Amy Winehouse Performs for Abramovich

[SteveH]

Winehouse performs for Abramovich  
 
 
Amy Winehouse has performed an exclusive gig at a Moscow art gallery for Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and his girlfriend Daria Zhukova.

The singer flew out to play at the launch of The Garage gallery, which has been set up by Ms Zhukova.

Mr Abramovich and the former model went on stage to thank the star for her set, for which she was paid a reported £1m.

Celebrities and figures from the art world were among 300 people who watched the Grammy winner perform for an hour.

The building was a former bus depot and is twice the size of a football pitch.

 
Ms Zhukova joined Mr Abramovich at the Champions League Final

Winehouse thanked Ms Zhukova for inviting "her to such a great night, she thoroughly enjoyed herself", her spokesman said.

"Amy was very happy to play her part in the restoring of such a great building to its future use as a space for contemporary art."

The headline-grabbing 24-year-old is also scheduled to perform at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert in London, Glastonbury, T in the Park and Bestival music festivals later this summer.

Her Moscow appearance follows reports that Mr Abramovich recently spent £60m on two paintings by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, record prices for the artists' work.
 

[SteveH]

Amy Winehouse's Medical Mystery

June 19th, 2008

Today 12:22 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

 Amy Winehouse's fainting spell has her doctors stumped.

The "Rehab" chanteuse has been hospitalized since blacking out Monday, and doctors at the London facility where she's being treated are conducting further tests, her rep said today, to get to the bottom of what ails her before she resumes performing later this month.

The 24-year-old soul diva is among the headliners at a June 27 London concert celebrating the 90th birthday of former South African president Nelson Mandela. The next day she's due to take the stage at the U.K.'s Glastonbury music festival.

While her rep insists those shows are still a go, they could be called off should doctors deem it necessary for her recovery.

Winehouse's father, Mitch, who drove his daughter to the clinic, told London's Telegraph that his daughter will remain hospitalized "as long as possible" until her physicians determine a proper diagnosis.

"Amy is doing fine," he added.

Winehouse's camp denied a report by the Sun tabloid she was suffering from an irregular heartbeat and that she was ordered by doctors to clean up her act and quit drugs or risk dying.

[SteveH]

Singer Winehouse has lung disease 
 


Read the full Mitch Winehouse interview

Singer Amy Winehouse has "traces" of the lung disease emphysema but is "responding brilliantly to treatment", her father has said.

Mitch Winehouse told BBC Radio 1 his daughter would recover "completely" as long as she stopped smoking.

The star has now been in hospital for a week, but her father said she would perform at the Glastonbury Festival and Nelson Mandela concert this weekend.

Emphysema is caused by lung damage and can start as mild breathlessness.

It eventually means the body does not get enough oxygen, leading to further breathing problems and even contribute to death.

"There's a small amount there which hasn't gone too far and it's completely repairable," Mr Winehouse said.


The 24-year-old fell ill last week after fainting at her London home.

"With patience, her lungs will recover completely and she's responding brilliantly to treatment - she's actually flourishing," Mr Winehouse said.

He added that doctors had given his daughter permission to perform at the weekend.

"She will be well enough - not could be - she's well enough to be at Glastonbury now," he said.

But Dr Keith Prowse, chairman of the British Lung Foundation, said emphysema was not curable.

  If Amy stops smoking, it's not going to interfere with her singing

Dr Keith Prowse
British Lung Foundation

"Once it's there, it's there - it is possible to have it and not be bothered by symptoms, but if you continued to smoke it would cause it to progress rapidly," he told the BBC.

"If Amy stops smoking, it's not going to interfere with her singing and she probably won't have any trouble from it."

But in the late stages of the disease, a singer would "struggle to find the breath to perform effectively", he said.

Emphysema kills 30,000 people in the UK every year and is caused by gradual damage to the structure of the lungs, which makes it harder to exhale.

 EMPHYSEMA FACTS
Caused by gradual damage to the structure of the lungs
Sufferers find it hard to exhale
Lack of oxygen can lead to fatigue and weight loss
Smoking is the principle cause in the UK
Cannot be cured, although radical surgical methods have been tried with some success
Can leave sufferers housebound, reliant on oxygen supplies, and eventually contribute to death


Find out more about Emphysema

It usually affects older people as it is due to cumulative damage over a long period, such as a lifetime of smoking.

Dr Prowse also said more young drug addicts were presenting with the condition.

"People are starting to use drugs much younger these days so it is present much earlier," he said.

"They are smoking cigarettes heavily anyway and we know some of the other things that damage the lungs - cannabis for example.

"But they're not eating a reasonable diet and have a lifestyle which predisposes damage."

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Mr Winehouse also called for his daughter's drug dealers and circle of drug addict pals to stay away from her.

"I'm saying to those drug dealers, and they know who they are, if they are supplying crack to Amy, then they've got to take responsibility," he said.

"I don't want her hanging out with her mates like Pete Doherty either. What hope does she have if people are taking drugs around her?"
 

[SteveH]

Amy Winehouse 'lashes out' at fan 

By Ian Youngs
Music reporter, BBC News at Glastonbury
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7479092.stm

Amy Winehouse 'punching' a fan

Amy Winehouse has returned to the stage at the Glastonbury Festival and appeared to throw a punch at a fan.

She lashed out at someone who tried to grab her hair as she finished her set alongside fans in front of the stage, her spokesman said.

She was followed by US rapper Jay-Z, who gave a triumphant performance to win over critics who claimed a hip-hop act should not headline the festival.

Other stars on a mostly sunny Saturday included Duffy and Massive Attack.

 
Winehouse appeared to lunge into the crowd near the end of her set

Winehouse's one-hour performance was her first full UK show for seven months.

It drew a huge crowd to the Pyramid Stage but split opinion among fans.  Her spokesman said at least 75,000 people watched and that organisers had never seen the field so full.

"The 'lashing out' was when someone tried to grab her hair and she reacted," the spokesman said.

But footage of the incident did not clearly show what provoked her lunge.



Jay-Z performs Oasis' Wonderwall
The Grammy-winning singer was on fine form and in good voice for most of the set, going some way to dispelling fears about her health.

She jumped down into the security pit for the last two songs, separated from the fans by a crush barrier.

"Thanks for your support," she told them earlier, as she performed tracks such as Cupid, Rehab and Tears Dry on Their Own.

"I really enjoyed it - I've never seen her live before and I thought it was really good," said one fan, 18-year-old Lucinda Whitehead.



Duffy was among acts on the Other Stage
But Laura Bradley, 24, said: "It's a shame the crowd didn't appreciate her. They were slagging her off."

There appeared to be a smaller crowd for Jay-Z, but he was greeted by chants and cheers.

The New York hip-hop star fired up the crowd with an introduction that included a BBC interview in which Oasis star Noel Gallagher said hip-hop was "wrong" for Glastonbury.

Jay-Z then took the stage to the strains of the Oasis hit Wonderwall.

"So they say you guys didn't want me here to be here tonight," he said.

"They said you guys weren't into hip-hop." The crowd responded by chanting his name to show their support.

 
A placard from Shakin' Stevens fans mocked Jay-Z's song 99 Problems


Profile: Saturday headliner Jay-Z

"Thanks for all the love here tonight," the star added, saying Glastonbury had "embraced my culture".

"This is a beautiful moment, I'm glad to share it with each and every one of you," he said.

The crowd went wild for the star's hits including 99 Problems, Hard Knock Life and Encore.

He seemed to succeed in winning over the many festival-goers who were unsure about his appearance.

Indie fan James Lucas, 26, wearing a Charlatans T-shirt, said: "It wasn't my bag – but yes, he was very, very good.

 
"I don't understand the controversy about Jay-Z," singer Lily Allen said


See Glastonbury's surreal suburbs

"When you see people at the top of their game, it's worth it."

Tom O'Shea, 27, from Neath, said it marked "a new era" for the festival.

"It breaks down boundaries and he was amazing in what he did," he said. "He's the best rapper in the world."

Jay-Z's set sampled songs by U2, Estelle, Rihanna, Amy Winehouse and the Jackson Five.

But one disappointment was the lack of any surprise guests.

His wife Beyonce, Coldplay star Chris Martin, NERD's Pharrell Williams, LinkinPark, Rihanna and Winehouse had all been rumoured to be joining him on stage.

Earlier acts on the main stage on Saturday included Crowded House, Manu Chao, The Raconteurs and Shakin' Stevens.



Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis explains why the festival is so special


The sun shone for most of the day, drying out mud that was created by rain on Thursday and Friday.

Some 172,000 people were on site by Saturday morning, police said.

Crime has almost doubled compared with the same stage last year, with 342 reported offences, up from 177 in 2007. Much of that increase is down to a rise in thefts from tents.
 

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