The father of late British singer Amy Winehouse Tuesday defended his UK lawsuit against two of her friends after they sold some of her clothes at auction for around £730,000 ($970,000).
Mitch Winehouse told the High Court in London that Naomi Parry, the star’s former stylist, and her friend, 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 Winehouse, told the court on Monday, the first day of the trial, that the two women sold 150 objects which had belonged to 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.
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, 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, Winehouse’s team accused the women of failing to donate the share of proceeds to the foundation.
Ted Loveday, lawyer for 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 Monday, stressing the singer’s generosity.
Gourlay and Parry met Amy Winehouse in the early 2000s, before she shot to fame. 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 $243, 200.
Beth Grossman, the lawyer for Parry, said the two “women are not thieves and they are not dishonest”.
She accused Winehouse of bringing the lawsuit against the women out of “petty jealousy”, which he strongly denied on Tuesday, saying “you’re wrong”.
Grossman also highlighted the financial differences between the multi-millionaire Mitch Winehouse and the two women who are “living pretty much hand to mouth”.
The hearing is set to last until Friday, with a judgement due at a later date.
