Alcohol was Amy Winehouse's downfall, says father.

Amy Winehouse's father has said his daughter was trying to overcome an addiction with alcohol, but not drugs, before her death. Mitch Winehouse said she had been clean of illegal drugs for three years before she died in July. 

He told Newsbeat she had replaced her previous drug problems with addictions to exercise and shopping. But added: "Then it was drinking and unfortunately that's not quite so easy to over come." Mitch Winehouse was speaking as he officially launched a foundation in his daughter's name - on what would have been her 28th birthday - in order to benefit "hundreds, thousands of small charities up and down the country".

Amy's addictions He insisted neither Amy's family, friends nor doctors saw her death coming. "Nobody could have foreseen what would have happened," he said. Continue reading the main story The moment her management team knew there was going to be a problem they stopped everything Mitch Winehouse Her father said that he, and the singer's management, did everything they could to help her and that she was on the road to recovery.

Unfortunately as in a lot of addiction cases one addiction can follow another," he said. Toxicology results released last month said "no illegal substances" were in Amy's system at the time of her death. Her family said tests indicate alcohol was present but that it could not be determined if it played a role in the singer's death yet.

Follow @todaysgist