Finding Amy Winehouse

Darcus Beese worked his way up at Island Records from teaboy to president. Along the way, he discovered everyone from Amy Winehouse to Hozier. Now he’s coming to Ireland for the inaugural Music Cork record industry seminar, writes Ed Power.

One of the hardest things Darcus Beese ever had to do was sit through Amy, the 2015 documentary about the life and death of singer Amy Winehouse. As Winehouse’s boss at Island Records, Beese had been friend and and mentor to the young singer. When she drank herself to death at age 27, he was devastated.

“It was a story that had to be told,” he says. “The audience saw a side of Amy people on the inside saw. Watching the final cut was very raw, very emotional. But I’m glad the story has been shared.”