Coroner: Amy Winehouse death not suspicious

Mitch Winehouse, centre blue shirt, Amy Winehouse's father, accompanied by Janis, Amy's mother, seen right white shirt and other friends, looks at flowers placed by mourners in Camden Square outside the house of Amy Winehouse following her death, in Camden, northern London, Monday July 25, 2011. (AP / Lefteris Pitarakis)

Retro-soul songstress Amy Winehouse didn't die under suspicious circumstances, a coroner's official said Monday.

Police confirmed later in the day that it's not yet known what killed Winehouse because her autopsy was inconclusive.

The coroner's announcement comes just hours after Winehouse's father thanked a crowd of grieving fans gathered outside her Camden Square home where the 27-year-old was pronounced dead two days earlier.

"I can't tell you what this means to us," Mitch Winehouse, said while standing next to his wife Janis who surveyed large piles of tributes and gifts left by supporters.

"We're devastated and I'm speechless but thanks for coming," he said.

Mourners arrived in groups to lay bouquets, candles and handwritten notes across the road from the Victorian house where the songstress died.

Winehouse's father is reportedly eager to stick to Jewish tradition and bury his daughter as soon as possible. The family is said to have already begun the first official phase of mourning — the ‘sitting shiva' — for her.

The Grammy-award winning singer died Saturday after a long and highly-public battle with drug and alcohol addiction. Her body was discovered by a member of her security team who called an ambulance.

London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before emergency crews arrived on the scene.

Police have dismissed speculation that the singer suffered an overdose as "inappropriate," saying they're currently treating the death as "unexplained."

According to the London Telegraph, Winehouse suffered from emphysema, a progressive lung disease, in addition to her substance abuse problems, said CTV reporter Merella Fernandez.

A few days before her death, the singer reportedly visited a doctor who didn't have any immediate concerns about her health, Fernandez told CTV News Channel.

Though the cause of Winehouse's death is not yet known, veteran music writer Larry Leblanc said he suspects some aspect of Winehouse's troubled past was eventually her undoing.

"Everyone is expecting them to find drugs but you know what it might be? It might be just a beaten down system of a very fragile person who got more fragile as time went by," he told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

Beginning of the end?

In mid-July, Winehouse was booed off stage during a performance in Belgrade after stumbling around and forgetting lyrics to her songs.

Shortly after the spectacle, her spokesperson announced that she was cancelling her European tour to focus on recovering.

The singer's short but successful career was punctuated by frequent drug and alcohol problems that often made headlines before her music could.

But Leblanc is quick to remind fans that Winehouse's name wasn't always synonymous with trouble.

"There's a YouTube clip of her being interviewed in the back of a taxi cab when she's 19, and she's so fresh and she's so wonderful," he said adding that the immense pressure of show business may have weighed too heavily on her.

Winehouse shot to stardom in 2006 with her breakthrough album "Back to Black" that won her five Grammy Awards.

The album's hit single "Rehab" details how the singer's family asked her to seek help for her substance abuse problems. In the song, she famously responds: "No, no, no."

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when she first became recognized internationally. "I'm just a musician."

Looking for answers

The formal inquest into Winehouse's death was opened and adjourned at London's St. Pancras Coroner's Court on Monday afternoon.

During the two-minute hearing, an official read out the name, birth date and address of Winehouse, described as "a divorced lady living at Camden Square NW1."

Coroner official Sharon Duff confirmed that Winehouse's family identified her body and that a forensic post-mortem was being held, along with histology and toxicology tests, to determine the cause of death.

In Britain, post-mortem inquests are conducted to establish facts whenever somebody dies violently or in unexplained circumstances.

The inquest will resume on Oct. 26.

With files from the Associated Press and BANG Media.