Jeneane Marie, longtime Las Vegas entertainer, dies at 62

Las Vegas entertainer Jeneane Marie Cranert, who opened for Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Don Rickles and many others, died Wednesday after a fight with cancer.

Her family announced the vocalist with a range of three octaves died Wednesday at her home with her daughter and family at her bedside. She died a day before her 63rd birthday.

Cranert’s career spanned nearly 50 years, opening for stars such as BB King, Wayne Newton, George Carlin, Liberace and Bette Midler, her family said in a release.

Cranert was born June 28, 1955, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her parents encouraged her to be in show business at a young age, the release said. She danced, acted and modeled, and her seventh-grade choir teacher helped facilitate her love of singing.

She started performing professionally at 15 and began touring with a pop band named Colored Rain after graduating from high school, her family said.

She once climbed on stage in front of Don Rickles in Las Vegas in 1979, “who she said liked what he heard,” the release said.

In what family referred to as the pinnacle of Cranert’s career, Frank Sinatra heard her singing in a lounge near Lake Tahoe in the 1980s, and he asked if she would open for him.

“And of course she agreed,” the release said. She opened for Sinatra three more times.

Of her battle with cancer, the release said, Cranert once told an interviewer, “Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me, because it grounded me again. It’s brought me back to the foundation of everything I know.”

She also performed on the Jerry Lewis telethon several times and performed at corporate events across the country.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.