Despite the erratic image of a drunk singer on stage that the late Amy Winehouse spread via media, fans captures on You Tube, and paparazzi shoots, she was a dedicated daughter, sister and granddaughter.
From past 3rd of july to september 15th 2013, the Jewish Museum located in Camden, at north London, is staging an original intimate and moving exhibition about Amy´s family life, co-curated by her brother Alex and sister in law, Riva.
The Winehouse family have given the Jewish Museum unprecedent access to Amy´s personal belongings that shows her as a passionate for family, music, fashion, London, Sudoku and Snoopy comics character.
Amy was close with his family, and was proud of their jewish heritage, of being a londoner, and of her neighborhood of Camden Town, where the Jewish Museum is located, and the place she choose to buy her house.
"Being jewish to me is about being together as a real family, is not about lighting candles and saying a brocha", declared Amy in 2005 talking about her roots. She was particularly fond of her grandmother Cynthia, her parents Mitchel and Janis, and his older brother Alex.
Her grandmother Cynthia Winehouse, whose name was tattooed on Amy´s right arm, seems to have been a deep influence on the singer´s life. Her black hair look was similar to Amy, and she was very elegant, with a strong artist side. Cynthia herself have been a jazz singer when she was young, and held a relationship in the 40´s with Ronnie Scott, british sax player, co-founder at London of the famous Ronnie Scott´s Jazz Club. Ronnie´s real surname was Schatt and was also from russian jewish origins on his father side.
The exhibition is divided in four thematic areas: Judaism, Family and Home, Amy and London, Music, and Style Icon. The first of them is dedicated to her family, their byelorrussian origins, how they arrived to London in the last decade of XIX Century locating at East End, where they open a barber shop.
At the exhibition public can see old photographs from her grandmother, the first guitar that was shared with her brother Alex, her records, a Grammy award, her clothes and school uniform, and an old suitcase that seems to be the most appreciate belong from Amy. The story tolds that in 2011, a couple of days before her tragic death, the "most soulful vocalist Great Britain has ever seen", as singer George Michael said about her, called her father to look through what the suitcase contained: dozens of photographs from Amy´s family and friends that she collected like a real treasure. It was the last time he saw her alive. On September 14th 2013, she should have become 30 years old.