Amy Winehouse's dad blocks Copenhagen play

Copenhagen - A Copenhagen play on the life of late British singer Amy Winehouse has been blocked by the singer's father, the Danish copyright collecting society said on Monday.

The show, titled Amy, was due to open at the Royal Danish Theatre in January but was cancelled because KODA, a society that administers music copyrights in Denmark, withdrew its permission to use Winehouse's songs in the play.

"It is Amy Winehouse's father who has thrown a spanner in the works," KODA spokesperson Nicolaj Hylten-Cavallius told AFP.

Mitch Winehouse had contacted the society via his music publisher within the past few weeks, he said.

KODA had previously green-lighted the performance, but its decisions are always subject to change if the rights holder withdraws permission, he added.

'A load of rubbish'

Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning at her London home in July last year, aged 27.

In October, shortly after the play was announced, Mitch Winehouse called the Scandinavian show "a load of rubbish" and insisted it was only a money-making exercise, according to the Yahoo! UK news website.

Emmet Feigenberg, artistic director for the Royal Danish Theatre, responded that "the performance won’t be any cash cow", and would be performed only around 13 times on one of the theatre's smallest stages, according to the website.

"We are very sorry about it ... and do not know what to put in place of the play," David Pepe Birch, a spokesperson for the Danish Royal Theatre, told AFP.

Written in Danish by an ensemble of 11 people called "Det Roede Rum" ("The Red Room"), the play was to depict Winehouse's relationship with drugs and alcohol and her marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil.