Should Amy Whinehouse be given contracts?

[Velvetee]

Morally, should the likes of Amy Whinehouse be given music contracts?

She is hardly an ideal role model to youngsters and surely the fame and money is doing her no good. I think she should only be allowed to perform, if she cleans her act up.

[:pagan:]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/73819 40.stm

[persianlady]

I liked her music even before I knew who she was. I still think her music is great, but her appearance and behaviour are apalling. I hope she manages to get her act together before she kills herself.

[cazzz1975]

I dont think she should, Im sure people will go on about her amazing talent, personally I dont think she is anything special, maybe we hail this type of person because so many acts these days are really rubbish and rely on a team of songwriters,music producers,fashion consultants, computer image altering ect....

[solitude]

So, what, none of you listen to any music from the Sixties, because the performers were not morally upstanding and were out of their heads on drugs 24/7? She's quite boring compared to some artists that I bet you loved/still love. Leave the woman alone - if the papers weren't so obsessed with her, it wouldn't be an issue.

[taliesin238]

If any company knew that one of their staff were drug addicts or alcoholics then you would get sacked!! One slight smell of alcohol on your breath and thats it yet these celebs are aloud up on stage in front of the whole nation out of their heads on all sorts??? What kind of world is this??

[alijangra]

The real world??

[andy-hughes]

Two points - one, Amy Winehouse is not a 'role model', she's a musician, and the media portray her as a 'role model', which is utter nonsense. The media delight in highlighting her excesses for the titliation of its readership - I think it's highly unlikely that anyone who likes her music think her talent is connected to her drug problems.

Two - if she is a 'role model', then i think she is a perfect one! What better way to show what drugs do to a beautiful young woman than to show how ravaged AW has become.

If I were a 'young person' who looked to the people who'se albums I buy to guide me in my lifestyle, then she would act a sobering reminder of how bad drugs are.

[andy-hughes]

Further thoughts - I think you are confusing art, which is what music is, with a moral message.

The entire raison d'etre of popular music is to bind together one generation who love not only its joy and passion, but the seriously negative effect it has on the previous generation!

You cannot conceive of dishing out artistic freedom on the basis of some kind of lofty moral code. Whom pray polices this new world - who decides who is 'moral' enough to receive the right to create their art? It is a concept that borders on nazi thinking, i am surfe if you think it through you will realise that if you apply this 'logic' to a pop star, you will have to do it to all art forms. Where then?

Will Frederick Forysth be banned from writing because he has right-wing views? Will Salman Rushdie's fatwa be applauded and encouraged? Where on earth does this concept end?

Fortunately, the presence of art in our world is not governed by the perceived moral correctness of the artists who may or may not be given an opportunity to bring their art to the masses, dependent on the type of lifestyle they lead.

God forbid that it should ever be so.

[:)]

Her personal life shouldn't detract from her blatent talent.
There's a lot of pressure being a celebrity, (people who think this is crap just remember money can't buy you happiness!), which could have introduced her to the drugs anyway.