Amy Winehouse Hologram Tour Canceled Over ‘Challenges and Sensitivities’

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Amy Winehouse will not be “Back to Black” in a holographic live tour after all.

The late British singer, who died in 2011, was to be featured in a stage show slated to launch near the end of 2019 . But the producer of the show, BASE Hologram, has indefinitely postponed plans for the Winehouse show, which was to feature a holographic representation of her performing her greatest hits backed by a live band, singers and “theatrical stagecraft.”

“In developing the type of highly ambitious, state-of-the-art hologram/augmented reality theatrical event that would truly capture [Winehouse’s] genius and incredible artistic and social contributions, we have encountered some unique challenges and sensitives,” BASE Hologram tweeted in a statement Feb. 19.

The Winehouse show will be “on hold until we determine the best path to a creatively spectacular production that would properly honor Amy’s legacy at its highest caliber,” the company said.

The company didn’t elaborate on what those “challenges and sensitives” were. BASE Hologram did not respond to a Variety request for more information.

The planned Winehouse hologram tour had the blessing of Mitch Winehouse, her father, when it was first announced last fall. Proceeds from the tour were to have gone toward the Foundation, dedicated to addiction awareness and prevention among young people. Winehouse, a six-time Grammy winner, died on July 23, 2011, at age 27 after years of publicly battling drug and alcohol addiction.

Other current productions by L.A.-based BASE Hologram also feature dead artists, including “In Dreams: Roy Orbison – The Hologram Concert” and “Callas in Concert” with footage of opera singer Maria Callas.