Amy Winehouse’s longtime pal has revealed Wednesday his emotional final conversation with the iconic singer ahead of the 13th anniversary of her tragic death.
The “Back to Black” hitmaker died of alcohol poisoning at her London townhouse in July 2011. She was 27.
Now musician Dale Davis, 57, is opening up about meeting the late musician in 2003 when she was just 19 when he joined her live band.
The bass player, who later became the musical director of The Amy Winehouse Band, said the pair chatted about the six-time Grammy winner’s singing.
“I talked to her at 11.30 p.m., three hours before she went to bed for the last time, and she was on good form,” he told The Sun. “Amy said, ‘Dale, I’ve just been watching myself on YouTube and I can sing, can’t I?’ I replied, ‘Of course you can sing! You’re the best . . . you know.’”
“I’m glad she went to bed with that thought. She needed to appreciate she could sing because she was very humble. Even at her level, a person can never see it in themselves. They probably think, ‘Is the adulation real or not?’ But to me, Amy is the first star of the millennium,” he added.
Davis said he had been the late singer’s “favorite person,” as he was there for her when she was propelled to stardom.
“When we first met, she didn’t say much because she was quite an awkward character,” Dale recalled.
“But when I started working with her, you could see the love in her. If she liked you, she really liked you. If she loved you, she loved you hard. She was a warm, beautiful, generous person who made me feel special right from the off.”
Recalling the moment he heard of Winehouse’s death, Davis said that she didn’t believe she would reach her next birthday.
“I was out with her two nights beforehand,” he shared. “And she used to ring my house regularly around that time to speak to my wife (now ex-wife) and son. However, she did tell my ex that she didn’t think she’d see 28.”
“There’s an element of Kurt Cobain in her. They both had very short careers but were massively impactful,” he said of the late Nirvana frontman, who also died at age 27.
“There’s a certain mystery when they don’t get a chance to grow old. When they’re young, they chuck this massive spirit in the air and you don’t see flaws so much.”
Davis runs The Amy Winehouse Band in the late singer’s honor and tours around the globe to ensure that her “important legacy” lives on.
