The rabbi who conducted Amy Winehouse's funeral has praised her parents for their "stoicism".

Frank Hellner was asked to conduct Tuesday's (26.07.11) service by Mitch and Janis following the 27-year-old singer's tragic death on Saturday (23.07.11) and he was very impressed with how they have handled their grief.

He said: "They were very stoic. It's the worst thing to have to bury your child. I think they knew this was a strong possibility. She was on a course of self-destruction."

Amy - who had a history of drink and drug abuse - had told her parents she wanted to be cremated so she could join the ashes of her beloved grandmother Cynthia and Rabbi Hellner believes that was the right thing to do.

He told the London Evening Standard newspaper: "In the liberal movement, cremation is well accepted. I think it was because her grandmother was cremated and they wanted their ashes together."

Yesterday (28.07.11), Mitch and Janis were accompanied by their son Alex and close friend Tyler James to Amy's house in Camden, north London, as part of the Jewish tradition, Shiva - which requires the family of the deceased to mourn their passing for a week.