Amy Winehouse's family surprises fans by giving them late singer's clothes

Amy Winehouse's fans mourning outside the late pop star's London home received an unexpected gift Thursday from the singer's family.

Winehouse's father emerged from his daughter's home to dole out some of her clothes to fans camped outside holding a vigil, London's The Sun reported.

"This is what she would have wanted," Mitch Winehouse told the crowd, the British paper reported.

The 27-year-old diva, famous as much for her battles with drug and alcohol as her soulful voice and meteoric music career, was found dead in her apartment Saturday.

Though toxicology results are not expected for several weeks, family members told the Sun that they blame the death on alcohol withdrawal stemming from Winehouse's decision to quit booze cold turkey.

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The 'Rehab' singer died in her London home last Saturday. (Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty)

The family did keep many of the singer's items as they had the grim task of sorting her personal effects – a pair of his daughter's ballet slippers could be seen protruding from Mitch Winehouse's back pocket as he left the home. "God Bless Amy Winehouse," he said, according to The Sun, as he got in a taxi to head to the synagogue for religious services.

Brigitte Pividal, who was given a red vest by the singer's father, was photographed by The Sun clutching the fabric.

"I will cherish this for the rest of my life," the 52-year-old fan said.

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Don’t blame my son for Amy’s death: Blake Fielder-Civil's mother's plea as she insists the couple were still in love

This warmth did not envelop the entire extended family, however: to say that there was never any love lost between Blake and Amy’s parents is an understatement.

Taxi-driver Mitch, who was this week photographed handing his late daughter’s clothes out to fans camped outside her North London home, has categorically blamed Blake for introducing Amy to Class A drugs.

Meanwhile, his former wife Janis, a pharmacist who suffers from multiple sclerosis, accused her erstwhile son-in-law of being a boy on the make — suggestions Georgette categorically rejects.

‘I am not making excuses for my son, but other friends of Amy’s have spoken out recently to acknowledge that Amy was using drugs before she met Blake,’ she says. ‘The point is that Mitch did not like Blake from the beginning.

‘Even after they were married, they never had any room to breathe — Blake used to joke that it felt like Mitch was at the end of their bed.’

She goes on: ‘Even Amy sensed it to a degree. Blake would joke about it and Amy would giggle along with us. In my opinion, the relationship didn’t have a chance while he was on the scene.’

Yet it cannot be denied by any sane person that Blake more than played his part in the unravelling of the relationship and the unravelling of poor Amy.

Six months after the couple married in May 2007 — they eloped to Miami, exchanging vows in a £70 ceremony witnessed by strangers — he was remanded in custody accused of perverting the cause of justice relating to a charge of GBH with intent on a pub landlord.

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In June 2008 he pleaded guilty to both offences and was jailed for 27 months, not emerging from prison until February 2009 .

Hardly an ideal start to married life. Yet Amy, it has to be said, retained a strong, almost visceral affection for her husband, which continued even after they divorced in spring 2009.

Among Georgette’s treasured possessions is a box of letters and cards, written in Amy’s distinctive slanted writing, which are testament to the couple’s continuing bond.

Included are child-like Valentine’s cards, one with Snoopy on the cover, and letters Amy wrote to Blake while he was in prison. In one, sent in January 2009, she wrote: ‘Despite any short-term or material successes our marriage is my proudest achievement and your last name is the proudest jewellery I’ve ever walked in. Yours always, Amy.’

The letters continued into last year. In February 2010, Amy sent Blake a ‘storyboard’ of their relationship, signing herself ‘your wife, on paper or not’ and, in an accompanying letter writing of her desire to carry his child.

‘Then, please God, hopefully, I’d have your baby kicking to come out of me,’ she wrote. ‘Fix me! Let me fix you! We’ve always looked after each other, ALWAYS.’

Their contact, Georgette says, remained regular until the end, even though both of them started new relationships following their divorce.

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Amy frequently said that the only person who could fix her was Blake.

But she also knew that it would cause trouble. In one of the last conversations I had with her she said: “I can’t tell Dad I’m talking to you as he’d go mad and it’s not worth it.”

‘Blake and Amy could have had a chance of happiness — I truly believe that — but only if their families were both behind them. I honestly believe that if they’d been given another chance, Amy might still be with us. Now we will never know.’

It is, of course, all too easy to rewrite history, to cast Amy and Blake as some latter day Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw in Love Story. In fact, even Georgette has to concede that their relationship, which commenced over an alcohol-fuelled night in a London pub in early 2004, was complex and often tawdry — a heady and drug-fuelled courtship followed by an equally narcotic-addled and short-lived marriage.

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Kelly Osbourne, Mark Ronson Pay Jazzy Tribute to Amy Winehouse

It's just shy of a week since Amy Winehouse's death, and the tributes show no signs of slowing down.

Last night, a collection of the late singer's family and friends, including Kelly Osbourne, Mark Ronson and Mitch and Janis Winehouse, gathered together in the most fitting of locations yet to honor the soulful chanteuse...

MORE: Will Amy's fashion line continue without her?

Her favorite music club in London, SoHo's Jazz After Dark.

Rather than strike a somber tone, the night out instead served as an intimate gathering among those closest to Amy, who sought to celebrate her short but hard-lived life.

Also present at the club last night were boyfriend Reg Traviss, fellow U.K. singer (just one of the many for whom Winehouse forged a successful path) Eliza Doolittle and Winehouse's brother, Alex.

Earlier in the day, the Winehouse parents were back at Amy's Camden home, where they greeted fans and stopped to admire the rapidly growing number of tributes placed outside the residence. Mitch even gave away some of Amy's belongings, including T-shirts, sunglasses and jewelry, to some of the fans.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, Ronson paid further tribute to the girl he described as his "sister" and "musical soul mate," dedicating a rendition of "Valerie" to her in concert.

"Last night was really wonderful," he tweeted. "I'd like to thank...so many of you for helping us pay homage to amy."

We're guessing there's still a lot more where that came from.

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Mark Ronson Dedicates Live Performance To Amy Wenhouse

Mark Ronson paid tribute to Amy Winehouse during his first performance since the star's funeral in Greenwich, London two nights ago.

Ronson, dressed entirely in black, opened the show by saying 'It's been a shit week but being here making music makes it all OK' before launching an acoustic performance of 'Valerie' with Dave McCabe of The Zutons, who originally wrote the track which Winehouse made famous. 'I remember five years ago Amy brought this song to me and said "I wanna sing that,"' Ronson reminisced.

Winehouse's presence hung over the entire evening and Ronson was visibly upset. He cut short his usual mid-show DJ set, saying 'The only thing I want to hear right now is this', before playing 'Rehab' in full. 'I went to the service yesterday and the rabbi said that a person is measured in deeds not years, which was the best thing I heard all day,' he remarked. 'She made more amazing music than I'll make in my entire life.'

Amy Winehouse: Was quitting alcohol cold turkey deadly?

While the cause of 27-year-old singer Amy Winehouse’s death last week has yet to be determined from toxicology tests, her family blames her sudden withdrawal from alcohol, rather than drugs, for killing her.

The family told a British paper that Winehouse -- known to abuse both drugs and alcohol -- quit drinking cold turkey instead of tapering off, as her doctor recommended. This caused her to go into shock, the family asserted.

Can withdrawing from alcohol too abruptly really be dangerous?

“People who drink heavily and stop suddenly may go through alcohol withdrawal, which can cause symptoms ranging from anxiety to tremors to full-blown seizures and delusions,” said Sam Zakhari, director of the metabolism and health effects division at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “Sometimes, this can affect the heart, causing cardiac arrhythmia, and in rare cases, this can be fatal.”

The emphasis there is on rare. The culprit in most deaths of substance abusers is alcohol or drugs -- too much, or a perilous mix.

Winehouse’s dangerous habits may have ravaged her body to the point that she wasn’t able to recover, even after she stopped using.

Regardless of what the cause of death turns out to be, Zakhari said all alcoholics should taper off slowly and quit under a physician’s supervision to avoid severe symptoms. Prescription medications like benzodiazepines may be useful, he said, to calm the brain and counteract the stimulant effect that kicks in when the body is no longer getting a depressant, such as alcohol.

A physician will also take into account an individual’s heart risks based on family history and other factors when providing treatment.

Amy Winehouse: Did Alcohol Withdrawal Kill Her

As Amy Winehouse's album Back to Black climbs back onto the charts and whispers begin about a treasure trove of unreleased songs, Winehouse's family has a hunch about what we might find in her toxicology report—that she died from alcohol withdrawl. They believe that laying off the alcohol cold turkey may be what caused Winehouse's sudden death last weekend at age 27. A source close to the family explains, that " doctors had told Amy to gradually reduce her intake of alcohol and to avoid bingeing at all costs. Amy told him she couldn't do that. It was all or nothing and she gave up completely. Mitch (Winehouse's father) said the shock of giving up, after everything she had been through over a bad few years, was just too much for her to take. Abstinence gave her body such a fright, they thought it was eventually the cause of her death."