EXCLUSIVE: 'What anyone is going to get from these photos is beyond me' – Amy Winehouse’s father vows to protect late star's memory over sordid pictures taken at height of her drug addiction as he makes emotional return to New York
- Mitch Winehouse will perform at NYC's Iridium on Broadway tomorrow night - and all proceeds will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation
- He reveals the star is 'always' with him - and the family's tears and laughter on her 30th birthday last month
- Mitch keeps in contact with her boyfriend Reg Traviss and says: 'He’s a wonderful man and Amy would have married him without question'
- He was in NYC when he was told Amy had died on July 23, 2011 - and admits 'It does hit me'
By Sara Nathan
|
He has been working tirelessly to raise money for the foundation he envisioned on the very day his beloved daughter Amy Winehouse died.
And as he prepares for a New York gig in Amy’s honour tomorrow - to raise money for the Amy Winehouse Foundation US - in a searingly honest interview, Mitch Winehouse tells MailOnline the star is with ‘always’ with him – as he reveals how he poured his grief into the charity he set up in her name following her death two years ago.
Even today, following the years of tumult and turmoil that tragic Amy lived through at the height of her fame, Mitch, 61, still finds himself dealing with the fallout of the star’s passionate relationship with ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil – and trying to protect her, just like he always did.
Close: Singer Amy Winehouse sported a tattoo on her arm that read 'Daddy's Girl'. Her father Mitch is singing in her honor in New York on Thursday night
Beloved: Mitch Winehouse, seen here with daughter Amy shortly before she won a Grammy in February 2010, said he thinks of Amy every day
They would have been married: Mitch Winehouse remains close to Amy's boyfriend at the time of her death, film director Reg Traviss, and said 'He's a wonderful man and Amy would have married him without question'
While pictures last week surfaced that allegedly show Amy and Blake in a passionate clinch, Mitch says he is trying hard not to cast judgement as to where the pictures may have come from - as he reveals he made the tough decision to give Blake a memento from his marriage to the singer.
He added:‘ Amy had a guitar
that said ‘Blake-o’, and we were going to auction it, but my wife Jane
and I said ‘we’ve got to give it to him’, we couldn’t bear not to.
‘We did feel sorry for him as he didn’t cause Amy’s death, we don’t blame him for it.
‘Everyone
knew she was struggling with drugs, ultimately she was clean for the
last three years of her life, but at the time the pictures were taken she was
right in it. Blake totally manipulated and coerced Amy into the pictures.'
'Everyone knew Amy was struggling with drugs, ultimately she was clean for the last three years of her life, but at the time the pictures were taken she was right in it'
In February, Blake admitted introducing Amy to using heroin and Mitch said: ‘If he’s does need money and he tries to sell the photos, you
know what, it will be hard for a day or so, but it’s fish and chip paper
at the end of the day – Amy used to say that.
‘We
won’t miss a beat, the foundation’s work will go on. But what anybody
is going to get from seeing those photos is beyond me.'
It
was on July 23, 2011, that Amy passed away following years of drug and
alcohol abuse. An investigation earlier this year concluded that the
Back To Black singer had died of accidental alcohol poisoning, while her
family revealed that ‘no illegal substances’ were found in her body at
the time of her death.
In the
ensuing years, Mitch and his ex-wife Janice alongside their son Alex and the rest of the family have worked hard to set up
the foundation and help disadvantaged youth through education and music
- and those struggling with drugs and alcohol.
But, while in New York, Mitch cannot help but be drawn back to the moment he was told Amy was gone.
The
former cabbie had been due to perform at the prestigious Blue Note jazz
café and embark on a country-wide tour, but was forced to make the
heart-breaking journey home to London with Amy’s long-time devastated
manager Raye Cosbert and his own manager and close friend Trenton
Harrison-Lewis by his side.
Mitch admitted: ‘Being in New York, it does hit me, it’s unavoidable, but I’m getting used to it.
Newlyweds: Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civlil return to the UK after marrying in Miami in May 2007. Their toxic marriage ended in January 2009
‘When
we flew back after Amy died, I was icy cold, obviously I was in shock
and the others were crying, inconsolable, and I’m just sitting there
thinking about the foundation, it just came into my head.
‘I said ‘we have got to do something, Amy’s telling me’.
‘She’s always with me, she comes to me all the time,’ he added: ‘Nothing portentous, like ‘don’t get on a plane’.
‘I
had a dream about her and I was with my mum in Amy’s flat in Camden,
she was upstairs and I said "Ooh Amy’s upstairs", and at the time we
didn’t know how she had died, so I went to the foot of the stairs and
she came down and her hair was blonde. I thought "She’s dyed herself
blonde again, it looks terrible", but I said "Oh your hair looks nice
darling", and she said "Thanks dad".
'Amy's always with me, she comes to me all the time...when she died the foundation came into my head. I said 'we have got to do something, Amy's telling me'
‘I said "I’ve got to ask you what happened?". She said "Dad, I don’t want to talk about it!", and that was exactly how she talked.’
At
his gig at the Iridium on Broadway in aid of the Amy Winehouse
Foundation, Mitch will sing the songs he taught Amy as a child, the
songs they often performed together.
He
said: ‘The last thing Amy said to me was "When you get back we’ll get
back in the studio and rehearse some songs", and I said "I’ll believe it
when I see it!" She never went in the studio unless she had to!
‘She loved Autumn Leaves, my mum’s favourite – The Nearness Of You - and We’ll Be Together Again.
‘One
of the ways we make money for the foundation is by me doing gigs. It’s
an important part of our fundraising strategy. We go to Italy, Spain,
we’re big in Germany, and all the money goes to the foundation.’
Money
from the foundation goes to two US organisations, the Brooklyn
Conservatory of Music, where the charity hands out 19 scholarships for
disadvantaged kids who cannot afford their musical education, paying for
a weekend program.
They took
inspiration from Amy for the second organisation – the New Orleans Jazz
Orchestra – as Mitch said: ‘Amy didn’t articulate too many things she
was concerned about when she was alive..but one of the things she did
say during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was "This is crazy Dad, is there
anything we can do?".
‘She
articulated something of concern to her so we hooked up with the New
Orleans Jazz Orchestra, they have two terrific jazz programs for
disadvantaged kids, these kids don’t eat, so we’re feeding them and
giving them music education. It’s fantastic work and we’re happy to be a
part of it.’
Amy’s love of children is well known. Had she lived, she planned to marry boyfriend, filmmaker Reg Traviss, and start her own family.
Addiction: Tragic Amy Winehouse went to St Lucia in 2009 as she attempted to detox. Her father Mitch recalled how he got a bill for $15,000 after she gave all the local children horse rides
Legacy: Amy Winehouse's father Mitch, her mother Janis and brother Alex attend the US launch of the Amy Winehouse Foundation in new York on April 11, 2012
And Mitch says: ‘In the UK, we feed 85 homeless young people every day of the year. These are things we know bothered Amy.
‘Once,
she took a homeless person into her home, I said "What are you doing?'
She said "Don’t worry dad, this girl’s homeless I’m looking after her".
‘We
knew she loved kids, when she was in St Lucia recovering from drugs,
she took all the local village kids and put them them on the tourist
horses for a month, I got a bill for $15,000!
‘She was interested in children and passionate about music, which is why it’s important that I continue to sing.’
In
Britain, the Amy Winehouse Foundation is helping people through rehab,
and working with schools throughout the country with programs run by
recovering addicts, where pupils are given the chance to discuss their
own issues – whether it be addiction, self-image, self-harming and peer
pressure. It also teams up with a clinical partner and trains teachers
and guides parents.
Last week, Mitch was in Parliament to discuss more of the foundation’s work, adding: ‘We’re very hopeful we’re going to get a big lottery grant soon to allow us to relax for the next five years, but whatever happens, we’ll find a way to keep this going.’
Beloved: Amy Winehouse frequently took dad Mitch to showbiz events, including the Ivor Novello Awards in London in May 2008
Tragic: Amy Winehouse died aged 27 on July 23, 2011, at her home in Camden, North London
On
what would have been Amy’s 30th birthday on September 14, Mitch said:
‘There was a party at Gilgamesh in Camden and everyone was crying, then
five minutes later, they were laughing, she was a joker.’
The
party was the culmination of a string of events to commemorate Amy
around her favourite haunts in Camden, north London, including an
exhibition curated by her brother Alex and his wife at the Jewish
Museum in London, where Mitch says ‘we all broke down, it was lovely’.
He
still stays at the apartment Amy owned in Camden a few nights a week – and
vows never to sell it, recalling how Amy had begged him not to sell it
when she was running out of money.
He said: ‘She said "Never sell the flat Dad, we’re bringing out this album, we’re going to make this album and we’re going to make tons of money". I thought "Six more months, what the hell", then bam, Back To Black happened. She was right, she always made the right decisions in her career, believe me, so what can I do? I can never sell it.’
Birds and butterfiles: Since Amy's death, Mitch Winehouse says he sees signs of his daughter everywhere, including a black butterfly at her funeral and a bird at his sister's home
He
still sees Amy's boyfriend Reg Traviss, who in his own words, had a ‘hell of a year’
after being cleared of rape following a trial last December.
Mitch
said: ‘I see him all the time, he’s doing all right, in his own way. He
was seeing a girl and she accused him of rape, he was totally exonerated, but these things stay with you. He’s a wonderful man and Amy
would have married him without question.’
Amy
is everywhere, Mitch says, in the birds and butterflies that follow him
and family and friends, in the music that he listens to and in his
dreams.
When he takes to the stage on Thursday, Mitch says: ‘Let’s see if we can get through this in one piece, we are emotionally strong and I’m very lucky with my family, I have a fantastic ex-wife, a fantastic wife and a great son, but I miss Amy every day.’
For tickets to Mitch Winehouse’s gig at the Iridium in NYC on Thursday, October 24, go to: http://theiridium.com/events/2013-10-24/
For more information on the Amy Winehouse Foundation, go to:http://www.amywinehousefoundation.org/
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SK13, London, United Kingdom, 10 hours ago
Leave her to rest for gods sake. Have some respect for the dead