Tears dry on their own

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Wearing dark suits, black dresses and the occasional beehive hairdo, friends and family said goodbye to Amy Winehouse with prayers, tears, laughter and song at an emotional funeral ceremony.

"Amy was the greatest daughter, family member and friend you could ever have," said her father, Mitch Winehouse, in his eulogy.

The singer's father, mother and brother were joined by Winehouse's close friends, band members and celebrities including producer Mark Ronson for the service at Edgwarebury Cemetery in north London on Tuesday. Media personality Kelly Osbourne was one of several women to wear their hair piled beehive-high in an echo of the singer's trademark style.

Fans and photographers thronged the lane outside, but the funeral was for several hundred friends and family only.

Mitch Winehouse told mourners that his late daughter had recently found love and had beaten her drug dependency three years before her death, but he admitted she was still struggling to control her drinking after several weeks of abstinence.

"She said, ‘Dad I've had enough of drinking, I can't stand the look on your and the family's faces any more.'" Mitch Winehouse said.

He said Amy had been playing her drums and singing in the home the night before her death.

"But knowing she wasn't depressed, knowing she passed away, knowing she passed away happy, it makes us all feel better," he said, adding that he hopes to set up an Amy Winehouse Foundation that would help people beat substance abuse.

He ended his eulogy with the words "Goodnight, my angel, sleep tight. Mummy and Daddy love you ever so much."

The service ended with a rendition of Carole King's So Far Away, one of Winehouse's favourite songs.

Close family and friends — including Winehouse's recent boyfriend, Reg Traviss — moved on to Golders Green Crematorium, where the singer was cremated. Several mourners, including Ronson — who co-produced Winehouse's breakthrough album Back to Black — looked emotional as they left the red brick structure.

The soul diva, who had battled alcohol and drug addiction for years, was found dead Saturday at her London home. She was 27.

An autopsy failed to determine what caused her death. Police are awaiting the results of toxicology tests.

Since her death, her records have re-entered album charts around the world, and tributes have poured in from fans and fellow musicians.
 
Top