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LONDON - Amy Winehouse will not attend this year's Grammy Awards because her request for a visa has been turned down by the U.S. Embassy, her representatives said Thursday.
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The Outside Organization, which counts the troubled retro-soul sensation among its clients, said in an e-mail that Winehouse — who shot to fame with the autobiographical single "Rehab" — was disappointed but had been treated well by embassy staff.
"Amy has been progressing well since entering a rehabilitation clinic two weeks ago and although disappointed with the decision has accepted the ruling and will be concentrating on her recovery," the Outside Organization said.
The statement didn't say why her application had been rejected. The U.S. Embassy in London declined to comment late Thursday. No one answered the phone at the Outside Organization.
The 24-year-old singer and her acclaimed "Back to Black" album are nominated in six categories at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Her potent blend of blues, jazz, pop and soul has won praise from critics and fans, but her chaotic personal life has increasingly upstaged her music. Concerned family members regularly beg Winehouse to seek help in letters splashed across the pages of British tabloid newspapers and magazines.
Since the album's U.S. release last year, she has canceled a slew of appearances amid reports of drug use. Her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, is accused of attacking a pub landlord and later conspiring with the landlord to have him withdraw as a witness at the trial.
Last month, The Sun newspaper ran still images from a video that it claimed showed Winehouse inhaling fumes from a small pipe. The images were said to have been filmed during a party at her London home.
Shortly thereafter, Winehouse entered a London rehabilitation center, and has been questioned by police.
In October, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil, were arrested in Norway on charges of marijuana possession, for which they were fined. In November, Winehouse's Norwegian attorney, Ole Kvelstad, said her payment of the fine amounted to a guilty plea, which he said could have serious consequences if she sought to enter the U.S.
This reporter is going to bash her fucking cybernetic skull in if another fucking story about this dumb bint comes in over the wire.
