Amy Winehouse’s family is insisting the singer did not die from a drug overdose. In fact now they are claiming that her death on Saturday at the age of 27, was due to her sudden abstinence from alcohol.

Winehouse ignored doctors’ advice to step back gradually from her heavy drinking and went cold turkey in the past month, an unnamed family friend tells Britain’s Sun. Her family believes that was too much of a shock to her system, the source adds.

“Abstinence gave her body such a fright, they thought it was eventually the cause of her death,” says the source.

PEOPLE has confirmed that this is the family’s belief.

The cause of Winehouse’s death won’t be known for weeks, pending the completion of toxicology tests.

There have been reports that Winehouse went on a bender during her final days. But the family source tells the Sun that her father, Mitch Winehouse, said in his eulogy at his daughter’s funeral that he believed it was just the opposite.

“He said doctors had told Amy to gradually reduce her intake of alcohol and to avoid bingeing at all costs. Amy told him she couldn’t do that. It was all or nothing and she gave up completely,” says the source.

“Mitch said the shock of giving up, after everything she had been through over a bad few years, was just too much for her to take.”

This whole story is so sad, but if she really did die from finally trying to do the right thing – then it’s even sadder!

Guess we’ll know in a couple weeks!

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Amy Winehouse, who was found dead in her London home on Saturday, was laid to rest on Tuesday in London. The private funeral was only attended by family and close friends, including Mark Ronson and Kelly Osbourne.

Sky News reports that Winehouse’s ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, was not allowed out of prison for the event; he is currently serving 32 months for violent crimes.

A witness told the British news service that Winehouse’s dad, Mitch, “told some great stories from childhood about how headstrong she was, and clearly the family and friends recognized the stories and laughed along. He stressed so many times she was happier now than she had ever been and he spoke about her boyfriend and paid tribute to a lot of people in her life.”

Winehouse’s most recent boyfriend, Reg Traviss, spoke to the UK’s Sun about his devastating loss, saying that Winehouse had been exercising and in good spirits before she passed.

“I can’t describe what I am going through and I want to thank so much all of the people who have paid their respects and who are mourning the loss of Amy, such a beautiful, brilliant person and my dear love,” he said. “I have lost my darling who I loved very much.”

Autopsy results proved inconclusive on Monday, meaning it will take 2-4 weeks for toxicology tests to provide a cause of death.

So sad!

Source, Photos: INF

Even though the cause of death was not disclosed after Amy Winehouse’s autopsy, the coroner’s orders suggests the singer may have “died a violent or unnatural death.”

A formal inquest has been opened to investigate her death.

An inquest into Amy Winehouse’s death has been opened and adjourned until October 26, a London coroner said Monday, as a lengthy investigation into the singer’s death begins in Britain.

Sharon Duff, a coroner at St Pancras Coroner’s Court in North London, said that a “Section 20″ postmortem had been carried out on the body of the 27-year old singer, who died Saturday, but Duff did not disclose any of its findings.

In British postmortem cases where a sudden death is deemed not suspicious and the Coroner believes that no inquest is necessary, he or she can order a Section 19 Post Mortem under the terms of the 1988 Coroner’s Act in Britain.

A Section 20 postmortem, as Winehouse had, however, implies that the Coroner believes “there is reasonable cause to suspect that a person has died a violent or unnatural death or in any other way which would require an inquest,” according to guidelines. It suggests that the authorities are mounting a more lengthy and serious investigation into the circumstances around Winehouse’s death, although the Coroner also reported that at the scene had been investigated by police and “determined non-suspicious.”

At a brief two-minute hearing on Monday, Duff told St Pancras Coroner’s Court:

“I bring before you the death of Amy Jade Winehouse aged 27, born on the 14th September 1983 in London. She was a divorced woman living in Camden Square NW1. She was certified dead at her home by a paramedic and a doctor on July 23. She was a singer songwriter at the time of her death and was identified by her family here at St Pancras this morning. A section 20 post mortem has been carried out and histology and toxicology taken to determine the cause of death. The scene was investigated by police and determined non-suspicious.”

Assistant Deputy Coroner Suzanne Greenaway also said: “I’m formally opening this inquest. I’m issuing interim certificates to allow Miss Winehouse’s family to make arrangements for the funeral.”

I’ll keep you guys posted!

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Amy Winehouse is seen here just this past June performing (if you can call it that) at the Belgrade Music Festival. The singer stumbles high (or drunk) on stage, and fiddles with her shoes forever, before attempting to sing a song.

It’s incredibly sad. Just one month later she’s dead.

I was away over the weekend, and came home to a bunch of texts that Amy Winehouse had passed away on Saturday. While I was shocked she had died, I wasn’t totally surprised, either. The troubled singer had given disastrous concerts recently, and has been in and out of rehab for months (if not years).

While her death is still officially unexplained, many are suspecting a drug overdose.

Winehouse’s mom, Janis, saw her daughter just a day before her death, and told the Daily Mirror that her dying “seemed only a matter of time.”

“She seemed out of it. But her passing so suddenly still hasn’t hit me,” she told the paper, saying that Amy told her that she loved her, and that she’d treasure those words forever.

The Mirror also takes accounts from unnamed friends who reveal that Winehouse was in the midst of a weeks-long drinking binge, and that, according to an MTV producer and others, she died of a bad ecstasy pill.

Meanwhile, according to the Daily Mail, British tabloid The People reports that Winehouse was seen buying cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and ketamine the night before her death; any tabloid report, of course, must be taken with a grain of salt.

Officially, as noted, police are treating the death as unexplained, and an autopsy will be performed on Sunday or Monday, according to conflicting reports.

Winehouse appeared wobbly in taking the stage on Wednesday, where she made a surprise performance at the iTunes Music Festival to support goddaughter Dionne Bromfield. She danced on stage, but did not sing, only whispering into the microphone the few times it was passed to her.

So sad!

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Amy Winehouse has canceled her entire European tour, it was announced this morning.

The problem began with the video above. The horrifying video was shot Saturday night in Belgrade while she was attempting to perform under the influence. She was booed onstage after arriving an hour late, then stumbled around and slurred her words to her famous 2008 song “Just Friends”.

The European tour, which was to have included 12 stops before winding up Aug. 15 in Bucharest, Romania,

She greeted the crowd of 20,000 by shouting, “Hello, Athens,” reports the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper.

Following the incident, Winehouse, 27, apologized to fans and canceled Monday’s scheduled performance in Istanbul and Wednesday’s in Athens.

Late last month, Winehouse checked into rehab for her ongoing problem with alcohol, the singer’s rep confirmed to PEOPLE. The treatment was seen as preparation for this tour.

In a statement following the Belgrade incident, Winehouse’s management said: “Despite feeling sure that she wanted to fulfill these commitments, she has agreed with management that she cannot perform to the best of her ability and will return home. … She would like to apologize to fans expecting to see her at the shows but feels that this is the right thing to do.”

What an incredible waste of talent. So sad…

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Amy Winehouse was spotted visiting her favorite bar/pub, The Hawley Arms, where she reportedly even help sling drinks behind the bar.

Is it just me or is there something a little more…orange…about her lately?

Check out more pictures of Amy serving drinks: