3:30pm Wednesday 28th November 2007
By Hilary Porter
ALISON Moyet - who this week announced a Bournemouth date in the New Year - has told the Echo she sympathises with troubled singer Amy Winehouse, and revealed that in the past she too dabbled with drugs and alcohol.
Winehouse, 23, pulled out of Wednesday's BIC concert andscrapped the rest of her UK tour for health reasons.
Moyet said she hoped Winehouse would now take a career break to battle her drug addiction.
The singer, whose mainstream pop career began in 1981 with Yazoo and continued with the 1984 number one solo album, Alf, admitted taking drugs herself in the early days.
And while drug and alcohol abuse "has always been part of the music scene", she fears the media's "celebratory" reporting of Winehouse doesn't help.
Aged 46, and with over 25 years in the music business, Moyet said she would not want to be in her 20s again, or step into Winehouse's shoes.
"I was a miserable, neurotic soul in my 20s. Now I am still happily married, I've the kids and I'm healthy - I'm very content.
"There has always been a drug scene in the business.
"I can't deny I took drugs, but in those days we put it under the carpet.
"If you were found out, that was the end of your career.
"But now it's seen as cause for celebration, and the press has been joyous about what's happening to Amy Winehouse.
"They don't want it to stop, or they would have nothing salacious to write about."
Certainly the on-going story of Winehouse's problems - echoing the lyrics of her Ivor Novello Award-winning single Rehab - has kept the tabloids full of headline-grabbing tales for months.
Winehouse's woes, though, have boosted sales of her records; and the music business can suck stars into its more sordid side.
Moyet told how she drank to mimic her idol. "When I was 16, I was a Janis Joplin fan, and bought cheap booze to drink on the way home.
"I was trying to be a lush like her - but I never got the taste for alcohol. The difference is, it's accepted by the establishment now.
"Amy is obviously a damaged, unhappy girl. She's a huge talent, who's here to stay.
"She's an adult and can make her own decisions, but I hope she takes time out to get well."
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