Amy Winehouse’s dad Mitch pays emotional tribute to his daughter at special Hornchurch show
Laura Jane Butler and her band performed a tribute to Amy Winehouse at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch on Monday night. Picture: KBA PR - Credit: Archant
Amy Winehouse’s father made an emotional speech about his late daughter’s legacy during a special tribute show at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch on Monday night.
Laura Jane Butler and her band performed a tribute to Amy Winehouse at the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch on Monday night. Picture: KBA PR - Credit: Archant
Dad Mitch Winehouse said he believed tragic Amy, who died eight years ago, was still with the family in spirit.
Speaking on stage with ex-wife Janis before he watched look-a-like tribute act Laura Jane Butler sing all her big hits for the first time he said: "I was in New York when Amy passed away on July 23 2011, I was performing there and how I got back I don't know.
"But when I got back I sat with my son and Jane and Janis and Richard and we all decided very quickly that we were going to try and do something positive in Amy's name.
"So we created the Amy Winehouse Foundation on Amy's birthday, September 14, and we've just celebrated our eighth year.
"In that time we've worked with children's hospices, we've still got an ongoing project at Hayden's hospice - which is close to all of our hearts, it's very local - which is the Amy Winehouse Foundation Music Room where we paid for the music room to be built and we have ongoing music therapy there."
"We have our Recovery House which is working with 16 ladies who have come out of rehab and have nowhere to go, we house them.
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"And of course our largest project is our schools project, which is where we work with people who've been in recovery and arrange for them to deliver sessions about the dangers of alcohol and drugs to young people."
After the two hour show, Mitch hugged Laura Jane who brought to life Amy's worldwide hits including Valerie, Rehab and Back to Black.
Paying tribute to Laura, who is taking the show on a UK tour next year he said: "I have to say, regarding Laura - cause you know what it's like in the current financial climate, people are very unsure about their own finances - it's very difficult to raise money for charity, but with people like Laura, not only is she keeping Amy's music legacy alive she also, through her work, has donated tens of thousands of pounds."
