Amy Winehouse joins the the "27 club"

Amy Winehouse's mother said the singer seemed unwell a day before she died, a British newspaper reported on Sunday, while her family mourned the loss of "a wonderful daughter, sister, niece" and more tributes flowed in from fans and fellow performers.

A mound of flowers, messages and handwritten notes grew on Sunday outside of the north London home where ambulance crews found the singer dead before they arrived on Saturday.

"R.I.P. Never Forgotten," read one message, while another said "It's all right, love. Go now."

The Sunday Mirror quoted Janis Winehouse as saying she believed it was "only a matter of time" before her daughter died. The 27-year-old singer had publicly struggled with drug and alcohol abuse for years.

"She seemed out of it. But her passing so suddenly still hasn't hit me," Janis told the tabloid.

Police said the cause of her death is being treated as "unexplained", rejecting speculation that she died from a drug overdose as "inappropriate". The circumstances surrounding her death are not yet clear, but police said a post-mortem examination is expected on Monday or Tuesday.

"Our family has been left bereft by the loss of Amy, a wonderful daughter, sister, niece. She leaves a gaping hole in our lives," the family of the Back to Black singer said in a statement.

In her short lifetime, Winehouse too often made headlines because of drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, destructive relationships and abortive performances.

Actor Russell Brand, a former drug addict, wrote a lengthy tribute to Winehouse, urging the media and public to change the way addiction is perceived - "not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill".

"Winehouse and I shared an affliction, the disease of addiction," he wrote. "Addiction is a serious disease; it will end with jail, mental institutions or death."

Others, like American singer Carole King, whose song Will You Love Me Tomorrow was covered by Winehouse, recalled her small, but powerful body of recorded music.

"She did such a beautiful performance on it," King told the BBC, saying that she was grateful to the late singer for the recording. "I just really hope that she's found peace now wherever she is."

No information about funeral or burial was immediately available.

Sherwood Schwartz dies at 94

VETERAN TV producer Sherwood Schwartz, who created The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island, died in his sleep yesterday in Los Angeles at age 94.

Surrounded by his family, he passed away at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

"He didn't really die. He just ran out of time to do things," his son, Lloyd J. Schwartz, told The Wrap.

The New Jersey native got his start in showbiz as a writer for the radio versions of The Bob Hope Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet before he moved into television.

In the sixties, he created, wrote and produced his first major hit, Gilligan's Island, about a crew of shipwrecked passengers forced together on a deserted island. The comedy - starring Bob Denver in the role of Gilligan and actress Tina Louise, who played the sexy movie star Ginger Grant - ran for three seasons.

Schwartz's next major success came in 1969 with the family comedy The Brady Bunch, starring Florence Henderson and Robert Reed as the mother and father to their blended breed of six. It ran for five seasons.

He also penned the theme songs for the shows.

In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Henderson said Schwartz changed her life by choosing her to play Carol Brady.

She said Schwartz was "a wonderful writer and producer, but more importantly, he was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend."

The Emmy Award-winning screenwriter is survived by his wife of 69 years, Mildred, one daughter and three sons.

Before Schwartz's death, he and his producer son, Lloyd, had been working together to adaptGilligan's Island for the silver screen.

Though the Warner Bros. project is still in development, Schwartz had said in 2009 he would be thrilled to have Juno actor Michael Cera star as Gilligan and pop diva Beyonce Knowles play the irresistible Ginger.