Entertainer Teresa Brewer dead at 76

NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Singer and songwriter Teresa Brewer has died in New York at the age of 76.

Brewer had suffered for several years from progressive supranuclear palsy, a neuromuscular disease, before her death Wednesday, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

A native of Ohio, Brewer was a teenager when she hit the top of the charts in 1950 with the peppy song, "Music Music Music." Brewer's "Til I Waltz Again With You" also made it to No. 1 and she enjoyed fame, especially in New York, for "I Love Mickey," a duet she recorded with baseball icon Mickey Mantle at the end of his Triple Crown year in 1956.

After making her professional debut at the age of 2 on the local radio program "Uncle August's Kiddie Show," Brewer spent her pre-teen years touring with the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour" before returning home and performing locally for several years, said the News.

A popular guest on television variety shows in the 1950s, Brewer by the 1960s turned to show tunes and jazz, which she continued to record for the next 40 years.

She is survived by four daughters and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.