When Grammy-winning singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her home on July 23, there couldn't have been very many people, even among her most fervent fans, who doubted that her death would ultimately be ruled as the result of an illegal drug overdose. Facebook and Twitter were flooded with "witty" comments about how someone should've tried to make her go to rehab. The whole thing just seemed like a foregone conclusion.
However, this week the toxicology report on Winehouse came back, with some rather surprising results: No illegal substances were found in her body. There was some alcohol, sure, but there's alcohol in our bloodstream right now and, judging by our demographic, in yours too. (Yes, we know it's 9 a.m.)
What ultimately killed the singer is still unknown. Are we saying that the years of drug abuse contributed nothing to her death? No. However, sometimes we get so caught up in the rock and roll picture show that sometimes we imagine a slightly different ending than what actually happened. Some of the people you may have heard OD'd who really didn't include...
We reported on Steele's death last year. By that time, Steele had already "died" more times that we can count. Suffering from severe bipolar disorder, he would disappear for days at a time, leading to rumors of his death by misadventure or overdose. It wasn't unlikely that drugs finally caught up with him.
However, by the time of his final demise, Steele had been sober for quite some time. His health was good, and many of the demons that seemed to haunt the hulking metal master appeared to be at rest. Apparently he died of heart failure; rare, but not unheard of in a 48-year-old man. Further details have not been publicly released..
Mama Cass is the butt of the longest running and frankly cruelest OD joke in rock history. Common knowledge and Austin Powers tell us that Elliot overindulged not on heroin or sedatives, but on a ham sandwich. Seems like a logically gluttonous end to an overweight singer, right?
It's not true, not even close. Like Steele, Elliot died of a heart attack, although she was a decade younger than he was. A police report noted that a partially eaten sandwich was found near her, but the coroner's report mentioned nothing about the singer choking. Just for double fun, a few rumors debunk the sandwich story by claiming she met her end through too much heroin. Again, not true.
