Singer Cleo Laine, regarded as Britain’s greatest jazz voice, dies at 97

Many considered Britain’s finest contribution to the defining American music to be Cleo Laine, whose velvety contralto was one of the most unique voices in jazz. She was ninety-seven.

Laine and her late husband, jazz musician John Dankworth, created the charity and venue The Stables, which announced on Friday that it was deeply saddened by the death of Dame Cleo Laine, one of its founders and Life President.

Laine “will be greatly missed, but her unique talent will always be remembered,” according to Monica Ferguson, creative director of The Stables.

In her multi-genre career, Laine performed on stage and screen, including as God in a production of Benjamin Britten’s “Noye’s Fludde.” She also sang the songs of Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg, and Robert Schumann.

Dankworth, the band’s leader, gave Laine a job and her stage name in 1951 and married her seven years later, establishing a close connection between her life and work. Even after turning 80, both were still performing. At age 82, Dankworth passed away in 2010.

Laine was the first jazz musician from Britain to be appointed a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, in 1997.

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When the award was revealed, she stated, “British jazz should have been recognized for its service to me.” “It has given me a wonderful life, a successful career and an opportunity to travel the globe doing what I love to do.”

Clementina Dinah Campbell was Laine’s birth name in 1927. Alexander Campbell, her father, was a Jamaican who worked as a street performer during the Depression and loved opera. Her British mother, Minnie, made sure her daughter had dancing, piano, and voice lessons despite the difficult times.

At the age of three, she started playing at neighborhood gatherings, and at twelve, she was cast as a movie extra in “The Thief of Bagdad.” Laine left school at the age of 14 to work as a hairdresser and was repeatedly turned down for a singing career.

She made a successful tryout for the Johnny Dankworth Seven ten years later, in 1951. After being deemed too lengthy for a marquee, “Clementina Campbell” changed her name to Cleo Laine.

“John said that when he heard me, I didn’t sound like anyone else who was singing at the time,” Laine once stated. “I guess the reason I didn’t get the other jobs is that they were looking for a singer who did sound like somebody else.”

From tenor to contralto, Laine’s range was impressive, and her sound was sometimes characterized as “smoky.”

Dankworth recalled Laine’s audition in an interview with the Irish Independent.

“Since everyone was sitting there with stony looks, I asked Jimmy Deuchar, the hardest nut of all and a very sullen-looking Scottish trumpet player, if he thought she had something. “Something?” “She has everything,” he remarked.

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Laine was given 6 pounds per week, but she insisted on getting 7 pounds instead.

They called me ‘Scruff’, but I don’t think I was scruffy. She told the Irish Independent, “I just didn’t know how to put things together as well as the other singers of the day because I came from the sticks.” “And anyway, I didn’t have the money, because they weren’t paying me enough.”

The recognition came quickly. In the Melody Maker “girl singer” category, Laine placed second in 1952 and first in 1956 and 1957.

In 1958, one year after divorcing her first husband, George Langridge, she married Dankworth and left his band. Laine started to feel underutilized as Dankworth’s band gained success.

“When he desired it, I thought, ‘No, I’m not going to just sit on the band and sing songs every now and then. “I made the decision to leave the band at that point and try my hand at doing something on my own,” she stated in a BBC documentary.

“He asked, ‘Will you marry me?’ after I told him I was going. That was a clever ruse, wasn’t it?

The date of their marriage was March 18, 1958. Alec, a son, was born in 1960, and Jacqueline, a daughter, in 1963.

Laine had a fulfilling marriage, yet she pursued a profession apart from Dankworth.

In 1985, when performing in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” in New York, Laine told The Associated Press, “Whenever somebody starts putting a label on me, I say, ‘Oh, no you don’t,’ and I go and do something different.”

She was shocked to be placed in the lead part of the West Indian drama “Flesh to a Tiger,” which was performed at the Royal Court Theatre, in 1958, marking the beginning of her stage career. Her performance earned her a Moscow Arts Theatre Award.

The films “Valmouth” (1959), “The Seven Deadly Sins” (1961), “The Trojan Women” (1966), and “Hedda Gabler” (1970) came next.

Laine’s 1971 performance as Julie in Jerome Kern’s “Show Boat” gave her the hit song “Bill.”

After a performance at New York’s Alice Tully Hall in 1972, Laine started to gain popularity in the US. Despite the low attendance, she received a great review from The New York Times.

Her and Dankworth’s sold-out Carnegie Hall performance the following year marked the beginning of a string of well-liked concerts. In 1986, the year that “Cleo at Carnegie” won a Grammy, she was nominated for a Tony Award for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”

Her voice was described as having a “dark, creamy voice, remarkable range and control from bottomless contralto to a sweet clear soprano” by a Variety reviewer in 2002. She consistently frames her flawless phrasing and pitch with musical originality and taste.

On February 6, 2010, Laine and both of her children sang in a concert commemorating the 40th anniversary of the music venue she and Dankworth had established at their home. This was possibly the most challenging performance Laine had ever done.

At the conclusion of the performance, Laine said to the audience, “I’m terribly sorry that Sir John can’t be here today.” However, my husband passed away in the hospital earlier.

According to Laine’s 2003 interview with the Boston Globe, “I was never a complete belter.” This was the key to her longevity.

“There was always a protective side in me, and an inner voice always said, ‘Don’t do that it’s not good for you and your voice.'”

Laine’s daughter and son survive her.