Amy and Blake: Could "Sid and Nancy" comments spur them on?

From the The Bolton News, first published Tuesday 28th Aug 2007.

GOOGLE the phrase "troubled rocker" and we can guarantee that you will get at least 300,000 results, 99 per cent of which will also include the words "Pete Doherty".

Similarly, Amy Winehouse is currently appearing in the news more for her hotel antics than her not inconsiderable talent.

They certainly aren't the first musicians to stumble along the rocky road to fame. But in an industry where is now seems a drug habit is as fashionable as the latest Prada bag, are Pete, Amy and co just the tragic but inevitable outcome of our fascination with all sides of celebrity life?

Winehouse Woes

After pictures of Amy and her husband, 25-year-old Blake Fielder-Civil, looking bloody and battered after a fight were splashed across the newspapers, Blake's stepfather spoke out about his concern for the couple.

Giles Civil, a 42-year-old head teacher from Newark, compared Amy and Blake to Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, and said that their drinking and drug habits could kill them.

Platinum-selling Amy was admitted to hospital earlier this month, following an alleged overdose of ketamine and heroine.

And now the pair have jetted off on holiday, after a second attempt at rehab failed.

Amy has said that she can't go back to rehab without her husband, and that he "saved her life."

It was their troubled relationship that is said to have inspired her multi-award-winning album Back To Black, where Amy also made her problems with drugs and depression public.

Throughout the album, the 23-year-old star sang about "troubled tracks", love as a "losing game" and "stupid men," but it seems now that rather than the cathartic exercise many people thought it would be, Amy's life is now on a downward spiral.

Giles Civil believes that the comparisons to Sid and Nancy may shock his son into action, but it seems more likely that the pair will be pleased with the idea.

Despite the fact that the Sex Pistols bassist murdered girfriend Spungen, and a few months later died from an overdose of Class A drugs, he is still held as something of a romantic figure by many musicians and music fans.

Rock and roll is often seen as a live hard, die young business, but it seems Amy's fascination with this myth could well be her undoing...

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