A sculpture to commemorate Amy Winehouse is to be unveiled at Camden market, near the singer’s last home.
The memorial, which has been designed by Scott Eaton, will be a life-size brass sculpture of Winehouse and will stand at the centre of the Stables market, a short walk from the townhouse where the 27-year-old died of alcohol poisoning in July 2011.
The jazz and blues singer was a much-loved and commonly sighted figure in the north London borough and her father, Mitch Winehouse, said he could not think of anywhere more appropriate for a memorial for his daughter.
“I had a meeting with Camden council and they told me they don’t usually allow statues until 20 years after someone has died, but in Amy’s case they made an exception,” he said.
“It’s a great honour to have the statue in the Stables. Amy was an integral part of Camden and still is, so you couldn’t really think of putting a statue for her anywhere else, could you really?”
The statue will be unveiled on September 14, which would have been the singer’s 31st birthday.
Winehouse’s mother Janis and brother Alex, as well as several of her close friends, have been involved in the design, which will feature her distinctive beehive hairstyle as well as information on donating to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which was formed after her death and works to prevent the effects of drug and alcohol misuse on young people.
Winehouse’s father described the unveiling of the statue as a “bittersweet moment”. He said: “Of course it’s a double-edged sword, because they don’t put statues up of people who are still with us.”
Last year, it was reported that the Camden Town Conservation Authority was initially resistant to the statue, questioning the appropriateness of such a memorial so soon after the singer’s death. The authority was “not necessarily impressed” by Eaton’s original design.
But Winehouse’s father said the statue played a dual purpose, both paying tribute to his daughter but also to the fans who had “kept us going” after her death.
“It’s personal to the family but it is also very important for her fans. We wanted to do something like this to give the fans a focal point to remember her and pay their respects,” he said.
“They were always wonderful but after she passed away they kept us all going and it’s important that we repay them in some way, and this sculpture is some small way of us repaying their kindness and their love.”
This is not the first time the north London borough has hosted tributes Amy Winehouse. Last year, venues across Camden marked what would have been her 30th birthday with a month of events dedicated to the Back to Black singer, while in September the Jewish Museum honoured her with a 10-week exhibition entitled Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait.
