Amy Winehouse’s father sues singer’s friends for auctioning her clothes
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A green bamboo dress worn on Amy Winehouse's 2011 tour sold at auction for US$243,200 (S$315,000).
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
- Mitch Winehouse is suing Amy Winehouse's friends who sold her clothes for £730,000 at auction, claiming they had no right to sell the items.
- The women claim the items were gifts from Amy, highlighting her generosity, while Winehouse's team alleges a failure to donate promised funds to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
- The defence argues the women are not thieves and accuses Winehouse of "petty jealousy," while Winehouse denies this, with a judgement due later.
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LONDON - The father of late British singer Amy Winehouse on Dec 9 defended his UK lawsuit against two of her friends after they sold some of her clothes at auction for around £730,000 (S$1.2 million).
Mr Mitch Winehouse told the High Court in London that Ms Naomi Parry, the star’s former stylist, and her friend, Ms Catriona Gourlay, did not have the right to sell dozens of items in auctions between November 2021 and May 2023.
Lawyer Henry Legge, acting for Mr Winehouse, told the court on Dec 8, the first day of the trial, that the two women sold 150 objects which had belonged to Amy Winehouse, including dresses which she wore on her last tour in June 2011.
The British singer-songwriter, who enjoyed meteoric global success, died a month later from alcohol poisoning, aged just 27.
Amy Winehouse was a distinctive figure with her beehive hairdo, heavy black eye makeup, multiple tattoos and smoky voice.
She shot to international fame with her Grammy Award-winning 2006 album Back To Black which included the track Rehab, charting her battle with addiction.
According to court documents, Mr Winehouse believed that any sums collected from the sales organised by Los Angeles-based Julien’s Auctions would be due to him.
The auctioneers had also been told that a third of the proceeds would be donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation – a charity set up in the singer’s name working with young people to foster hope and self-reliance.
However, Mr Winehouse’s team accused the women of failing to donate the share of proceeds to the foundation.
‘You’re wrong’
Mr Ted Loveday, lawyer for Ms Gourlay, said that most of the objects had been given or lent to the two women by the singer, even if there was no proof.
“If a 19-year-old gives a scarf or a pair of earrings to their friends, no one signs a contract,” he told the court on Dec 8, stressing the singer’s generosity.
Ms Gourlay and Ms Parry met Amy Winehouse in the early 2000s, before she shot to fame. Ms Parry went on to create some of the singer’s most iconic looks – including the green bamboo dress worn on the June 2011 tour which sold at auction for US$243,200 (S$315,000).
Ms Beth Grossman, the lawyer for Ms Parry, said the two “women are not thieves and they are not dishonest”.
She accused Mr Winehouse of bringing the lawsuit against the women out of “petty jealousy”, which he strongly denied on Dec 9, saying “you’re wrong”.
Ms Grossman also highlighted the financial differences between the multi-millionaire Mr Mitch Winehouse and the two women who are “living pretty much hand to mouth”.
The hearing is set to last until Dec 12, with a judgement due at a later date. AFP
