Jazz singer 'jumped to her death'

Jazz and cabaret singer Susannah McCorkle has died after jumping from her Manhattan apartment.

Police say she left a suicide note, but they would not reveal what it said.

The 55-year-old was acclaimed as one of the best jazz singers working in cabaret.

Her ex-husband, Dan DiNicola, said Ms McCorkle had suffered from depression "on and off for most of her life," and was recently despondent. But he said her death still came as a surprise.

The singer was known for her gimmick-free style that evoked both warmth and humour, and for an ability to convey a wide range of emotions across a repertoire of more than 2,000 songs.

"She may have been the finest of all the cabaret artists that we've had at the Oak Room," said Arthur Pomposello, manager of the famous nightspot in Manhattan's Algonquin Hotel.

"In fact, she may have been the best jazz singer working in cabaret, and that's a credit to her talent."

McCorkle started singing in jazz clubs in the early 1970s in Europe, where she had gone to study languages. Her first recording was released in 1976.

She was also an accomplished writer and had work published in Newsday, and Cosmopolitan. She had also been working on a novel.