Vegas singer Violetta Villas dies in native Poland

(CBS/AP) WARSAW, Poland- Polish singer Violetta Villas, a Las Vegas star in the 1960s who sang with such stars as Frank Sinatra, has died in her native Poland, police say. She was 73.

Area police spokesman Pawel Petrykowski told The Associated Press that Villas died late Monday at her home in the village of Lewin Klodzki in southern Poland. No cause of death was given.

Villas was born Czeslawa Cieslak in 1938 to a Polish family in Belgium.

She had a powerful coloratura soprano that spanned four octaves. Rather then pursue an operatic career, she preferred popular music, a genre that brought her wide popularity in Poland, where the family returned in 1948, and abroad.

From 1966-69, she sang at Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Her performance partners included Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. She also appeared in six movie and recorded hundreds of songs in 10 languages.