Sultry singer Eartha Kitt dies

EARTHA Kitt, the versatile American singer and actress who has died aged 81, mesmerised audiences worldwide for more than six decades with her sultry voice and sensuality on stage and screen.

Kitt, whose outspokenness was a mainstay of her career, but also led to a self-imposed exile to Europe in the 1960s and 70s after her stinging critique of the war in Vietnam, won two Emmy television awards and was nominated for two Tony awards and a pair of Grammys.

The performer, who lived in the northeastern US state of Connecticut, died late on Thursday. She was being treated for colon cancer at a New York hospital.