Mother Of Amy Winehouse To Dedicate New Documentary Marking 10 Years Of Daughter’s Death

Amy Winehouse’s mother Janis will tell her daughter’s story in a new BBC documentary to mark the 10th anniversary of the artist’s death.

The BBC has said that much of Janis Winehouse’s motivation for filming is because Multiple Sclerosis “threatens to snatch her from Amy’s memories”.

Janis was diagnosed in 2003 and memory problems are common with MS.

‘I Don’t Feel Like The World Knows Real Amy’

“I don’t feel like the world knows the real Amy, the one I raised,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to give insight into her roots and a deeper understanding of the real Amy.”

The singer, whose 2006 album Back To Black introduced her as one of the greatest talents of her generation, died of alcohol poisoning at the age of 27 in July 2011.

The BBC has said her story will be told in a new documentary “primarily through her mum”, whose version of events “often differs from the narrative we have been told before”.

Janis will be joined by family and friends, and the film will offer “a new female-driven interpretation of her life, her loves and her legacy”, the announcement said.

In her 2014 book Loving Amy: A Mother’s Story, Janis wrote that a gradual “loss of sharpness” of memory was part of MS. “I worry about the day when Amy stops being alive in my head and in my heart. I don’t want that day ever to come,” she wrote.

Force To Be Reckoned With

Janis had symptoms of MS for more than 20 years before being officially diagnosed. She became an ambassador for MS Society in 2019.

Amy’s childhood friend Juliette Ashby told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday: “I think it’s a lovely, wonderful thing her mum’s doing for her.”

Ashby remembered Amy as “a force to be reckoned with” and “one of the kind”, adding: “Genuinely there is no one like her. And there won’t ever be anyone like her.”

Amy Winehouse: 10 Years On

The documentary, titled Amy Winehouse: 10 Years On, is not the first to be made with this artist.

The 2015 film titled Amy, directed by director Asif Kapadia, won an Oscar for the best documentary, despite the artist’s father Mitch lamenting that it was unpredictable and “dirty”.

The anniversary will also be marked with the release of a three-CD compilation of Winehouse’s performances at the BBC.

And there will be other special programmes, including a BBC Radio 2 documentary about her influence on younger female singer-songwriters and a Radio 1 documentary to introduce her to a new generation of listeners.