Singer Teresa Brewer dies at 76

Singer Teresa Brewer, who topped the charts in the 1950s and performed with jazz legends Count Basie and Duke Ellington, died Wednesday. She was 76.

Brewer died at her home in New Rochelle, N.Y., of a neuromuscular disease, said family spokesman Bill Munroe.

She had close to 40 songs that topped the charts, including Dancin' with Someone, Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall, Ricochet and Let Me Go Lover.

Brewer scaled back her public life to raise her family, but later reprised it to perform with jazz greats Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis.

"She was just a wonderful, lovely lady," said Munroe, a longtime family friend.

"Her career was always a hobby with her; her family always came first. She always considered her legacy not to be the gold records and the TV appearances, but her loving family."

Brewer, who had four daughters, performed with Mel Torme, Tony Bennett and guest-hosted several variety shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, according to her website.