Rufus on Amy

My favorite male singer, and recent grammy nominee, Rufus Wainwright took some time out in an interview with Rolling Stone to talk about my favorite female artist, Miss Winehouse. Lets just say I wish I could have been in that dressing room!!

Rolling Stone: So speaking of big shows and O.D.’ing, you did Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in 2006. Now apparently Liza Minelli is poised for a comeback. Did you see that big profile in The New York Times?

Rufus Wainwright: Was I mentioned? Probably not. No, Liza and I are sort of in different camps — which is sort of a funny term to use. I mean, I think she’s an incredible talent. But I don’t know how much Liza digs my Judy work. I think anything concerning her mother is usually loaded. That’s another funny word to use.

RS: Who in today’s culture would you sort of compare to Judy?

RW: Oh God, one can’t help but think of Amy Winehouse of course. I mean, there’s so many correlations. They both have such an amazing voice and an amazing drug problem.

RS: Have you ever met Amy Winehouse?


RW: Yeah, I met her. She once sort of chased me at Coachella. She kept trying to break into my dressing room and, I don’t know, I think she saw some light in my eyes or something.

RS: What did she want?

RW: I don’t know. Maybe she was a fan, I can’t quite tell, but I think it was more about looking for some sort of safety. I don’t party anymore and there was a lot of partying going on. SO I ended up letting her in, and she just sat down and said 'Rufus I just wanna look at you'. So we both kinda looked at each other and she hugged me real big, stood up and blew a kiss and then she left. I think I was pretty attractive to her at some point because it was pretty crazy around her and here's boring old me who doesn't do drugs anymore just sitting alone.

RS: Did you guys ever talk?

RW: We talked a little bit and in all truth, I think she was probably, you know wanting to raid my beer fridge ’cause I wasn’t drinking it or something. Haha.

RS: You’re totally dry? You don’t drink at all?

RW: Well… whatever. You know, who knows? Never say never.

RS: She is really tragic. She never had that sort of depth of career that Judy did before it went down sort of spiraling.

RW: I think the problem is that in this day and age, there’s no safety net for anyone in show business. In fact it’s almost the reverse. They almost push you off the trapeze without a net, you know, for kicks. They feed off of your injuries. And with Amy its especially sick because she's the most talented person in the music industry right now. And hell, that includes me, and for me to say that .. that's like a big deal.

LOVE RUFUS!