Amy Winehouse fought hard against her demons, but sadly it was a battle she couldn't win. The iconic star - who would have been 39 today - died in July 2011 from alcohol poisoning aged just 27. Despite a period of abstinence, Amy had once again started drinking shortly before she was found dead at her home in Camden, north London on 23 July.
An inquest later found she died of alcohol poisoning, and heard testimony from a GP who had visited her at home the night before her final binge. Dr. Christina Romete talked with Amy during her visit, and told the court the singer admitted she had fallen off the wagon after a long period of sobriety.
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Dr. Romete revealed the star had been prescribed a medication called Librium to help her deal with alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
However, despite her frailty, Amy refused any mental health support and Dr. Romete told the court it was because the star feared it could affect her creativity.
During the hearing, Dr. Romete said: "She was one of the most intelligent young women I've ever met.
"She was very determined to do everything her way, including her therapy. She had very strict views on that."
Describing Amy's demeanour on the night before she died, Dr. Romete said said the singer appeared "calm and somewhat guilty" and was "tipsy" but "able to hold a conversation".
She said Amy confessed that she'd started drinking again on July 20 - just three days before her death.
When asked if she was planning to give up booze again, the medic told the court Amy answered: "I don't know."
Romete added: "The advice I had given to Amy over a long period of time was verbal and in written form about all the effects alcohol can have on the system, including respiratory depression and death, heart problems, fertility problems and liver problems."
But in a heartbreaking final comment to Dr Romete, Amy accepted the seriousness of her condition and desperately confessed: "I don't want to die".
During the inquest at St Pancras Coroner's Court in London assistant deputy coroner Suzanne Greenaway concluded that Amy had died from "accidental alcohol poisoning".
The official verdict was given as death through misadventure.
Greenaway said: “She had consumed sufficient alcohol and the unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden and unexpected death."
The court heard Amy's blood had 416mg of alcohol per 100ml - well over the 350mg which is recognised to be fatal.
Police officers also found three empty bottles of vodka in her home.
Amy's body was found by her live-in security guard Andrew Morris, who said she had spent her last night in her bedroom watching TV and listening to music.
He went to check on her at 3pm the following day and discovered she was not breathing and had no pulse.
Due to an administrative error, a second inquest had to be held in 2013 and reached the same conclusion as the first.
Meanwhile, Amy's dad Mitch claimed he's had numerous visits from the singer, explaining how he often finds her ghost sat on the end of his bed at his home in Kent.
"She does come back - not physically, but spiritually - all the time. I could not begin to tell you how much she is around, there are lots of strange happenings," he told The Sun.
"Her spirit comes and sits on the end of my bed. She just sits there and it looks just like her with her beautiful face and she looks at me."
Admitting that her presence makes him 'nervous', Mitch said he always asks if she's okay.
And he also believes that she's been to visit him and his wife Jane in the form of a blackbird, like the one she had tattooed on her arm.
According to Mitch, he was at his sister's house just a week after she'd died when the bird flew into the glass with a thud.
Then when he went to pick it up and place it on a perch, he said the creature flew back to him and sat on his foot.
"And then we put it back again and it came and sat in the middle of us and sang... there are so many things that happen to me that I cannot explain," he added.
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