Amy Winehouse Lost Her Battle with Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Amy Winehouse was found dead in her apartment today. The death is listed as unexplained. In the end, Winehouse was better known for her brushes with the law and drug addiction than she was for her talent, and she was talented. She had a wonderful voice and a great musical style.

Winehouse had the ability to bring soul music back to the mainstream, and for awhile, she did. "Back to Black" was a massive hit. The album won the singer five Grammies and propelled her into stardom. Her success as a singer was short lived.

Within a matter of a few months, her drug addled tabloid lifestyle would take center stage. Her fans watched as she was arrested for assault, warned and featured doing drugs in a home video.

Her spiral continued until 2008, when she was hospitalized with lung disease and covered in nicotine patches in order to break her from the worst of her addictions. We hoped she'd recover. We hoped to see another album just as good as "Back to Black," but more importantly, we wanted to see her beat her addiction and survive. We wanted Winehouse to divorce Blake Feder-Civil and become a success story.

Shortly after her hospitalization, Winehouse did divorce Blake Feder-Civil and the news stopped. There were no more tabloids pictures of a disoriented, bloody or beaten Winehouse. Was she getting better? Creating another album? We hoped.

News arrived in June. Winehouse underwent a brief stint in rehab to prepare her for an upcoming comeback tour. She even performed an impromptu concert in London at the 100 Club. She was sober. She talked to the fans, and everyone cheered. It looked like the old Amy was back.

She appeared well prepared for her concert in Belgrade. She wasn't. It was a disgrace. The singer stumbled, muttered and forgot the lyrics to her own songs. She went home. We wondered what happened between the 100 Club and Belgrade. The tour spent about a day in limbo before the remaining dates were canceled.

We, again, hoped Winehouse would recover; that this was just a brief bump on her road to becoming drug free. Unfortunately, that bump in the road turned out to be a mountain, and Winehouse was too sick to climb it. She was found dead in her apartment earlier today. The cause of death is unknown.