AMY Winehouse’s father has lost a High Court claim against two of his daughter’s friends over the auctioning of items that had been owned by the singer.
Mitch Winehouse, acting as the administrator of his daughter’s estate, sued her stylist Naomi Parry and friend Catriona Gourlay over claims they profited from selling dozens of items at auctions in the US in 2021 and 2023.
Lawyers for Mitch Winehouse told a trial in December the two women had “deliberately concealed” that they were selling the items, and the legal proceedings were his “only means of obtaining answers”.
Parry and Gourlay defended the claim, with their barristers stating that the items were either gifted by Amy or were already owned by them.
Deputy High Court judge Sarah Clarke KC said in a judgment: “I find that neither Ms Parry nor Ms Gourlay deliberately concealed any of their disputed items from the claimant and even if I am wrong about that, Mr Winehouse could have discovered what disputed items the defendants had with reasonable diligence.”
Amy Winehouse, whose 2006 album Back To Black made her an international star, died from alcohol poisoning in 2011, aged 27.
During the trial, lawyers for Parry accused Mitch Winehouse of bringing the claim out of ‘petty jealousy’, which he denied.
He said he thought the money from the 2021 auction would be split between himself, Amy’s mother, Janis, and the Amy Winehouse Foundation (AWF).
The court heard how the auction catalogue contained 834 items and that the sale raised $1.4 million for the Amy Winehouse estate, 30 per cent of which went to the foundation.
One item sold by Ms Parry included a silk mini-dress worn by Ms Winehouse during her final performance in Belgrade, Serbia, which was auctioned for $243,200.
She told the court that Mitch Winehouse had offered her $250,000 for the proceeds of her sale and to make the legal claim go away, but that she would “rather set the money on fire than give him a penny”.
Judge Clarke said: “Mr Winehouse is clearly a strong character but also someone who has suffered a great tragedy in the loss of his daughter.
“Since Amy’s death, he has worked hard to keep her memory alive including through the charitable entity, the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which supports and informs young people through a variety of projects.
“It is also the case that Amy’s estate, including in particular the royalties from Back To Black, has made Mr Winehouse personally extremely wealthy.
Judge Clarke described how Amy would ‘routinely’ give clothing to her close friends as she did not want to be seen wearing the same piece more than once in public and she had “more items than she could ever wear, use or store”.
She also mentioned Amy’s ‘extraordinary generosity’ and that it was consistent with her character to give items away and not change her mind about it.
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