British jazz singer Cleo Laine dead at 97
British jazz icon Dame Cleo Laine has died aged 97, her family have confirmed.
In a statement issued to The Guardian, her children Jacqui and Alec said: “It is with deepest sadness that we announce the passing of our dearly beloved mother, Cleo, who died peacefully yesterday afternoon. We will all miss her terribly. The family wish to be given space to grieve and ask for privacy at this very difficult time.”
In 1927, Laine was born in Southall, London, to a Jamaican father and an English mother. It wasn’t until she was 24 that Laine first got her musical break when she successfully auditioned to join John Dankworth’s band, The Johnny Dankworth Seven, which proved to be a career-defining decision.
After playing with Dankworth in a series of bands, the couple married in 1958 following the conclusion of her marriage to George Langridge and remained together until he died in 2010. They also toured together up until this point with Laine announcing his death at the end of a concert in The Stables, Milton Keynes, a venue they founded, on the night of his passing.
Reflecting on their creative partnership with The Telegraph in 2011, Laine said: “We each had clear roles; he was technically briliant as a musician, all I had was natural musicality. He also wore the trousers in the relationship, and would rein me in and advise me how to get the best out of people.”
Outside of her work with Dankworth, she established a glittering solo career that made her a star, and led to her winning the Grammy Award for ‘Best Jazz Vocal Performance – Female’ in 1986. Laine was also nominated in the same category three years earlier.
Her other achievements included honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music, the University of Cambridge, and a street named after Laine in Adelaide, Australia. In the UK, Laine was first honoured with an OBE in 1979, before securing a deserved damehood in 1997.
Laine’s career took her to Broadway, including a performance as Princess Puffer in the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which scored her a Tony Award nomination.
The jazz icon is survived by her children, Jacqui and Alec. No cause of death has been revealed.
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