Amy Winehouse Dies; Troubled Singer Found Dead in Home

July 23, 2011— -- Amy Winehouse, the volatile singer whose career was rocked by drug addiction and alcohol abuse, has died. She was 27.

She was found dead in her northwest London home, London police and ambulance officials said. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said it was not yet clear what the cause of death was.

Winehouse, once one of the hottest acts in pop music, was jeered and booed off the stage in Belgrade, Serbia, last month when she was attempting to launch a new European tour. She cancelled the rest of the events on the planned tour.

The troubled singer had been in and out of rehab multiple times, even singing songs about how she would not go.

The news of Winehouse's death did not come to a shock to some celebrities.

"Amy Winehouse lived longer than I expected. Is that awful of me? I'm sorry, Amy -- RIP," tweeted Kevin Williamson, executive producer of "The Vampire Diaries."

Winehouse was not normally found in the celebrity scene. But many, some of whom considered themselves friends with Winehouse, tweeted their grief over her death.

"I can't even breath right my now i'm crying so hard i just lost 1 of my best friends. i love you forever Amy & will never forget the real you!" Kelly Osbourne, daughter of rockstar Ozzy Osbourne, tweeted.

"So many people saying that because it's not a surprise that Amy Winehouse passed, it's not sad. I hope you have more compassion for friends," singer Rob Thomas tweeted.

In June 2008, she was rushed to a hospital after she fainted at home. Shortly afterwards, her father said in an interview that she was suffering from emphysema and had been warned by doctors that she would die if she continued smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes.

Her representatives played down the severity of the diagnosis, although a spokesman has confirmed that Winehouse had a "touch of" emphysema.

Her battle against drug addiction often overshadowed her recording success. In August 2007, at the height of her promotional tour for her breakout second album, "Back to Black," Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health.

Soon after, Winehouse and her then husband were photographed, bloodied and bruised, in the streets of London after an alleged fight.

In one of her hit songs, "Rehab," Winehouse sings that she will not go to rehab, even though her father encouraged her to go.

"It's not just my pride, it's just 'til these tears have dried," Winehouse sings.

Winehouse admitted in several interviews during the album's released that she suffered from depression, had an eating disorder and engaged in self-injury.

"I do drink a lot. I think it's symptomatic of my depression," Winehouse said in an interview on the British TV show, "The Album Chart Show." "I'm manic depressive, I'm not an alcoholic, which sounds like an alcoholic in denial."

The song "Rehab" cited a real plea by her friends and father to seek treatment, she said.

"I just felt, no. Do they have a gym there? Who's going to feed my cats?" Winehouse said. "Alcoholism is a horrible thing, but if you can't remember the practical issues, that's when you know you've got a real problem."

Winehouse's father Mitch Winehouse, publicly cited multiple family problems that he said may have spiraled Winehouse into depression and addiction.

Mitch Winehouse told the British paper, the Daily Mail, that he had a public decade-long affair with his coworker that started when Winehouse was 2 years old.

"It was difficult," Mitch Winehouse told the Daily Mail in 2008.