Ten years after her death Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch shares memories of the hit singer

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It has been ten years since the music industry lost one of the greatest talents of a generation: Amy Winehouse.

As well as being a six-time Grammy winner with hit songs including Back to Black and Valerie, her struggles with addiction to drink (1) and drugs were the focus of press stories before she joined legendary singers such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in the ill-fated “27 Club” when she died of accidental alcohol poisoning at that age in 2011. But there were two sides to the British star, who was as complicated as she was talented.

“It’s time people knew about the real Amy,” her father Mitch tells HELLO! "She deserves to be remembered differently to how people think of her,” he adds. “She was a complex character who was so much more than her addictions.”

His voice full of emotion, the 70-year-old taxi driver turned singer (2) speaks with pride about the deep compassion and gestures of kindness he witnessed in Amy’s remarkable but short life.

“She was a wonderfully charitable person,” Mitch continues. “When she heard through a friend that a woman was homeless and sleeping on the street in London, Amy said: ‘Send her round to me.’ She stayed with her for six months.

“She was extremely clever, which came from her mother Janis, who would coach her in logarithms at the age of ten.

“She was a bit of a joker, too,” he says, smiling. “She phoned me up pretending to be a policewoman and, on another occasion, an executive from the American Embassy, making me run around looking for paperwork.

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“Most of all, she was loving. Every Father’s Day, she’d make me a card saying: ‘I love you, Daddy.’”

This year is also the tenth anniversary of the charity created in the singer’s name, the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

Set up by her family on what would have been her 28th birthday, it has helped thousands of people coping with (3) addictions and provides a pathway into work for those in recovery. Through its Schools Project, addicts in recovery have addressed half a million pupils about drug and alcohol misuse, while Amy’s Place, a recovery house, gives shelter to vulnerable young women.

Mitch believes it was Amy’s dynamic spirit that spurred on (4) the family to set up the foundation in her name.

“When Amy died we had this burst of adrenaline,” he says. “There’s no way in the world we could have achieved this without her. Amy is still here, urging us on.

“She’s the one who inspired us to set up the foundation and it has saved lives. Although it doesn’t bring Amy back, helping other people helps us come to terms (5) with what happened to her. “Amy would be pleased with what we’ve achieved. This is her legacy.”