Amy Winehouse Dead: Family Honors Jewish Tradition

Updated July 27, 6:15 pm

The funeral for Amy Winehouse was held on Tuesday, in keeping with Jewish law that a deceased body be buried as soon as possible.

Winehouse died on Saturday, and an autopsy was conducted on Monday.

The autopsy was inconclusive, but a coroner's official said the singer did not die under suspicious circumstances.

Coroner's officer Sharon Duff told members of the press on Monday that "the scene was investigated by police and determined non-suspicious," according to an NBC report.

Traditional Jewish law is generally opposed to autopsies, but exceptions can be made; one was authorized for Winehouse because of the circumstances of her sudden death.

Results of the toxicology tests, which will help to determine the precise cause of death, will be available in two to four weeks.

Winehouse's body was released to her family for burial on Monday.

A private funeral service at Edgwarebury Cemetery in North London was followed by a cremation and a family gathering.

Contrary to a common misconception, while Jewish law forbids tattoos, a person with tattoos is not prohibited from having a Jewish burial, according to The Jewish Chronicle.

Rabbi Mark S. Diamond, Executive Vice President of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, spoke to MSNBC about Winehouse being cremated, saying cremation "is clearly prohibited in Jewish tradition."

Still, he conceded that "an increasingly significant number of Jews are choosing cremation. It's not something I would encourage, but we live as a part of the world."

Both of Winehouse's parents are Jewish, and the singer sometimes wore a Star of David around her neck.

The singer, 27, was found dead in her north London home on Saturday afternoon. She reportedly spoke to her security guard, Andrew Morris, on Saturday morning at about 10 a.m., and told him she wanted to go to sleep, said The Sun. That is believed to be her last conversation.

When Morris went to wake her several hours later he found her dead.

"Rigor mortis had set in," a source told The Sun, "indicating she is likely to have been dead for anything up to six hours."

Police sources told the UK newspaper that there were no signs of drugs at the house.

A source told The People that the singer bought cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine and possibly heroin the night before she died.

"Amy seemed determined to have a big one on Friday night," the source said. "She was out in Camden on Friday evening, but seemed determined to carry on the party back at her flat.

"None of us know who was with her into the early hours of Saturday. But getting out of it was clearly her main priority of the night."

Amy's family told The Sun these reports were "nonsense."

Winehouse's close friend Kelly Osbourne was shocked by Winehouse's death. "I was speaking to her last night, she seemed ­absolutely fine, I don't understand how this could have ­happened," Osbourne told the Mirror on Saturday.

Winehouse had seen a doctor on Friday evening, and she received a clean bill of health. She had been getting regular checkups because of the overall toll her lifestyle had been taking on her body.

"The doctor was happy with her condition," a source told the Sun. "When he left on Friday night he had no concerns. Less than 24 hours later, she was found dead."

"Amy was on her own at home apart from a security guard who we had appointed to help look after her over the past couple of years," PR rep Chris Goodman told The Sun. "At this stage no one knows how she died. She died alone in bed."

Winehouse saw her mother, Janis, the day before she died, and Janis was concerned for her well-being. The elder Winehouse had told the Mirror she felt it was "only a matter of time" before tragedy took her daughter.

Winehouse's father, a jazz musician and part-time taxi driver, was in New York City when he heard of his daughter's death. He had been scheduled to perform at the famous Blue Note jazz club. In what may have been the singer's last public comment, she wrote "I'm very proud of my dad," in an e-mail to the New York Post on Friday.

Her father, who immediately returned to London upon hearing the news, is "devastated" by the loss.

A few days before her death, Mitch Winehouse also spoke to the New York Post about his daughter. "Frankly, she's had her ups and downs," he said.

"Our family has been left bereft by the loss of Amy, a wonderful daughter, sister, niece," Amy's family said in a statement.

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