English National Opera's musical director has hailed Amy Black's contribution to the company as tributes continue to pour in for the East Yorkshire singer.

The Hedon opera star's body was discovered at 7.55am on Tuesday, near Mill Nurseries, Main Street, in Keyingham.

Edward Gardner told the Mail: "Everyone at English National Opera is deeply saddened to hear the news of Amy Black's death.

"Amy spent several years with the company as a regular, popular and highly valued member of the extra chorus, participating in many of our productions, including Cav and Pag, Boris Godunov and Aida.

"She also sang several performances of the role of Mercedes in Carmen and was due to join us again for Idomeneo next year.

"She will be really missed by us all and our thoughts are with her family at this very difficult time.

Yesterday Amy's family spoke of their loss.

A family spokesman told the Mail: "Our lives have been left shattered by Amy's death. We will always remember the smiles and the laughs we had together.

"We want to celebrate her life."

A post-mortem was carried out on Tuesday night and a secondary post-mortem took place yesterday to establish how the 36-year-old died.

Pathologists are working to find out the cause of death, which could take several weeks.

No formal cause of death has yet been announced, although police have ruled out any suspicious circumstances.

Only last month, it looked as if Amy had successfully battled a heart condition and she made an emotional return to the region, five months after undergoing major heart surgery.