Amy Winehouse longed to be a mother.

The 'Rehab' singer - who battled alcohol and drug addiction during her life - passed away at her home in Camden, north London on July 23 aged 27 and her close friend and collaborator Stefan Skarbek believes her greatest ambition in life was to have children.

He said: "I loved her, she was someone that was ahead of her time. She had this incredible nurturing other side to her that no one has ever focused on. She was generous, she was just a good person and I think she would've made an amazing mother. If she hadn't been so consumed in things she might've come out the other end and been a role model for lots and lots of people. That's the thing I know her best for."

However, Stefan believes Amy - who was married to drug addict Blake Fielder-Civil for two years before divorcing him in 2009 - surrounded herself with questionable people who used her.

He explained to Rolling Stone: "She was inherently nurturing, she was a Jewish grandma. Last time I saw her she made me chicken soup 'cause I had a little cold. She probably hadn't slept for four days and she was still making me soup and singing me songs and all that. Naturally, she was a caring, mothering person. And then her persona became an out-of-control rock star, but really she just wanted to hug and be hugged and be loved. She had a lot of that going on and she was surrounded by some pretty dodgy people at times and a lot of using people. And I think that it became hard. I think she started to ignore her maternal instinct and at times her caring side and she became her own caricature. She wanted to have a family, she wanted to be a mom, all those things."