Winehouse faces legal action for skipping festival
Amy Winehouse is today facing legal action after pulling out of a concert in Paris hours before she was due to headline it.
The troubled singer failed to show up at the Rock En Seine festival in Paris after she was taken ill at her house in London last night and was unable to travel to France.
A statement posted on the festival website said organisers had decided to start legal proceedings against her because of the circumstances of her cancellation.
The statement said: “We were told by (Winehouse’s) agent at 8pm that she would not be there, and we were forced to cancel the performance. We have still not been given any explanation of the exact reasons for her absence.”
Organisers said the singer’s musicians had arrived on Thursday and rehearsed the show yesterday morning.
Winehouse had been due to arrive at the venue – the Saint Cloud park just outside Paris – early yesterday evening to top a bill that included the Raconteurs, The Streets and Kate Nash.
The statement continued: “We are very sorry about this situation and share the disappointment of the festival-goers.”
Winehouse’s spokesman declined to comment on the threat of legal action.
He said: “Amy Winehouse is currently at home recovering. The illness is nothing serious, nothing that some time in bed and not singing won’t cure.”
Her next performance is on September 6 when she is due to headline the Bestival festival on the Isle of Wight.
Her spokesman confirmed that she would still be honouring this commitment.
Last month Winehouse collapsed at home and had to be taken to hospital after a reaction to medication.
In June it emerged that she has developed the chronic lung disease emphysema after she was again rushed to hospital after collapsing
Despite the news she still performed later that week at Nelson Mandela’s birthday concert in Hyde Park and later at Glastonbury, V Festival and T in the Park.
The singer has publicly battled with health problems in recent months, with her husband Blake Fielder-Civil’s imprisonment causing obvious stress.
She was caught on video in January apparently smoking crack cocaine in footage obtained by The Sun newspaper.
She spent a stint in rehab before emerging for a well-received performance at the Grammys in February.
