Mary Cleere Haran

On February 3, 2011, Haran was injured when an automobile hit the bicycle that she was riding. She died two days later in Deerfield Beach, Florida, at age 58 from injuries caused by that collision.

On television, Haran wrote and co-produced Doris Day: Sentimental Journey on PBS in addition to contributing her efforts to programs about Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin, and Louis Armstrong. She also appeared as torch singer Lee Ann on 100 Centre Street (2002).

Debuting in New York cabarets in 1985, Haran was "fiercely proud to call herself a cabaret artist". She used the intimacy and directness of cabarets to her advantage as she performed not just a selection of songs but a production whose preparation was equivalent to an off-Broadway show. Will Friedwald, in his book A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, commented, "Ms. Haran always plays herself in one of her one-woman shows, addressing the audience in her dual role as scholar and interpreter of the Great American Songbook." For example, her 2007 show "Mary Cleere Haran Sings Doris Day" mixed Haran's vocalization of songs associated with Day with "anecdotes, cultural history and her own personal reflections" about the singer. Haran did research about each singer and songwriter whose work she performed to find material to supplement his or her featured songs. Her accompaniment usually was no more than a trio of bass, drums, and piano.

In the early- and mid-1970s, Haran performed in local and regional West Coast theatrical productions, including Dangling Desperation or All Strings Attached, Beach Blanket Babylon, The Boys from Syracuse, Company, and Babes in Arms. A newspaper review of a 1975 performance of The Boys from Syracuse noted: "Mary-Cleere Haran was excellent in the role of the Courtesan. Her singing is extremely stylish and were she interested in pursuing a nightclub career, she could probably make a considerable splash almost immediately." She also sang at casinos in Nevada and Texas with The New Deal Rhythm Band. She left that group after being asked to perform more in the style of a 1920s-era flapper, although her tastes ran to more sincere music. Then she moved to New York to perform on stage. Her off-Broadway productions included Heebie Jeebies, Manhattan Music, and Swingtime Canteen. On Broadway (billed as Mary-Cleere Haran), she portrayed Ann Collier in The 1940's Radio Hour (1979). Following that performance, she turned her attention to singing in clubs.

Mary Cleere Haran (May 13, 1952 - February 5, 2011) was an American singer known for her work as a cabaret artist. Her skills in performing popular music and jazz enabled her to entertain audiences with either genre or a combination of the two. A review in the trade publication Variety described her as having "an easygoing earthiness that glows in the velvet textures of her voice ..."