Teresa Brewer

The husky, urgent singing style of Teresa Brewer, who has died of degenerative brain disease aged 76, influenced a generation of women vocalists, from Connie Francis and Bette Midler to Lulu. And as a jazz singer, she recorded with many of the greatest bands, including those of Duke Ellington and Count Basie - and also with Chas and Dave.

In 1950, Brewer recorded Music! Music! Music!, a million-selling hymn to the power of the jukebox, and a big hit. When the record was issued, she was pregnant with her first child, and her determination to combine her singing career with motherhood led Brewer to concentrate on television rather than concert tours, making her one of the first singing stars to be created through the new medium.

During the 1950s, she was a regular on network shows hosted by Frankie Laine, Perry Como and Jackie Gleason, and had her own twice-weekly show, Summertime USA, with jazz singer Mel Tormé.

Brewer had more than a dozen hits during the 1950s and three top 10 successes in the UK. She mixed pop numbers such as Gonna Get Along Without You Now and Till I Waltz Again with You, with novelty songs, The Hula Hoop Song, I Love Mickey - a tribute to baseball star Mickey Mantle co-written by Brewer - and Satellite, inspired by the 1957 launch of Sputnik. However, many were covers of songs by either R&B or country music artists. Brewer had hits with Sonny James's Empty Arms, Johnny Ace's Pledging My Love, Ivory Joe Hunter's A Tear Fell, Fats Domino's Boll Weevil and Sam Cooke's You Send Me.

Many white singers made cover versions in those days and the practice has often been criticised as exploitation of black musicians by the white-controlled record industry. Even at the time, Sam Cooke's record producer, Bumps Blackwell, attacked Brewer for closely copying Cooke's vocal techniques. In a 2004 interview, Brewer herself conceded that "in retrospect, I feel that it was unfair, especially since the black artists usually had better versions of the songs than we did."

In 1952, Brewer had joined the Coral label, whose director of artist and repertoire was jazz and blues fan Bob Thiele, who later masterminded the careers of Buddy Holly and Jackie Wilson. Thiele chose the songs for Brewer to record, including her final hit, Milord, an English version of the Edith Piaf classic.

In the mid-1960s, Brewer recorded eight albums for the Philips label but devoted much of her time to bringing up her four daughters.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer was the only daughter of an inspector employed in a glass factory. Her mother, meanwhile, wanted her daughter to be the next Shirley Temple and, aged two, Teresa featured on a Toledo radio station's Uncle August's Kiddie Show, competing for candy and cupcakes singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. By five, she had graduated as a tap dancer and singer to the nationally syndicated Major Bowes Amateur Hour. Chaperoned by her aunt, Brewer toured with the Major Bowes ensemble during the second world war.

In 1948 the teenager - contracted to sing at New York's Sawdust Trail nightclub - attracted the attention of an agent, and the next year was offered a recording contract by London Records, the recently formed US division of Decca. Then came Music! Music! Music!

In the early 1970s, her career revived when she was reunited with Thiele, whom she married following a divorce from her first husband. Thiele persuaded Teresa to record with jazz musicians for his own Doctor Jazz, Signature and Red Baron labels. The first of these recordings was a collection of songs associated with the prewar blues singer Bessie Smith, with accompaniment from Count Basie and his orchestra.

According to Thiele, this led to Duke Ellington offering to work with Brewer, who made two albums of Ellington's compositions and a third, The Cotton Connection, with Duke's son Mercer. She also recorded albums with violinist Stephane Grappelli and pianist Earl Hines. Brewer made a brief foray into contemporary pop with the Teresa Brewer in London album. This included a new version of Music! Music! Music! with Chas and Dave. Her recording career continued into the 1990s, her final album being Good News in 1995.

From the 1970s, Brewer performed frequently in Las Vegas, at casinos owned by Howard Hughes. She also appeared at jazz festivals, notably at Montreux in 1983, where she sang with Woody Herman's band. After one of her shows, Elvis Presley told her that the first song he performed in public in the mid-1950s had been Till I Waltz Again With You. Lulu's first public performance in the early 1960s included A Tear Fell, and she also influenced Bette Midler. "When I first started singing and making records," said Connie Francis, recalling her debut in the late 1950s, "I tried to sound like Teresa Brewer and do her type of song."

After Thiele's death in 1996, Brewer retired from music. She died at her home in New Rochelle, New York. She is survived by her four daughters, a stepson, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

· Teresa Brewer (Theresa Breuer), singer, born March 7 1931; died October 17 2007

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