.

Why have you got to make

a comment like that?

Why... why...

why you got to do that?

A mug of? They asked

to take a picture of you.

Richard...

No, that's got nothing to do

with it. I'm talking to you

about those two people

who wanted a lousy photograph,

and you got to make them

feel bad about it.

She just wanted her dad,

and he didn't just come

by himself,

he came with cameras,

audio guys...

But she worshipped

the ground he walked on.

I was in jail with 500 fellas

reading the papers

and there's a picture of my wife

on a page with a fella.

It's not easy

to go through things like that.

To put it bluntly, I didn't have

a very high opinion of myself

after the treatment I've had

for the past two years

with my wife.

I kind of just had the wind

knocked out of my sails.

So I just thought, "F*** this.

You know. I'm a big man."

"I'm a handsome f***ing guy.

I ain't on heroin.

"I'm going to the gym a lot,

I dress well.

So what the f*** am I doing

wasting my time with her?"

And then the chorus come in.

And, um, the last verse is:

My son came up with the idea

of getting

the most contemporary artists,

and I kept saying to myself,

"Who sings the right way,

the real jazz singing?"

And when I heard Amy Winehouse,

I immediately said,

"This one's got it."

Everybody just said,

"Oh, I don't know

how you're gonna handle her."

- Where do you want to be?

- I'll be here.

Okay. This is weird.

I've never done

anything like this.

I've never done anything

like this.

In which way?

To sing with one of my idols...

- Oh, no...

- and have it filmed.

But it's good, it's good,

'cause then,

I can make my dad jealous,

after, when I show him,

when he sees it.

I can't believe it

It's hard to conceive it

That you would

turn away romance

Whoa oh oh oh oh oh

Are you pretending

It looks like the ending

- Yeah.

Unless I could have

one more chance

To prove dear

- My...

- Sorry, sorry, that was me.

- I was terrible. I was terrible.

- No, no...

I don't want to waste your time.

It's getting better each time.

Don't... Really.

I just don't wanna

waste your time.

Ahem.

We'll keep doing it

till we got one.

It's right in there, okay?

You're not in any hurry,

are you?

- No! Of course I'm not.

- I'm not either. We have time.

Just gotta get it right,

I've got to get it right.

- I'm not getting it right.

- Oh, you are, you are.

It's getting better each time

and you sound wonderful.

Just a minute,

I'm getting some water.

The most famous artists

I ever met

are the most nervous

before they hit that stage.

No matter how much you feel it,

you want to feel it even more,

so that it becomes

an honest recording.

And that's what Amy had.

She had that gift.

She was a natural,

true jazz singer.

And a jazz artist doesn't like

50,000 people in front of him.

My life a wreck

You're making

You know I'm yours

Just for the taking

I'd gladly surrender

Myself to you

Body and soul

Thank you!

- I think we got it.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- I'm like you, you know?

- Each time, it's different.

- Yeah. No, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

It's never the same thing twice,

right? Yeah.

No, I'm like you.

Not you're like me.

I get it from...

my idols, like you.

That's the right way to do it.

She skyped me. She was happy.

The Tony Bennett thing, I mean,

she was, you know, a fan.

It was about her saying,

"I'm not a singer,

I'm a jazz singer."

Then she said,

"Let's do this jazz project

with Questlove..."

She's such a jazz snob.

She'd always be

on her computer sending me MP3s.

"Listen to this, listen to this,

listen to this."

I thought

I had my doctorate in jazz,

but no, she taught me a lot.

She was, like, "Alright,

we're gonna start a super group:".

You, me,

Mos and Raphael Saadiq."

I was, like, "Okay."

And she assigned homework.

"Alright, study this record,

study this record..."

Amy had a good period.

She could go for four weeks

at a time with no alcohol.

And she very much felt

that she was the best

that she has ever been.

But she went to the Priory,

in May, to be checked,

and there was some very...

serious things

that were being spotted.

It was the cumulative effect

of drinking and bulimia.

She could feel perfectly fine

and have heart irregularities.

Her heart can stop

if she started drinking again.

I said, "Look,

is this what you want?"

Do you want to die?"

And she said,

"No, I don't want to die."

All the signs were positive.

I thought, "Right, okay",

we've got a little

chink of light."

The Tony Bennett thing

was a good catalyst,

and it shows

that she still had it.

We had the offers

to do these shows,

and I said to her,

"You don't have to do them.

There's no pressure.

We got no record to promote."

But she wanted to do it.

She skyped me.

She wanted to do

all these other projects

with Questlove and Mos Def.

She was, like,

"I don't need this."

She just didn't wanna go.

The material felt so tired

and didn't feel

relevant to her anymore.

But because

she was such a huge star

and there was all

of these different pressures,

she had to keep performing

Back to Black.

She didn't want to do that.

As soon as she knew

that tour was looming,

she got wasted,

wasted so that

she wouldn't be able to go.

Amy was passed out,

asleep, on her sofa.

She gets put

in the back of a car, asleep,

and she wakes up at the airport

and gets put on a private jet.

Amy! Amy! Amy!...

Belgrade!

Introducing Amy Winehouse!

Whoo!

I wasn't sure what was going on.

She just wouldn't sing.

It was the first time ever

that had happened.

It felt like the end.

It was someone who just

really didn't care anymore.

To the extent

where she was willing

to sabotage not just her career,

but her friendships

and her musical relationships.

But it's amazing to me.

Why keep putting her onstage?

Because surely her managers know

she has a problem.

This was supposed to be

a major comeback, guys,

and she totally blew it.

Go!

"Yay!"

NICK:
The 24th of July

was my wedding day,

and Amy was due

to be at the wedding,

and we'd spoken and I felt

like she was really excited

about my wedding, actually.

And she said

she hadn't been drinking

and she can't wait

to see the family, and Salaam,

and some people

that had been on the journey

were gonna be there.

She rang me up and I thought,

"Oh, my God,

what's happened now?"

'Cause that's the first thing

that goes in my head.

And she just went, "Jules..."

And it was my Amy,

completely normal.

And she kept saying

she'd never done this before.

She just kept saying sorry.

It was like complete clarity

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes