Mitch Winehouse’s Amy worries

Mitch Winehouse couldn’t have released his debut album if his daughter was ill.

The 59-year-old former taxi driver – whose album ‘Rush of Love’ is a mixture of jazz and swing and is made up of mainly cover tracks, with four pieces of original material – revealed if Amy Winehouse was still suffering from problems with drug addiction, he would not have been able to launch his music career.

He said: “Amy and I had been speaking about it for about five or six years and the timing wasn’t right.

“She wasn’t particularly well and now she’s much better. You know, I couldn’t have done this album if she was ill. I wouldn’t have able to put my heart and soul into it.”

The father of the 26-year-old ‘Back to Black’ hitmaker went on to add that he is prepared to give his daughter a run for her money in the diva stakes.

He joked: “I mean, if I became a huge success I’d have a retinue of hangers-on and I’d be able to order people around and I’d show Amy how to really be a diva.

“You know, I’d really show her how to do it. I mean my dressing room that they’ve got for me here today is like a broom closet and there’s no Jack Daniels or champagne in there. I think it’s an absolute disgrace. I’ll show Amy how to do it big time.”