Winehouse To Sing Via Satellite , Top Grammy Nominee Granted U.S. Visa Too Late To Travel To Awards Show

LONDON, Feb. 7, 2008

Amy Winehouse has been in rehab for the past two weeks. (AP Photo)

(CBS/AP) British singer Amy Winehouse's representatives say her visa to the United States has been granted, but that the troubled star will not be traveling to the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles to perform in person. She will however, perform by satellite at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles. Winehouse and her acclaimed "Back to Black" album are nominated for Grammys in six categories.

She will perform material from the album, an executive close to the Grammys told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity Thursday.

The Outside Organization, which counts the troubled retro-soul sensation among its clients, said in a statement that, "Following further discussions involving the U.S. Embassy in London and officials in the United States, Amy Winehouse has been granted a visa to enter the United States of America. Unfortunately, due to the logistics involved and timing complications, Amy will not be traveling to the U.S. to perform at the Grammys in person."

Photos: Amy Winehouse

Winehouse appealed the Thursday's rejection of her visa application, which was denied under U.S. immigration rules regarding the "use and abuse of narcotics," a senior State Department official said Friday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because internal application deliberations by the U.S. Embassy in London are confidential.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported that Winehouse had not been in rehab long enough to initially persuade American immigration officials to give her a visa to attend the Grammys.

Winehouse was to leave the rehab clinic where she has spent the past two weeks on Friday, her representatives said - a day after their announcement that her visa had been denied. As a backup, Winehouse was planning to perform live via satellite from a studio in London, where she would also be available to accept any awards.

Winehouse's 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.

"The bottom line is that we will remember her for her great talent, but she will end up, I think, a bit of a drug addict-wreck," writer Neil Sean told Palmer.

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. They were, according to Palmer, said to have shown Winehouse smoking crack cocaine, when she was already stoned on valium.

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.

Winehouse canceled an appearance at the 2007 mtvU Woodie Awards in November "due to visa issues."

Other British music acts have had difficulty securing visas. Lily Allen was scheduled to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, but the pop star's immigration visa was revoked. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hasn't commented, but her manager has said he suspected it was because Allen was arrested in London in June after an altercation with photographers.