Parents, Public Braced for Amy Winehouse's Death Through Five-Year Fade

To Amy Winehouse's family, the singer/songwriter's death was not unexpected. It was "only a matter of time," her mother, Janis Winehouse, was quoted as saying in the Sunday Mirror. She'd visited her daughter the day before she died, and said, "She seemed out of it. But her passing still hasn't hit me."

She said their final encounter had ended with the weakened Amy saying "I love you, mum." "Those are the words I will always treasure," Janis said. "I'm glad I saw her when I did."

Father Mitch Winehouse had been in New York preparing to do a series of showcases for his new jazz album. He canceled the shows and was seen at JFK a few hours after the news hit. "I'm completely devastated," he was reported as saying. "I'm coming home. I have to be with Amy. I can't crack up, for her sake. My family needs me."

Mitch Winehouse had been vocal in the past—too vocal, for Amy's tastes—about his daughter's substance abuse. As far back as three years ago, he was raising the specter of her possible demise when he publicly revealed that she was suffering from emphysema. "Doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her," he was quoted as saying in 2008, while issuing an ultimatum to drug dealers to stay away.