Singer Clooney has cancer relapse

In January Clooney underwent surgery on her lungs

Singer and actress Rosemary Clooney is undergoing treatment at home for a recurrence of lung cancer.

Her publicist Linda Dozoretz said on Wednesday that the performer, now 74, had been treated in hospital earlier this month.

"She's comfortable and she's surrounded by her family," said Ms Dozoretz.

She has made cameo appearances in her nephew's series ER

Clooney is the aunt of actor George Clooney, star of TV hospital drama ER.

Her new bout of illness was first reported in the showbusiness trade journal Daily Variety.

Ms Dozoretz would not discuss the performer's medical prognosis but said: "She's an eternal optimist, she really is."

Clooney underwent surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in January to have the upper lobe of her left lung removed.

At the time her agents said doctors expected her to be able to resume her recording and performing career in the near future.

Clooney's hits

Half As Much (1954)

Man (1954)

This Ole House (1954)

Mambo Italiano (1954)

Where Will The Dimple Be (1955)

Hey There 1955)

Mango (1957)

Clooney's career started in the 1940s and her early hits included duets with Guy Mitchell, Frank Sinatra and Marlene Dietrich.

She starred with Bing Crosby in the 1954 film classic White Christmas, and later made an album, Fancy Meeting You Here, with the crooner.

After a period of semi-retirement to raise her five children, she started a new career in a purer jazz vein, making a series of highly-regarded albums for Concord records during the 1980s.

She also played a cameo role in two episodes of ER, alongside her nephew.