Amy Winehouse Dead: Police Called to Break Up Binge-Drinking 'Goodbye' Street Party
Amy Winehouse’s funeral and cremation were held Tuesday, with close friends and family saying their emotional final farewells. However, hundreds of fans have paid their respects by gathering outside her house and getting so drunk and disorderly that police had to be called.
Neighbors were forced to complain to the police as fans brought alcohol and music to the streets outside Winehouse’s home in north London.
The tribute-gathering for the singer by fans quickly became a drunken mess with fans laying drunk in the streets and alcohol bottles littering the street; some even dumping their bottles on the makeshift memorial for the late singer.
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Visitors to the street annoyed local neighbors of the recently deceased Winehouse by playing loud music, singing drunkenly and dancing around the streets until the early hours.
According to the Daily Mail a police spokesman commented on the events saying, “A few neighbors rang and we were called to reports of disturbances at 10.30pm. One man was arrested for a breach of the peace and some were moved on.”
In Camden, the north London area where Winehouse lived, it is an offense to drink alcohol in public places outside “designated zones.” If people ignore warnings by police they can be arrested, and can be fined up to £500 (approximately $800).
Earlier in the day Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse, spoke at her funeral, telling congregants that his daughter had almost beaten her alcohol problems and had already beaten her drug addiction three years ago.
In his eulogy at the Edgwarebury Cemetery in north London, he also revealed plans to set up a foundation in his daughter's name, which will help others battle drink and drug addictions.
The singer was found dead by a bodyguard on Saturday afternoon. It is thought that Winehouse may have been dead for four hours already by the time she was found. A post-mortem examination carried out Monday was inconclusive and an inquest has been opened and adjourned until October 26.
MTV will air a tribute special to the life and career of Winehouse Wednesday night at 6:30pm E.T. according to its website.
The special will feature a rarely seen performance filmed in MTV’s Times Square studios as part of its “45th at Night” live series in 2007; a performance which took place just before Winehouse rose to superstardom in the U.S.
The set features Winehouse performing with her Back to Black backup band, the Dap Kings, delivering soulful renditions of her hits such as ‘Rehab,’ ‘Back to Black,’ ‘Me and Mr Jones,’ and ‘You Know I’m No Good’.
The special will also feature a collaboration between Winehouse and rapper Mos Def on the song ‘Love is a Losing Game.’
