Since Amy Winehouse died on July 23, there hasn’t been official word on the cause of death. Her father Mitch Winehouse, however, has been adamant that drug use had nothing to do with it: He’s repeatedly claimed Winehouse had been clean for three years, and that a seizure caused by alcohol detoxification was to blame. (According to the family, the toxicology reports indicated no illegal substances). It’s not really all that important if this is true: One way or the other, Winehouse’s issues with addiction did eventually lead to her death. But a lot of fans spent a lot of time hoping Winehouse would be able to bounce back, and the thought that she really was on a road to recovery before her death is hard to swallow. All this chatter is surfacing in part because Mitch Winehouse is doing interviews to promote today’s official launch of the charity founded in her name, on what would have been her 28th birthday. Along with it comes the last thing Amy Winehouse ever recorded.
It’s “Body And Soul,” a cover of the 1930s standard. It comes from Tony Bennett’s Duets II album and is accompanied by an in-studio video that is surely currently being furiously studied for indications of Winehouse’s mental and physical condition. And with the caveat that trying to suss anything definitive out of a professionally edited 3½ minute clip is stupid, we have to say — she looks and sounds totally great, smiley, and focused. Relatedly, Mitch Winehouse is already talking up a posthumous album, saying that of the material available “some … is better quality than others [but] we’re not going to rip anybody off, we want to make sure it’s good and it’s good quality.” Eventually an album, it’s safe to say, will be released, and we can then decide how exploitative that decision was. For now, though, there’s “Body And Soul,” certainly a worthy addition to the discography.