Police to view video of Winehouse

LONDON - Police said on Wednesday they would investigate video footage of soul singer Amy Winehouse allegedly smoking crack cocaine. Still images from the footage first appeared on the front page of the Sun tabloid on Tuesday, and the Times newspaper quoted the head of Winehouse's record company saying that it may abandon plans to promote her in the key U.S. market.

"Officers will be viewing the footage when we receive it from the media," said a spokesman for London police.

"We will then assess the footage to ascertain whether any action needs to be taken. As always we thank the media for their co-operation."

The Sun said it had already handed over the footage, taken early on Friday morning. Hours later a dishevelled-looking Winehouse appeared in court to support husband Blake Fielder-Civil who is fighting charges related to a pub brawl.

Winehouse, one of the country's top-selling artists, has won critical and commercial success with her hit album "Back to Black", and garnered six Grammy nominations in December.

But plans by Island Records, part of the Universal Music, to promote her in the United States may be put on hold due to the recent scandal.

"It may be time to draw a line under it all and move on," the Times quoted Island boss Nick Gatfield as saying.

Winehouse, 24, had been invited to perform at the Grammys ceremony on February 10, but drugs-related problems have hampered her request for a visa. She was arrested for possession of marijuana in Norway last year.

Winehouse was photographed visiting a private London clinic on Tuesday, which a spokesman for her label said she had been visiting regularly for some time.

Winehouse's father Mitch said he hoped some good would come of the scandal.

"Of course it kills me to see my daughter on the front page of your newspaper like that," he told the Sun. "It's nothing short of devastating - thinking she wants to destroy herself. She'll be heartbroken about it all.

"But for all the hurt and pain, it may finally be the thing to focus her mind and convince her to get the help she needs to quit for good."