Amy Winehouse: A Celebration

Troubled Soul: Amy Winehouse, 1983-2011

Posted by Sasha Frere-Jones

I saw Amy Winehouse play live only once, at the Highline Ballroom, on the lower west side of Manhattan, in 2008. Her second album, “Back to Black” was peaking in America, though to the headliner, this seemed irrelevant. It is not obvious how to describe her performance. Backed by a band largely from the Dap-Tone Records stable, she seemed impatient. She was no train wreck—nothing of the sort—but she stood still, and oddly so, occasionally sipping water and swaying little. Why wasn’t she happier? Her album was catching fire in America and her career was in the ascendant. Why was she not more excited?

Winehouse went through the album, dutifully, and for the purposes of this show, there was little from her first album. A shambling cabaret debut, “Frank” was a high-school yearbook photo, something better left to conversation than to the canon. “Back to Black” was no joke, though; with producer Mark Ronson, Winehouse had summoned the feel and sound of sixties soul, along with millions of biddable listeners. The album spread among the young but also to an older demographic that trusted that sound.

Winehouse made American soul a viable category, even though many American singers had already been working on that. Welcome to the World Series of Awkwardness: Winehouse had a genuinely interesting take on black American soul, yet she was a white British woman. So what to do? Thank her for the exceptional moment and be glad she sold a bunch of Aretha records?

Was it about Winehouse or the music? We never got to find out. if you are a masochist, you can troll YouTube for clips. She descended, into a variety of arrangements but never entirely recovered her free will. She can be seen recently, stumbling and barely getting through one of her hits, like an announcement for what was to come. And now she's gone.

Her heir is Adele, the phenomenally voiced, appealing alternative (if it’s blue-eyed soul we're talking about). There is no joy in this succession. Nobody can match Winehouse’s unique transitions or her utterly weird phrasings. She sounded like an original sixties soul star, developed when the landscape had no rules. But now untrammeled traditionalism is in the lead and her beautiful footnote has been cut short. American soul—through visionaries like Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae and Jill Scott—had moved on. But Winehouse was a fine shepherd of the past. What hurts most is how “Back to Black” hadn’t completed the idea. There were more songs, maybe many. Now? The jukebox is off and we're being ushered back home, with no address.

(Photograph by Harry Benson.)

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55 injured in new clashes in Egypt

-07-24 03:35:45
CAIRO, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Some 55 people were injured in clashes in Cairo's Abbasiya area on Saturday during protests, state media said.

The clashes erupted after protestors moved from Tahrir Square to the headquarters of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces but were prevented from advancing by residents and military police, it said.

The protestors hurled stones at troops and military police.

Six of the injured were sent to hospital while the others were treated at the scene.

Military police have exercised self-restraint while dealing with protestors, official MENA news agency quoted a military source as saying.

This was the latest clashes in Cairo which led to casualties, after some 1,100 were injured in clashes during protests by the end of June.

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Amy Winehouse, 27, found dead at her London flat after suspected 'drug overdose'

By Sarah Bull

Last updated at 9:43 PM on 23rd July 2011

• 
  

• Troubled singer had a long battle with drink and drugs
• London Ambulance Service found singer at 3.54pm but unable to revive her
  
• She was 'beyond help' according to Sky sources
  
• Autopsy could take place 'within next 24 hours'
  
• Comes after Winehouse was booed off stage after shambolic Serbian show
  

Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home in London.

The Back To Black singer was found at the property by emergency services at 3.54pm, and it's believed Winehouse's death was due to a suspected drug overdose.

Winehouse was apparently 'beyond help' when paramedics arrived, according to Sky sources.

Sources have also claimed Winehouse's death was due to a drug overdose.

Passing: Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home this afternoon

The scene: Amy was pronounced dead this afternoon after emergency services arrived at her house in north London

Tragic: Winehouse's body is seen being removed from her home

Dramatic: Police surrounded the property after Winehouse was found dead

WITHIN MINUTES 20M WERE TALKING TO EACH OTHER ON TWITTER ABOUT THE SINGER'S SUDDEN DEATH

Before it was announced on mainstream media the micro-blogging site was responding to the death of the singer and ‘Amy Winehouse’ quickly became one of Twitter’s 'trending' topics.

Enlarge

Trending refers to whichever names or terms are the most talked about at that particular moment. These are defined by the site as ‘most breaking’ topics.

Unlike topics which are discussed for a length of time, such as the phone hacking scandal, trending topics see huge numbers of Twitter users debating subjects as they happen.

Shortly after the confirmation of her death, Winehouse was mentioned in nearly 10 per cent of all tweets worldwide. As there are 200million users this equates to 20million people communicating with one another about her death.

Two ambulance crews arrived at the scene within five minutes and a paramedic on a bicycle also attended, according to a spokeswoman.

'Sadly the patient had died,' she added.

More...

• A death foretold: The rapid rise and tragic fall of Amy Winehouse, the deeply flawed soul prodigy
• Outpouring of grief on Twitter over Amy Winehouse's sudden death
• Read PAUL CONNOLLY'S tribute to Amy Winehouse here

A statement from Winehouse's U.S. record label read: 'We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer.

'Our prayers go out to Amy's family, friends and fans at this difficult time.'

In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: 'Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square NW1 shortly before 16.05hrs today, Saturday 23 July, following reports of a woman found deceased.

'On arrival officers found the body of a 27-year-old female who was pronounced dead at the scene.

'Enquiries continue into the circumstances of the death. At this early stage it is being treated as unexplained.’

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said in a press conference this evening that no cause of death had yet been confirmed.

He said: 'I am aware of reports of a suspected drugs overdose, but I would like to reremphaise that no post-mortem has yet taken place and it would be inapproporaite to speculate on the cause of death.

'The death of any person is a sad time of friends and family especially for someone known nationally and internationally like Amy Winehouse. My sympathy extends not only to her family but also to her millions of fans across the world.'

A spokesman for the late singer said: 'Everyone involved with Amy is shocked and devastated.

'Our thoughts are with her family and friends. The family will issue a statement when ready.'

It has also been claimed on gossip website RadarOnline.com that Winehouse's autopsy could take place within the next 24 hours.

Last public appearance: Amy joined goddaughter Dionne Bromfield on stage during the iTunes festival on Wednesday night

Healthy: Amy was spotted out in London looking healthier earlier this month

A Scotland Yard spokesman is quoted by the website as saying: 'The postmortem has not been scheduled yet but it is unlikely to take place before tomorrow.

'In the case of a murder it can be done within hours but this is not the case so tomorrow or even Monday is more likely in these circumstances.'

A section of the road where the singer lived remained cordoned off tonight. Journalists, local residents and fans gathered at the police tapes, while forensic officers were seen going in and out of the building.

Cutie pie: Amy looking adorable at the age of two

One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she saw the singer's grief-stricken boyfriend, believed to be film director Reg Traviss, on the ground outside the house.

Two women then came 'speeding' up in a black Mercedes and walked in and out of the house crying. They said they believed the singer was at home last night.

Winehouse's father, Mitch, is understood to be returning to the UK from New York. He had been due to perform at the Blue Note jazz club in the city on Monday.

A message has been placed on the club's website, reading: 'We are very sad to report that the Mitch Winehouse performance on Monday July 25th is cancelled due to the unexpected death of his daughter, Amy Winehouse.

'Our condolences go out to Mitch and his family.' Mitch is now on his way back from New York.

Winehouse had been seen with her goddaughter Dionne Bromfield earlier this week as the teenager took to the stage at the iTunes festival.

She refused to join in for Mama Said, but did support the 14-year-old with a few dance moves before urging the crowd to buy Dionne's new album Good For The Soul.

A source said: 'Amy staggered onstage and grabbed the mic to beg the crowd to buy her protege’s new album.'

Winehouse's appearance at the concert came after she cancelled her European tour following a disastrous performance in June when she stumbled onto the stage in Belgrade and gave an incoherent performance appearing very disorientated and removed from reality.

Unconfirmed: A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the cause of death has yet to be confirmed

Following the concert which saw fans enraged and the subsequent video that circulated to millions she cancelled the remaining dates of her European tour.

A statement released by the troubled singer's spokesperson at the time said that the singer would be given 'as long as it takes' to recover.

The statement read: 'Amy Winehouse is withdrawing from all scheduled performances.

'Everyone involved wishes to do everything they can to help her return to her best and she will be given as long as it takes for this to happen.'

Family: Amy with her father Mitch, to whom she was incredibly close, and her mother Janis

Shambolic: Amy was booed off stage during a shambolic performance in Belgrade in June

AMY AND BLAKE: A TROUBLED ROMANCE

Amy married Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami, Florida in 2007 but they were divorced two years later in September 2009.

From the beginning there relationship was fraught with difficulty as they struggled with addictions to crack cocaine and heroin. This led to numerous break-ups and ensuing make-ups.

Three months after they divorced speculation began to mount that they would one more marry. This was supported by the announcement on Facebook where they had both changed their relationship status to married.

But they never actually went ahead with it.
Fielder-Civil’s troubles continued and in June of this year was sentenced to 32 months in prison for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm.

Police caught the 29-year-old in a car in February with an altered number plate full of recently stolen possessions.

Winehouse had been working on her long-awaited new album, the follow-up to her 2006 breakthrough multi-million selling Back To Black, for the past three years.

The singer was born Amy Jade Winehouse on 14th September 1983 in Southgate, London.

Winehouse has had a troubled life which has included various stints in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.

The singer is thought to have been to rehab four times.

In an interview in 2008, her mother Janis said she would be unsurprised if her daughter died before her time.

She said: 'I've known for a long time that my daughter has problems.

'But seeing it on screen rammed it home. I realise my daughter could be dead within the year. We're watching her kill herself, slowly.

'I've already come to terms with her dead. I've steeled myself to ask her what ground she wants to be buried in, which cemetery.

'Because the drugs will get her if she stays on this road.

'I look at Heath Ledger and Britney. She's on their path. It's like watching a car crash - this person throwing all these gifts away.'

In addition, there was a website set up called When Will Amy Winehouse Die?, with visitors asked to guess the date of death with the chance of winning an iPod Touch.

In an interview last October with Harper's Bazaar magazine, Amy was asked if she was happy.

She replied: 'I don't know what you mean. I've got a very nice boyfriend. He's very good to me.'

And, asked if she had any unfulfilled ambitions, Amy replied: 'Nope! If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.'

As well her battles with drugs and alcohol, Winehouse also had a troubled marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil, who she divorced in summer 2009.

Fielder-Civil and Winehouse married in 2007 in Miami.

The pair's relationship - heavily documented by the media - saw them appearing in public bloodied and bruised after fights.

Former love: Amy with her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil

Troubled: Amy battled drink and drug addictions during her short life

It is also alleged former music video producer Fielder-Civil was the one who introduced the Back to Black star to heroin and crack cocaine.

Amy's father Mitch previously spoke out about how his daughter stayed away from drugs prior to meeting her ex-husband.

In a previous interview last year he said: 'He's not entirely responsible, she's got to take a portion of the responsibility, but it's clear, it really kicked off when they got together.'

Most recently, Winehouse was romantically linked to film director Reg Traviss, who she dated for a few months last year.

Weight worries: Amy also caused concern with her shrinking frame, and looked gaunt back in 2008 (right)

And Mitch also gave the new man his seal of approval.

In an interview with STV's The Hour programme, he said: 'I'm happy she's got a new boyfriend. I'm happy that she's moving on with her life.'

He said Traviss was a 'very nice, normal bloke'. The pair split in January this year but quickly rekindled their relationship.

In March, Traviss said: 'We've been together nearly a year now and we're very happy. Amy's doing well, she's fine. She's healthy and happy.'

AMY WINEHOUSE - THE LATEST MEMBER OF THE '27 CLUB'

The singer's tragic death at the age of 27 puts her in a pantheon of famous musicians who have all died at the same age.

Amy follows now joins the notorious 27 Club, also known as Forever 27, which is a group of musicians who have all died at the age while struggling to cope with fame.

Club members: Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison are among those who died at the age of 27

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was the most recent victim and in 1994, pumped with heroin and valium, he turned a gun on himself.

Decades earlier Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones all died at 27.

Rolling Stone Jones drowned in a swimming pool in 1969; Hendrix choked to death in 1970 after mixing wine with sleeping pills and singer Janis Joplin suffered a suspected heroin overdose the same year.

Doors star Morrison died of heart failure in 1971.

Winehouse has also caused controversy with her weight over the past few years. After hitting the music industry as a curvy role model, Winehouse then shed an astonishing amount of weight, leading to her looking gaunt in 2008.

Amy had a hugely successful musical career with the release of her debut album Frank in 2003, and the record considered her breakthrough album - Back To Black in 2006.

The singer featured on the Sunday Times Rich List earlier this year with an estimated net worth of around £6million.

During her career, Winehouse won awards including five Grammy Awards, a Q Music Award for Best Album for Back To Black and a World Music Award in 2008 for World's Best Selling Pop/Rock Female Artist.

Finding love again: Amy is believed to have been dating film director Reg Traviss at the time of her death

Success: Amy performed via video link at the Grammy Awards in 2008 after winning five awards

AMY WINEHOUSE: A LIFE CUT DOWN IN ITS PRIME

by Adrian Thrills

The tragic loss of Amy Winehouse has robbed us of a young, if fatally troubled, life cut down in its prime. It has also cheated British music of a talent, at 27, whose best years surely still lay ahead.

As a homegrown singer, she was with without question the outstanding vocalist of her generation. Without Amy, there would have been no Adele, no Duffy and no Lady Gaga. She may have been an alumni of the Brit School, but Winehouse was also a British great.

In an era of manufactured stars and precision-tooled pop puppets, she was the real deal. For all her demons - and, sadly, sometimes because of them - she cut through pop's hyperbole. Her rawness and emotional honesty harked back to an era when the best singers were more believable. For a white girl raised in the North London suburbs, she had the sweet, sure touch of an Aretha Franklin or Etta James.

Tragic loss: Amy was a talented and much-loved singer and performer

Her talent was obvious from the off. The first time I saw her live was at the V Festival eight years ago. Tucked away at the bottom of the bill in one of the small tents, well away from the crowds gathering for headliners the Red Hot Chili Peppers, she oozed class. Dressed in a Fifties-style frock, playing a white Fender guitar, she showed nervous glimpses of a talent that would later wow the world.

I was lucky enough to interview her twice. The first time came shortly before the release of debut album Frank in 2003. Having met her in a photographic studio in Soho around lunchtime, we relocated, at Amy's insistence, to her favourite local Italian cafe, where we enjoyed a lengthy chat over a large, non alcoholic lunch. She struck me then as a witty, intelligent young girl on the cusp of womanhood.

Full of joy: Amy performing at the start of her career back in 2004

She was full of the joys of life and understandably excited about her future.

Confident in her own abilities, she was gleefully irreverent. Whereas other singers, media-trained to within an inch of their lives, were masters in the art of diplomacy, she happily sounded off with little regard of the consequences.

Unconcerned about how her words might look in print, she dismissed her peers.

Dido and Norah Jones, huge at the time, were among her targets. They were ridiculed for being bland. She was savage, too, in her criticisms of Madonna.

She was naive, yes, but immensely likeable. A glowing review ensued.

Later, shortly before the release of second album Back To Black, I came face to face with a different Amy. Noticeably more slight than when we'd met three years previously, she turned up late in a coffee bar close to her North London home, but still turned heads with her long, raven black hair and striking eye-liner.

But, while some of that earlier youthful, sparkle had gone, she still struck me as a woman who knew exactly what she wanted. Perhaps more aware of her own flaws, she even retracted what she had said three years earlier about her fellow female stars. 'When I was promoting my first album I was very defensive, so I lashed out a lot,' she said. 'But I won't be saying anything negative about other singers now. They've got their job to do. I'm just happy to be doing my own thing.' More mature in many ways, she was ready to let her music do the talking.

And Back To Black did just that. Rooted in emotional turmoil, it will go down as one of the classic British albums. Even now, in an era where female pop rules the charts in the shape of Adele, Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Gaga, nothing has come close to packing the sheer emotional punch of Back To Black. A departure from her jazzy debut, it was stark, simple and stunningly direct.

Musical stylings: Amy caused a stir with her first album Frank in 2004, and followed it with Back To Black in 2006

Musically, it was influenced heavily by Sixties girl groups such as The Shangri-Las and The Supremes. Lyrically, most notably on signature tune Rehab, it was clearly affected by the demons that were now troubling the singer. A far more commercial prospect than her eclectic debut, it went on to sell millions.

It won Grammys and Brits and established Amy as the pre-eminent soul girl of her age.

Despite her problems, the Amy I glimpsed during our brief encounters was different from her public persona. Nobody makes records as good and enduring as Frank and Back To Black without an intimate knowledge of the essential ingredients of great pop music. And Amy certainly had that in abundance.

For me, the most recent example of the way in which her talent truly touched people from all walks of life came in a conversation a few weeks ago with the great Tony Bennett, who sung with Amy on a track, Body And Soul, from his forthcoming duets album. As a singer who has worked with the best, from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, he had no doubt as to where Amy stood - she was one of the best. Remember her this way.

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Singer Amy Winehouse dead: media reports

RIP: Amy Winehouse (1983 - 2011)

It's hard to over estimate just what a talent Amy Winehouse was.

Posted 23rd July 2011 in | By Connor Owen

It's hard to over estimate just what a talent Amy Winehouse was. Though she may not leave us with a vast back catalogue - and to many her impressive first album 'Frank' remains a lost classic - in one record she changed the popular music landscape.

While many will choose to concentrate on the bad - the sad drug and alcohol addiction and often erratic performances that came with it - together with producer Mark Ronson, 'Back To Black' was a blueprint every A&R was told to recreate. The bestselling record of 2007, an album which reached number two in the US, winning five Grammys and two Ivor Novellos; Winehouse was as brilliant as she was successful. A truly amazing voice, there was little contrived about her rise to the top.

Born to a Jewish family in North Finchley, Winehouse grew up with the jazz albums of her father Mitch. Though expelled from the Sylvia Young theatre school, she found herself taken on by Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment and Universal. With 'Frank' released just after her 20th birthday, it wasn't a runaway success. Peaking at Number 13, the record was still critically acclaimed. Still - nobody could expect what came next.

Meeting her future husband Blake Fielder-Civil, it was the break up of their early relationship (they would later go on to marry) that caused Winehouse to write the songs that became 'Back To Black'. The woman that returned upon the albums release was radically different - almost unrecognisably thin, and with her darker side evident, she brought an authenticity to her music which, while often uncomfortable, proved an instant success.

'Rehab', the first release from the record, became her first Top 10 single - remaining in the chart for over a year. The fact that the public believed what she sang seemed to make the music more powerful, as her relationship with Fielder-Civil and the problems that came with it played out in public. The more she made the front pages, the greater the acclaim that followed.

During her later years Winehouse found herself with more of the former than the latter, yet despite a shaky attempt at a comeback in Belgrade last month, it's that voice and that beehive that will live on.

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Namorado de Amy Winehouse é fotografado em frente à casa da cantora

Publicidade

DE SÃO PAULO

Poucas horas depois de anunciada a morte de Amy Winehouse, fãs e fotógrafos já se reuniam na porta da casa da cantora em Londres.

Entre os curiosos foi fotografado o cineasta Reg Traviss, atual namorado da cantora. Encostado a uma grade, Traviss parecia estar sozinho e demonstrava tristeza e desolação.

Winehouse foi encontrada morta em sua casa na tarde deste sábado. Seu corpo foi achado pela polícia e ela foi declarada morta no local.

	Joel Ryan/Associated Press
	Reg Traviss, namorado de Amy Winehouse, se mistura a curiosos em frente à casa da cantora em Londres

	Andy Rain/Efe
	Fotógrafos se reúnem diante da casa de Amy Winehouse de Londres

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Mulher que roubou recém-nascida no Rio se apresenta à polícia

Publicidade

DENISE MENCHEN
DO RIO
DAMARIS GIULIANA
COLABORAÇÃO PARA A FOLHA, DO RIO

Tanite Cardoso Peixoto, 27, suspeita de ser a falsa médica que tirou a recém-nascida Ayanna Milla Barbosa de Moraes dos braços da mãe, em um hospital do Rio, apresentou-se por volta das 14 horas no 154º DP (Cordeiro), em Nova Friburgo, região serrana.

Mulher rouba recém-nascida de hospital no Rio de Janeiro

Orientada pelo advogado a se entregar depois de ter a imagem divulgada pela imprensa, ela levou o bebê. Segundo a polícia, Tanite estava aparentemente transtornada.

Informações iniciais coletadas pela polícia apontam que a mulher disputa a guarda dos dois filhos com o pai das crianças.

Como ainda não prestou depoimento, a polícia não sabe se ela tinha intenção de ficar com o bebê ou entregá-lo a outra pessoa.

QUINZE MINUTOS

A falsa médica levou cerca de 15 minutos para roubar a criança. Ela entrou no hospital Hospital São José dos Lírios, em São Gonçalo, zona sul do Rio, na última sexta-feira (22).

De jaleco, apresentou uma carteira de pediatra do Conselho Regional de Medicina, dirigiu-se à maternidade e entrou no quarto 302.

Aos pais, disse que precisava levar Ayanna ao berçário para fazer os exames do pezinho, olhinho e orelhinha. Cerca de uma hora depois, o hospital informou o caso à polícia.

"Não é o procedimento padrão. Exames de coleta são feitos no quarto e os de imagem são acompanhados. Então, quando contaram o que havia acontecido, sabíamos que era roubo", explicou a diretora administrativa do hospital, Alice Diniz.

"Nós temos monitoramento por câmeras em todo o hospital e a segurança foi reforçada, mas não revistamos a bolsa de ninguém", completou.

Segundo a diretora, os padrões de atendimento e segurança são informados aos pacientes, mas não confirmou se a mãe da criança, Elisa da Silva Barbosa, 27, recebeu a orientação.

A suspeita comprou o jaleco e estetoscópio numa loja de produtos médicos com cartão de crédito.

De acordo com a polícia, no mesmo dia ela já havia tentado levar bebês de outros dois hospitais. Num deles, a segurança foi chamada, mas somente a acompanhou até a saída.

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"I listen to a lot of '60s music, but society is different now," ... "I'm a young woman and I'm going to write about what I know."

"I listen to a lot of '60s music, but society is different now," ... "I'm a young woman and I'm going to write about what I know."

Troubled diva Amy Winehouse dead at 27

Winehouse too often made headlines because of drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, destructive relationships and abortive performances

• AP
• Published: 20:35 July 23, 2011

• Image Credit: Reuters
• British singer Amy Winehouse performs at the Brit Awards at Earls Court in London on February 20, 2008.

London: Few artists summed up their own career in a single song - a single line - as well as Amy Winehouse.

“They tried to make me go to rehab,” she sang on her world-conquering 2006 single, Rehab. ''I said 'No, no no.'"

Occasionally, she said yes, but to no avail: repeated stints in hospitals and clinics couldn't stop alcohol and drugs scuttling the career of a singer whose distinctive voice, rich mix of influences and heart-on-her sleeve sensibility seemed to promise great things.

In her short lifetime, Winehouse too often made headlines because of drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, destructive relationships and abortive performances. But it’s her small but powerful body of recorded music that will be her legacy.

The singer was found dead Saturday by ambulance crews called to her home in north London's Camden area, a youth-culture mecca known for its music scene, its pubs - and the availability of illegal drugs.

The London Ambulance Service said Winehouse had died before ambulance crews arrived at the house in leafy Camden Square. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Shock

It was not a complete surprise, but the news was still a huge shock for millions around the world. The size of Winehouse's appeal was reflected in the extraordinary range of people paying tribute as they heard the news, from Demi Moore - who tweeted "Truly sad news ... May her troubled soul find peace" - to chef Jamie Oliver, who wrote "such a waste, raw talent" on the social networking site.

Tony Bennett, who recorded the pop standard Body And Soul with Winehouse at Abbey Road Studios in London in March for an upcoming duets album, called her "an artist of immense proportions".

"She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent has come to such an early end," he said.

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood said he was dedicating Saturday's reunion performance of his band The Faces to Winehouse. "It's a very sad loss of a very good friend I spent many great times with," he said.

Winehouse was something rare in an increasingly homogenised music business - an outsized personality and an unclassifiable talent.

She shot to fame with the album Back to Black, whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse - with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos - one of music's most recognisable stars.

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when the album was released. "I'm just a musician."

Demons

But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet.

Last month, Winehouse cancelled her European comeback tour after she swayed and slurred her way through barely recognisable songs in her first show in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Booed and jeered off stage, she flew home and her management said she would take time off to recover.

Fans who had kept the faith waited in vain for a followup to Back to Black.

Early start

Born in 1983 to taxi driver Mitch Winehouse and his pharmacist wife Janis, Winehouse grew up in the north London suburbs, and was set on a showbiz career from an early age. When she was 10, she and a friend formed a rap group, Sweet 'n' Sour - Winehouse was Sour - that she later described as "the little white Jewish Salt 'n' Pepa".

She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, a factory for British music and acting moppets, later went to the Brit School, a performing arts academy in the "Fame" mold, and was originally signed to "Pop Idol" svengali Simon Fuller's 19 Management.

But Winehouse was never a packaged teen star, and always resisted being pigeonholed.

Her jazz-influenced 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically praised and sold well in Britain. It earned Winehouse an Ivor Novello songwriting award, two Brit nominations and a spot on the shortlist for the Mercury Music Prize.

But Winehouse soon expressed dissatisfaction with the disc, saying she was "only 80 per cent behind" the album.

Frank was followed by a slump during which Winehouse broke up with her boyfriend, suffered a long period of writer's block and, she later said, smoked a lot of marijuana.

"I had writer's block for so long," she said in 2007. "And as a writer, your self-worth is literally based on the last thing you wrote. ... I used to think, 'What happened to me?'

"At one point it had been two years since the last record and (the record company) actually said to me, 'Do you even want to make another record?' I was like, 'I swear it's coming.' I said to them, 'Once I start writing I will write and write and write. But I just have to start it.'"

The album she eventually produced was a sensation.

Released in Britain in the fall of 2006, Back to Black brought Winehouse global fame. Working with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi and soul-funk group the Dap-Kings, Winehouse fused soul, jazz, doo-wop and, above all, a love of the girl-groups of the early 1960s with lyrical tales of romantic obsession and emotional excess.

Back to Black was released in the United States in March 2007 and went on to win five Grammy awards, including song and record of the year for Rehab.

Original sound

Music critic John Aizlewood attributed her trans-Atlantic success to a fantastic voice and a genuinely original sound.

"A lot of British bands fail in America because they give America something Americans do better - that's why most British hip-hop has failed," he said. "But they won't have come across anything quite like Amy Winehouse."

Winehouse's rise was helped by her distinctive look - black beehive of hair, thickly lined cat eyes, girly tattoos - and her tart tongue.

She was famously blunt in her assessment of her peers, once describing Dido's sound as "background music - the background to death" and saying of pop princess Kylie Minogue, "she's not an artist ... she's a pony."

The songs on Black to Black detailed breakups and breakdowns with a similar frankness. Lyrically, as in life, Winehouse wore her heart on her sleeve.

"I listen to a lot of '60s music, but society is different now," Winehouse said in 2007. "I'm a young woman and I'm going to write about what I know."

Even then, Winehouse's performances were sometimes shambolic, and she admitted she was "a terrible drunk".

Increasingly, her personal life began to overshadow her career.

She acknowledged struggling with eating disorders and told a newspaper that she had been diagnosed as manic depressive but refused to take medication. Soon accounts of her erratic behaviour, cancelled concerts and drink- and drug-fueled nights began to multiply.

Photographs caught her unsteady on her feet or vacant-eyed, and she appeared unhealthily thin, with scabs on her face and marks on her arms.

There were embarrassing videos released to the world on the Internet. One showed an addled Winehouse and Babyshambles singer Pete Doherty playing with newborn mice.

Another, for which Winehouse apologised, showed her singing a racist ditty to the tune of a children's song.

Wayward star

Winehouse's managers went to increasingly desperate lengths to keep the wayward star on the straight and narrow. Before a June 2011 concert in Belgrade - the first stop on a planned European comeback tour - her hotel was stripped of booze. It did no good, Winehouse swayed and slurred her way through barely recognizable songs, as her band played gamely and the audience jeered and booed.

Winehouse flew home. Her management canceled the tour, saying Winehouse would take some time off to recover.

Though she was often reported to be working on new material, fans got tired of waiting for the much-promised followup to Back to Black.

Occasional bits of recording saw the light of day. Her rendition of The Zutons' Valerie was a highlight of producer Mark Ronson's 2007 album Version, and she recorded the pop classic It's My Party for the 2010 Quincy Jones album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra.

But other recording projects with Ronson, one of the architects of the success of Back to Black, came to nothing.

She also had run-ins with the law. In April 2008, Winehouse was cautioned by police for assault after she slapped a man during a raucous night out.

The same year she was investigated by police, although not charged, after a tabloid newspaper published a video that appeared to show her smoking crack cocaine.

In 2010, Winehouse pleaded guilty to assaulting a theatre manager who asked her to leave a family Christmas show because she'd had too much to drink. She was given a fine and a warning to stay out of trouble by a judge who praised her for trying to clean up her act.

In May 2007 in Miami, she married music industry hanger-on Blake Fielder-Civil, but the honeymoon was brief. That November, Fielder-Civil was arrested for an attack on a pub manager the year before. Fielder-Civil later pleaded guilty to assaulting barman James King and then offering him 200,000 pounds (US$400,000) to keep quiet about it.

Winehouse stood by "my Blake" throughout his trial, often blowing kisses at him from the court's public gallery and wearing a heart-shaped pin labeled "Blake" in her hair at concerts.

But British newspapers reported extramarital affairs while Fielder-Civil was behind bars. They divorced in 2009.

Winehouse's health often appeared fragile. In June 2008 and again in April 2010, she was taken to hospital and treated for injuries after fainting and falling at home.

Her father said she had developed the lung disease emphysema from smoking cigarettes and crack, although her spokeswoman later said Winehouse only had "early signs of what could lead to emphysema".

She left the hospital to perform at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert in Hyde Park in June 2008, and at the Glastonbury festival the next day, where she received a rousing reception but scuffled with a member of the crowd. Then it was back to a London clinic for treatment, continuing the cycle of music, excess and recuperation that marked her career.

Her last public appearance came three days before her death, when she briefly joined her goddaughter, singer Dionne Bromfield, on stage at The Roundhouse in Camden, just around the corner from her home.

Despite the years of frustration and disappointment, Winehouse retained a huge body of fans, all hoping she would find her feet again. Some gathered outside her home after her death, laying flowers, comforting each other and taking in the police tape and ambulance that marked the end of her journey.

Winehouse is survived by her parents. Her father, Mitch, who released a jazz album of his own, was in New York when he heard the news of her death and immediately flew back.

Winehouse's spokesman, Chris Goodman, said "everyone who was involved with Amy is shocked and devastated".

He said the family would issue a statement when they were ready.

gulfnews.com

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Morre no Rio o jornalista Ayrton Baffa

Ele faleceu na madrugada deste sábado (23), depois de choque cardiogênico.
Autor de sete livros, Baffa foi ganhador de dois prêmios Esso de Jornalismo.

Do G1 RJ

Morreu na madrugada deste sábado (23), no Rio, o jornalista Ayrton Baffa. Segundo a assessoria de imprensa do Hospital Copa D'or, onde Baffa estava internado desde o último dia 12, ele faleceu depois de um choque cardiogênico (quando o coração perde a capacidade de bombear sangue) decorrente de um infarto. Ele tinha 77 anos.

Seu corpo será velado às 16h deste sábado no Cemitério São João Batista, em Botafogo, na Zona Sul do Rio. O enterro acontece neste domingo (24).

Ayrton Baffa escreveu sete livros e foi vencedor de dois prêmios Esso de Jornalismo: o primeiro em 1983, na categoria Informação Econômica; o segundo em 1988, na categoria Informação Política.

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Amy Winehouse

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Singer Amy Winehouse found dead in London home

Grammy Award winner was 27, had checked out of treatment center month ago

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British singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London home. She was 27.

TODAY staff and wire

updated 10 minutes ago

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Breaking news

Amy Winehouse, the beehived soul-jazz diva whose self-destructive habits overshadowed a distinctive musical talent, was found dead Saturday in her London home, police said. She was 27.

The British singer's record label, Universal, confirmed her death on Saturday.

"We are deeply saddened at the sudden loss of such a gifted musician, artist and performer," the statement read. "Our prayers go out to Amy's family, friends and fans at this difficult time."

Winehouse shot to fame with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse — with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos — one of music's most recognizable stars.

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Police confirmed that a 27-year-old female was pronounced dead at the home in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death was not immediately known. London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene.

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician."

But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet.

Slideshow: Amy Winehouse's life and career (on this page)

Born in 1983 to taxi driver Mitch Winehouse and his pharmacist wife Janis, Winehouse grew up in the north London suburbs, and was set on a showbiz career from an early age. When she was 10, she and a friend formed a rap group, Sweet 'n' Sour — Winehouse was Sour — that she later described as "the little white Jewish Salt 'n' Pepa."

She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, a factory for British music and acting moppets, later went to the Brit School, a performing arts academy in the "Fame" mold, and was originally signed to "Pop Idol" svengali Simon Fuller's 19 Management.

But Winehouse was never a packaged teen star, and always resisted being pigeonholed.

Her jazz-influenced 2003 debut album, "Frank," was critically praised and sold well in Britain. It earned Winehouse an Ivor Novello songwriting award, two Brit nominations and a spot on the shortlist for the Mercury Music Prize.

But Winehouse soon expressed dissatisfaction with the disc, saying she was "only 80 percent behind" the album.

"Frank" was followed by a slump during which Winehouse broke up with her boyfriend, suffered a long period of writer's block and, she later said, smoked a lot of marijuana.

Winehouse just latest musician to die at 27

"I had writer's block for so long," she said in 2007. "And as a writer, your self-worth is literally based on the last thing you wrote. .. I used to think, 'What happened to me?'

"At one point it had been two years since the last record and (the record company) actually said to me, 'Do you even want to make another record?' I was like, 'I swear it's coming.' I said to them, 'Once I start writing I will write and write and write. But I just have to start it.'"

'Back to Black' led to fame
The album she eventually produced was a sensation.

Released in Britain in the fall of 2006, "Back to Black" brought Winehouse global fame. Working with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi and soul-funk group the Dap-Kings, Winehouse fused soul, jazz, doo-wop and, above all, a love of the girl-groups of the early 1960s with lyrical tales of romantic obsession and emotional excess.

"Back to Black" was released in the United States in March 2007 and went on to win five Grammy awards, including song and record of the year for "Rehab."

Remember Winehouse on our Facebook page

Music critic John Aizlewood attributed her trans-Atlantic success to a fantastic voice and a genuinely original sound.

"A lot of British bands fail in America because they give America something Americans do better — that's why most British hip-hop has failed," he said. "But they won't have come across anything quite like Amy Winehouse."

Winehouse's rise was helped by her distinctive look — black beehive of hair, thickly lined cat eyes, girly tattoos — and her tart tongue.

She was famously blunt in her assessment of her peers, once describing Dido's sound as "background music — the background to death" and saying of pop princess Kylie Minogue, "she's not an artist ... she's a pony."

Amy Winehouse

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   An early end

   Amy Winehouse performs on stage at the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, Britain, on June 28, 2008. The singer-songwriter was found dead at her flat in North London on July 23, 2011. She was 27 years old. (Frantzesco Kangaris / EPA) Share

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Begging for his life: Chilling image of terrified teenager pleading for mercy from 'neo-Nazi' killer standing astride bodies

• 'He yelled out that he was going to kill us all and that we must all die,' says survivor shot in the back
• Police chief says 4 or 5 people still missing at scene camp massacre
  
• Death toll rises to 92 after discovery of another body on island
  
• Suspect bought SIX tonnes of fertiliser two months ago
• Witnesses describe attacks in different parts of the island
  
• 32-year-old man is charged with terror offences
• Suspect is member of Swedish Nazi forum which encourages attacks on government buildings
• Claims he boasted online about talks with English Defence League
  
• Police to use mini-submarine to search island's surrounding waters for bodies
• Norwegian media report Breivik set up a Twitter account a few days ago and posted: 'One person with a belief is equal to 100,000 who have only interests'
  
• Norway's PM who spent many summers on island: 'My childhood paradise that yesterday was transformed into Hell'
• Names of the dead will be released once relatives have been told
  

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 7:17 PM on 23rd July 2011

• 
  

The gunman has been identified locally as Anders Breivik, 32, who is said to have right-wing and anti-Muslim views. The blond, blue-eyed Norwegian's Oslo flat was searched by detectives last night.

Norway's Prime Minister said 'a youth paradise turned into hell' when a gunman dressed as a police officer killed at least 85 people at a summer camp on an island outside Oslo after blowing up a further seven in the capital.

The death toll rose this afternoon after a further body was found on the island. Early this evening police said 4 or 5 people are still unaccounted for on the island.

It has emerged that the man at the centre of the attack is also a member of a Swedish Nazi forum which encourages attacks on government buildings.

The revelations were revealed by Swedish newspaper Expo who claim Anders Breivik is part of 'Nordisk' which has 22,000 members and focuses on political terrorism.

The 32-year-old who has been identified as the suspect by Norwegian media is also said to have anti-Muslim viewed.

Police are searching the blond, blue-eyed man's registered flat, in a four-storey red brick building in west Oslo, which is being heavily guarded by 10 officers.

Officers are also still searching the surrounding waters, where people fled the attack, with divers and a mini-submarine.

It has also just been revealed that there is a new bomb alert in the capital and police have reportedly sealed off an area called Solli Plass, an area close to the royal palace.

A spokesman for local police has said that police are continuing to search the area surrounding Utoeya island and said that many of the people who tried to escape by swimming to shore are unaccounted for.

The names of the dead will not be released until relatives have been informed.

It took investigators several hours to realise the full horror of yesterday's massacre, which followed an explosion in nearby Oslo that killed seven, set off, police said, by the same suspect.

More...

• 'I could hear his boots and feel his breath' - Survivor tells how he played dead before gunman shot him in the back
• 'I tried to call them over but soon realised they were dead': Man rescues dozens of children after gunman kills 84 people on island
• Pictured: The blond Norwegian, 32, arrested over 'holiday island massacre' and linked to Oslo car bomb blasts
• Norwegian massacre gunman was a right-wing extremist who hated Muslims
• Terrified teens 'swam for their lives and hid in trees' as island gunman fired at them

According to witness accounts from Norwegian media, people have described shooting incidents in two different areas on the island, one with a handgun and the other with a ‘sniper rifle’.

Desperate plea: A victim of the mass killing can be seen up to his waist in water, his hands in the air - as the gunman stands on the shore, surrounded by bodies

An aerial view of Utoeya Island, Norway, taken a day before the shootings

Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is flanked by Justice Minister Knut Storberget (left) and State Secretary Hans Kristian Amundsen (second left) as he hugs Labour Youth Wing leader Eskil Pedersen after arriving at a hotel close to the scene of the massacre

Prime Minister Stoltenberg (back to camera) meets with victims today as he arrives at a hotel close the island. He arrived there by helicopter

Their faces stricken with grief, these teenagers react as Norway's King Harald and Queen Sonja arrive to comfort them outside a hotel where survivors and family members are staying

Prime Minister Stoltenberg comforts survivors and family members and (right) the man arrested by police accused of carrying a knife outside the hotel where the prime minister was meeting the relatives

However there is uncertainty whether the guns belonged to one gunman or there was a second involved.

Police said 'there are no concrete reports of a second gunman, although we're not excluding any possibilities'.

Norway's King Harald, whose son the crown prince is reported to have attended the same primary school as Breivik, speaks to Prime Minister Stoltenberg with the families of survivors

The Norwegian Prime Minister met survivors and families of victims today. He said the he personally knew several of those killed.

Jens Stoltenberg flew by helicopter to a hotel in the nearby town of Sundvollen where many survivors were being counselled and interviewed by police.

Relatives converged on the hotel to reunite with their loved ones or to identify their dead.

'A whole world is thinking of them,' the prime minister said, his voice cracking with emotion.

Norwegian King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon also visited the hotel to comfort survivors and their families.

He added: 'To meet the victims and grieving relatives is deeply affecting me. It’s powerful, and my compassion is limitless. On behalf of our country, we wish to express our greatest sympathy with the victims. The entire nation is behind you.

‘A lot of people have told me that they refuse to be scared and that they want to return to Utoeya as soon as possible. We’re a small country but we feel great solidarity with the victims and the presence of the King and Queen conveys the strong support for the people who have lost friends, children, cousins and other relatives. One of the greatest aspects of this country has been showcased today and we’ll do anything to extend our help and empathy.’

It has also emerged that the suspect bought six tonnes of fertiliser in May.

Farming supply company Felleskjopet in Rena, Hedmark, confirmed that Anders Breivik had placed the order under a company he owned called Breivik Geofarm.

A spokesman confirmed the 32-year-old had access to large amounts of fertilizer and that it wasn’t unusual.

‘These are goods that were delivered on May 4,’ Oddny Estenstad, a spokeswoman at agricultural supply chain Felleskjoepet Agri, told Reuters, without giving the exact type of fertiliser purchased.

‘It was 6 tonnes of fertiliser, which is a small, normal order for a standard agricultural producer. I do not know him or the company, except that it is a company that has contacted us in a normal manner and ordered fertiliser and had it delivered,’ she said.

Police detained a second man today who was accused of carrying a knife outside a hotel where Norway's prime minister was meeting families of shooting victims.

The man told reporters he was a member of the Labor Party's youth wing and was carrying a knife 'because I feel unsafe'.

The country's media are reporting that Breivik set up a Twitter account few days ago and posted: 'One person with a belief is equal to 100,000 who have only interests'

Oslo police spokeswoman Carol Sandbye told the BBC: 'He has been charged with two counts of terrorism. They have just started to interrogate him.'

She said he would have to appear in court within three days.

A police official says the gunman is co-operating. He said: 'He is clear on the point that he wants to explain himself.'

An injured woman is carried by a man at the site of the explosion that rocked the centre of Oslo yesterday

Soldiers guard a cordoned off area in central Oslo the day after the massive blast which killed seven people

The motive for the attacks was unclear but this morning police said he was co-operating. 'He is clear on the point that he wants to explain himself,' said a spokesman.

He added that the gunman had posted websites with Christian fundamentalist tendencies.

The mass shootings are among the worst in history. With the blast outside the prime minister's office, they formed the deadliest day of terror in Western Europe since the 2004 Madrid train bombings killed 191.

A police official says the gunman may have had 30 minutes for his killing spree.

Two teenage boys wrapped in blankets are evacuated from the island by rescue workers

A medic walks with an unidentified female survivor, as family members walk towards her

Relief: A survivor of the shooting is reunited with her parents

One of the injured is taken to an ambulance after being brought ashore from the island

Johan Fredriksen said today a SWAT team was put on standby after a bombing in Oslo that killed seven people. One man is thought to have planted the bomb and then headed to the island for the massacre.

When asked how long it took the SWAT team to arrive at the island after the shooting began, Fredriksen said: 'It takes the time it takes to drive fast.' He said that was about 30 minutes.

Police initially said about 10 were killed at the forested camp on the island of Utoya, but some survivors said they thought the toll was much higher. Early today police director Oystein Maeland said they had discovered many more victims.

'It's taken time to search the area. What we know now is that we can say that there are at least 80 killed at Utoya,' Mr Maeland said. "It goes without saying that this gives dimensions to this incident that are exceptional.'

Mr Maeland warned that the death toll could rise and said others were severely injured.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Saturday that he had spent many summers on the island of Utoya, which was hosting a youth retreat for his party.

Utoya is 'my childhood paradise that yesterday was transformed into Hell,' he said at a news conference in the capital at which Storberget also appeared.

A police official said the suspect appeared to have acted alone in both attacks and 'it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organisations at all'.

'This seems like a madman's work,' he added.

White sheets cover the corpses of teenagers shot on the shore of the small, wooded island

Rescue workers with a sniffer dog search for bodies along the shore of Utoya island. A 32-year-old man has been charged with terrorism offences

A SWAT team aim their weapons at a group of youngsters hiding from the gunman. It has emerged that it took 30minutes for armed police to get to the island

Rescue workers set up a camp opposite the island where the attack took place. A youth summer camp was underway when the gunman attacked

Teenagers on the Norwegian holiday island of Utoya had to 'swim for their lives' and hide in trees when the gunman fired indiscriminately at them

An injured man is helped in the immediate aftermath of the powerful explosion that tore apart the government district of Oslo yesterday

Smoke billows from a building shortly after the blast which killed seven people

This image shows the damages at the entrance of the building housing the Norwegian newspaper VG

The official said the attack 'is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Centre'.

TIME LINE OF TERROR

1982 - SOUTH KOREA - Police officer Woo Bum Kong went on a drunken rampage in Sang-Namdo with rifles and hand grenades, killing 57 people and wounding 38 before blowing himself up.
1987 - BRITAIN - Michael Ryan, a 27-year-old gun fanatic rampaged through the English town of Hungerford, killing 16 people and wounding 11 before shooting himself.
1989 - FRANCE - A French farmer shot and killed 14 people including members of his family in the village of Luxiol, near the Swiss border. He was wounded and captured by police.
Dec. 1989 - CANADA - A 25-year-old war movie fan with a grudge against women shot dead 14 young women at the University of Montreal, then killed himself.
Nov. 1990 - NEW ZEALAND - A gun-mad loner killed 11 men, women and children in a 24-hour rampage in the tiny New Zealand seaside village of Aramoana. He was killed by police.
Sept. 1995 - FRANCE - A 16-year-old youth ran amok with a rifle in the town of Cuers, killing 16 people and then himself after an argument with his parents.
March 13, 1996 - BRITAIN - Gunman Thomas Hamilton burst into a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane and shot dead 16 children and their teacher before killing himself.
April 1999 - USA - Two heavily-armed teenagers went on a rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Denver, shooting 13 students and staff before taking their own lives.
July 1999 - USA - A gunman killed nine people at two brokerages in Atlanta, after apparently killing his wife and two children. He committed suicide five hours later.
June 2001 - NEPAL - Eight members of the Nepalese Royal family were killed in a palace massacre by Crown Prince Dipendra who later turned a gun on himself and died few days later. His youngest brother also died later raising the death toll to 10.
April 26, 2002 - GERMANY - In Erfurt, eastern Germany, 19-year-old Robert Steinhauser opened fire after saying he was not going to take a maths test. He killed 12 teachers, a secretary, two pupils and a policeman at the Gutenberg Gymnasium, before killing himself.
Oct. 2002 - USA - John Muhammad and Lee Malvo killed 10 people in sniper-style shooting deaths that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area.
April 16, 2007 - USA - Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, became the site of the deadliest rampage in U.S. history when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.
Nov. 7, 2007 - FINLAND - Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed six fellow students, the school nurse and the principal and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki.
Sept. 23, 2008 - FINLAND - Student Matti Saari opened fire in a vocational school in Kauhajoki in northwest Finland, killing nine other students and one male staff member before killing himself.
March 11, 2009 - GERMANY - A 17-year-old gunman dressed in black combat gear killed nine students and three teachers at a school near Stuttgart. He also killed one other person at a nearby clinic. He was later killed in a shoot-out with police. Two additional passers-by were killed and two policemen seriously injured, bringing the death toll to 16 including the gunman.
June 2, 2010 - BRITAIN - Gunman Derrick Bird opened fire on people in towns across the rural county of Cumbria. Twelve people were killed and 11 injured. Bird also killed himself.
Aug. 30, 2010 - SLOVAKIA - A gunman shot dead six members of a Roma family and another woman in the Slovak capital Bratislava before killing himself. Fourteen more people were wounded.

Domestic terrorists carried out the 1995 attack on a US government building in Oklahoma City, while foreign terrorists were responsible for the September 11 2001 attacks.

Both attacks were in areas connected to the ruling Labour Party government. The youth camp, about 20 miles north west of Oslo, is organised by the party's youth wing and the prime minister Jens Stoltenberg had been due to speak there today.

A 15-year-old camper named Elise said she heard gunshots, but then saw a police officer and thought she was safe. Then he started shooting people right before her eyes.

'I saw many dead people,' said Elise. 'He first shot people on the island. Afterwards he started shooting people in the water.'

Elise said she hid behind the same rock that the killer was standing on. 'I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock,' she said.

She said it was impossible to say how many minutes passed while she was waiting for him to stop.

At a hotel in the village of Sundvollen, where survivors of the shooting were taken, 21-year-old Dana Berzingi, wearing trousers stained with blood, said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting.

Several victims 'had pretended as if they were dead to survive,' Mr Berzingi said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.

'I lost several friends,' said Mr Berzingi, who used the mobile phone of one of those friends to call police.

The Queen has written to the King of Norway to express her shock and sadness at the attacks in his country, Buckingham Palace said today.

She said her and the Duke of Edinburgh's thoughts were with the Norwegian people.

Her message to King Harald read: "I am deeply saddened and shocked by the tragic loss of life of so many people on the island of Utoya and in Oslo.

'Prince Philip joins me in extending our heartfelt sympathy to Your Majesty and the people of Norway. Our prayers and thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by the dreadful atrocity.'

Members of the public in Britain also voiced their solidarity and sympathy, posting messages of support on the Facebook page for the Norwegian Embassy in London.

The blast in Oslo, Norway's capital and the city where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, left a square covered in twisted metal, shattered glass and documents expelled from surrounding buildings.

Most of the windows in the 20-floor high-rise where Mr Stoltenberg and his administration work were shattered. Other buildings damaged house government offices and the headquarters of some of Norway's leading newspapers.

The dust-fogged scene after the blast reminded one visitor from New York of September 11.

Ian Dutton, who was in a nearby hotel, said people 'just covered in rubble' were walking through 'a fog of debris'.

'It wasn't any sort of a panic. It was really just people in disbelief and shock, especially in a such as safe and open country as Norway. You don't even think something like that is possible.'

Police said the Oslo explosion was caused by 'one or more' bombs.

A police official, speaking anonymously, said the Oslo bombing occurred at 3.26pm local time (2.26pm BST), and the camp shootings began one to two hours later.

The official said the gunman used both automatic weapons and handguns, and that there was at least one unexploded device at the youth camp that a police bomb disposal team and military experts were working on disarming today.

The suspect had only a minor criminal record, the official said.

National police chief Sveinung Sponheim said seven people were killed by the blast in central Oslo, four of whom have been identified, and that nine or 10 people were seriously injured.

Mr Sponheim said a man was arrested in the shooting, and the suspect had been observed in Oslo before the explosion there.

He said the camp shooter "wore a sweater with a police sign on it. I can confirm that he wasn't a police employee and never has been".

Mr Sponheim told public broadcaster NRK that the suspected gunman's internet postings "suggest that he has some political traits directed towards the right, and anti-Muslim views, but if that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen".

Mr Stoltenberg, who was home when the blast occurred and was not harmed, condemned the "cowardly attack on young innocent civilians".

"I have message to those who attacked us," he said. "It's a message from all of Norway: You will not destroy our democracy and our commitment to a better world.'

GUNMAN BECKONED TO TEENAGERS TO COME CLOSER, WHEN THEY DID HE KILLED THEM

An emotional unidentified survivor from the shooting embraces a man outside hotel where survivors were being reunited with their families

The man in the police uniform shouted for the campers to come closer. When they did, he killed them.

The gunman who killed at least 80 people at an island youth camp north west of Oslo used his disguise to lure in his victims, then shot them twice to make sure they were dead, survivors said in the village of Sundvollen, where they were taken after the massacre.

Speaking on the phone to Sky News Adrian Pracon said he heard the killer shout that everyone was going to die.

The 21-year-old said: 'He yelled out that he was going to kill us all and that we must all die. I started speculating and thinking this can't be real because Norwegian people wouldn't attack Norway.'

Mr Pracon also described how he could hear the gunman's boots as he walked along the rocks and felt his breath moments before he shot him in the back.

'I was lying on a rock, face down and I could hear him coming. I could feel his breath.
'As he approached, he shot at me to see if I was dead and fortunately I didn't move so he thought I was dead.

'I was laying there for two hours, still healthy but very cold.'

Before he was shot Mr Pracon said he had tried to escape the island by swimming into the ocean but only managed a short distance before deciding to turn back.

'I jumped into the water like the rest of the people but I did not have time to take my clothes off and it had started to rain.

'When I had swum about 100 metres I felt I had to turn back because I started to get very cold and felt I might meet a certain death.'

Once he reached the shore he saw Breivik who pointed his gun at him.

'I screamed to him, please no please. I didn't know if he didn't want to just kill me because I was one person or if he preferred to kill a group of people.

'Later he started shooting out of nowhere and I was hiding behind the bodies.'

Elise, 15, said was just feet away from the gunman when he opened fire in the camp on Utoya island: 'I saw many dead people.'

Elise said she had just come out from an information meeting in a nearby building when she heard gunshots. She saw a police officer and thought she was safe, but then he started shooting.

'He first shot people on the island. Afterwards he started shooting people in the water," she said.

Elise said she hid behind the same rock that the killer was standing on. "I could hear his breathing from the top of the rock," she said.
In panic, the girl phoned her parents, whispering to them what was going on.

'They told me not to panic and that everything would be OK," she said.

Her parents also told her to get rid of a brightly coloured jacket she was wearing to not draw attention to herself.

She said it was impossible to say how many minutes passed while she was waiting for him to stop.

Survivors described a scene of sheer terror at the camp, which is organised by the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour party.

Hundreds of young people were eagerly awaiting a speech the prime minister was to give there today.

Several of the survivors seemed calm as anxious parents picked them up at a Sundvollen hotel, but the stories they told were of utter terror.

Dana Berzingi said the fake police officer ordered people to come closer, then pulled weapons and ammunition from a bag and started shooting.

Several victims "had pretended as if they were dead to survive," the 21-year-old said. But after shooting the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a shotgun, he said.

"I lost several friends," said Mr Berzingi, whose trousers were stained with blood. He said he used the mobile phone of one of his fallen friends to call police.

OSLO ATTACK EVOKES MEMORIES OF BOMBING IN OKLAHOMA CITY

The bombing of the government building in Oslo has evoked memories of Timothy McVeigh's attack on the Oklahoma City federal building 16 years ago.

The explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 killed 168 people and injured more than 600.

McVeigh (pictured right) was convicted on federal murder charges and executed in 2001.

McVeigh's Army friend, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado.

McVeigh was stopped on Interstate 35 by Oklahoma highway patrol trooper Charlie Hanger on the day of the bombing because his 1977 Mercury Marquis did not have a licence plate.

Hanger went on to be elected sheriff of Noble County, Oklahoma, in 2004.

McVeigh, a US Army veteran and security guard, was 26 when he carried out the attack by detonating a lorry bomb outside the building.

It was said to be the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States before the September 11, 2001 attacks.

McVeigh was seeking revenge against the federal government for the way it handled the siege at Waco in Texas, which ended in the deaths of 76 people exactly two years earlier.

The siege had begun in February 1993 when the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tried to execute a search warrant at a ranch run by the Branch Davidian religious sect at Mount Carmel, near Waco.

A gun battle broke out in which four agents and six Branch Davidians were killed.

A siege was initiated by the FBI , which ended 50 days later when a second assault on the compound was made and a fire destroyed it.

McVeigh drove to Waco during the crisis to show his support for those under siege. He distributed pro-gun rights literature and bumper stickers, such as 'When guns are outlawed, I will become an outlaw'.

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