Winehouse 'spoke to dad via medium'

Mitch Winehouse has told fans of his daughter that he has spoken to her through a psychic.

Mr Winehouse said he communicated with Amy, who died last year, on Tuesday and she "is fully behind everything that we're doing and she's up in heaven waving her magic wand".

He was speaking at an event in New York to launch the US version of her charitable foundation and was joined by Amy's mother, Janis, and her younger brother, Alex.

They held a press conference in Joe's Pub where Winehouse gave her first American performance on January 16 2007.

The foundation was formally established in the UK last year and to date has allocated more than £275,000 to various organisations, said organisers.

A brief film showing the foundation's British achievements was shown during the conference where the Winehouses discussed their daughter's passion for wanting to help children.

The US foundation's aim is to "support and empower children in need through music therapy and music education".

One of the first programmes to be helped will be the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra - first introduced to the Winehouses by CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien.

Mr Winehouse also performed four songs with a jazz band, at one point kissing his mobile phone which had a photo of his daughter on it.