DUFF MCKAGAN: Nobody Chooses Addiction, Not Even AMY WINEHOUSE

July 26, 2011

Former GUNS N' ROSES and current VELVET REVOLVER bassist and LOADED frontman Duff McKagan has commented on the passing of Amy Winehouse.

The 27-year-old singer was found dead in her London apartment on Saturday, July 23. There's no word on the exact cause of death, but Winehouse had been struggling with drug addiction for many years.

In the latest installment of his column, which appears on Reverb at SeattleWeekly.com, McKagan writes in part, "The 'specialists' and talking heads on cable news are criticizing Amy Winehouse's inner circle of 'advisors.' I know Amy's manager and accountant, and I also know that both of them are VERY stand-up people. It is a shame that people like this, people who have tried their best to help Ms. Winehouse in the past few years, get their names dragged through the mud. But in the end, it is just so sad to have lost this young woman to what will most likely be discovered to be, drugs. She was a talent. She was different. She railed against the norm. She was a musical trailblazer.

"In the end, I cannot compare what I went through or experienced with what Amy Winehouse went through. I only know that addiction is a lonely and terrifying place to be. It's not glamorous, and addiction does not care if you are well-known and rich, or a loner-hermit with no dough.

"In Amy's case, like mine, I think she had some friends and family who tried and cared about her, but in the end fell short."

Read McKagan's entire column at SeattleWeekly.com.

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