Chaka Khan: I tried to help Amy Winehouse

Singer Chaka Khan says she tried to save Amy Winehouse as she saw her slip further into the pit of addiction.

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Khan, who battled her own substance abuse issues in the 1980s, admits she knew Winehouse was heading for an early grave when she saw her at a music festival in the Bahamas in 2009.

She exchanged phone numbers with the British singer and urged her to reach out for help whenever she hit a low point, but her advice was in vain and Winehouse died two years later after a booze binge.

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Khan tells Britain's OK! magazine, "The last time I saw Amy was at a music festival in the Bahamas. When I first met her, we hugged like we knew each other all of our lives. I loved her, I really loved her. She sat on my lap, like a little girl. I'm saying: 'Give me your contact numbers, Amy, because we are going to stay in touch. But I knew, when I saw Amy, that she wasn't long for this world. You know when you get that feeling? I had that. She was so young and she was rebellious. Everybody was telling her to do one thing, and of course, she was going to do what the hell she wants."

Khan continues, "Yeah, we talked. I said: 'Look, we need to get real here, Amy. And I am here for you. If you need somebody to talk to, you call me.'... But she was so high I was talking to the drugs. I said OK, and that I'd try to keep calling her and get to her and catch her at the moment when she was ready. So I did try and try and try, but it never happened."

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