{"id":11579035,"date":"2025-07-25T13:03:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T17:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11579035&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=11579035"},"modified":"2025-07-25T14:20:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:20:03","slug":"cleo-laine-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/25\/cleo-laine-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Singer Cleo Laine, regarded as Britain\u2019s greatest jazz voice, dies at 97"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>LONDON (AP) \u2014 Cleo Laine, whose husky contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz and who was regarded by many as Britain\u2019s greatest contribution to the quintessentially American music, has died. She was 97.<\/p>\n<p>The Stables, a charity and venue Laine founded with her late jazz musician husband John Dankworth, said Friday it was \u201cgreatly saddened\u201d by the news that \u201cone of its founders and Life President, Dame Cleo Laine has passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Monica Ferguson, artistic director of The Stables, said Laine \u201cwill be greatly missed, but her unique talent will always be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laine\u2019s career spanned the Atlantic and crossed genres: She sang the songs of Kurt Weill, Arnold Schoenberg and Robert Schumann; she acted on stage and on film, and even played God in a production of Benjamin Britten\u2019s \u201cNoye\u2019s Fludde.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related left\"><h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"\" data-relation-type=\"automatic-primary-section\">Related Articles<\/h2><ul><li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/mideast-wars-newborn-killed\/\" title=\"Israeli strikes kill 36 in Gaza, including a mother and newborn, as more aid is allowed in\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\">\n\t\t\tIsraeli strikes kill 36 in Gaza, including a mother and newborn, as more aid is allowed in\t\t<\/span>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/li><li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/north-korea-rebuffs-south-outreach\/\" title=\"Kim Jong Un\u2019s sister rejects outreach by South Korea\u2019s new president\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\">\n\t\t\tKim Jong Un\u2019s sister rejects outreach by South Korea\u2019s new president\t\t<\/span>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/li><li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/trump-gaza-food\/\" title=\"Trump says he wants Netanyahu to \u2018make sure they get the food\u2019 in Gaza amid humanitarian crisis\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\">\n\t\t\tTrump says he wants Netanyahu to \u2018make sure they get the food\u2019 in Gaza amid humanitarian crisis\t\t<\/span>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/li><li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/trump-shortening-russia-deadline-ukraine\/\" title=\"Trump says he\u2019s shortening the 50-day deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\">\n\t\t\tTrump says he\u2019s shortening the 50-day deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine\t\t<\/span>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/li><li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/israeli-rights-groups-gaza-genocide\/\" title=\"Two Israeli rights groups say their country is committing genocide in Gaza\">\n\t\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\">\n\t\t\tTwo Israeli rights groups say their country is committing genocide in Gaza\t\t<\/span>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/li><\/ul><\/aside>\n<p>Laine\u2019s life and art were intimately bound up with band leader Dankworth, who gave her a job and her stage name in 1951, and married her seven years later. Both were still performing after their 80th birthdays. Dankworth died in 2010 at 82.<\/p>\n<p>In 1997, Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is British jazz that should have received the accolade for its service to me,\u201d she said when the honor was announced. \u201cIt has given me a wonderful life, a successful career and an opportunity to travel the globe doing what I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laine was born Clementina Dinah Campbell in 1927. Her father, Alexander Campbell, was a Jamaican who loved opera and earned money during the Depression as a street singer. Despite hard times, her British mother, Minnie, made sure that her daughter had piano, voice and dance lessons.<\/p>\n<p>She began performing at local events at age 3, and at age 12 she got a role as a movie extra in \u201cThe Thief of Bagdad.\u201d Leaving school at 14, Laine went to work as a hairdresser and faced repeated rejection in her efforts to get a job as a singer.<\/p>\n<p>A decade later, in 1951, she tried out for the Johnny Dankworth Seven, and succeeded. \u201cClementina Campbell\u201d was judged too long for a marquee, so she became Cleo Laine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJohn said that when he heard me, I didn\u2019t sound like anyone else who was singing at the time,\u201d Laine once said. \u201cI guess the reason I didn\u2019t get the other jobs is that they were looking for a singer who did sound like somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laine had a remarkable range, from tenor to contralto, and a sound often described as \u201csmoky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dankworth, in an interview with the Irish Independent, recalled Laine\u2019s audition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were all sitting there with stony faces, so I asked the Scottish trumpet player Jimmy Deuchar, who was looking very glum and was the hardest nut of all, whether he thought she had something. \u2018Something?\u2019 he said, \u2018She\u2019s got everything!&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Offered 6 pounds a week, Laine demanded \u2014 and got \u2014 7 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey used to call me \u2018Scruff\u2019, although I don\u2019t think I was scruffy. It was just that having come from the sticks, I didn\u2019t know how to put things together as well as the other singers of the day,\u201d she told the Irish Independent. \u201cAnd anyway, I didn\u2019t have the money, because they weren\u2019t paying me enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recognition came swiftly. Laine was runner-up in Melody Maker\u2019s \u201cgirl singer\u201d category in 1952, and topped the list in 1956 and 1957.<\/p>\n<p>She married Dankworth \u2014 and quit his band \u2014 in 1958, a year after her divorce from her first husband, George Langridge. As Dankworth\u2019s band prospered, Laine began to feel underused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought, no, I\u2019m not going to just sit on the band and be a singer of songs every now and again when he fancied it. So it was then that I decided I wasn\u2019t going to stay with the band and I was going to go off and try to do something solo-wise,\u201d she said in a BBC documentary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I said I was leaving, he said, \u2018Will you marry me?\u2019 That was a good ploy, wasn\u2019t it, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They were married on March 18, 1958. A son, Alec, was born in 1960, and daughter Jacqueline followed in 1963.<\/p>\n<p>Despite her happy marriage, Laine forged a career independent of Dankworth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhenever anybody starts putting a label on me, I say, \u2018Oh, no you don\u2019t,\u2019 and I go and do something different,\u201d Laine told The Associated Press in 1985 when she was appearing on stage in New York in \u201cThe Mystery of Edwin Drood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her stage career began in 1958 when she was invited to join the cast of a West Indian play, \u201cFlesh to a Tiger,\u201d at the Royal Court Theatre, and was surprised to find herself in the lead role. She won a Moscow Arts Theatre Award for her performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cValmouth\u201d followed in 1959, \u201cThe Seven Deadly Sins\u201d in 1961, \u201cThe Trojan Women\u201d in 1966 and \u201cHedda Gabler\u201d in 1970.<\/p>\n<p>The role of Julie in Jerome Kern\u2019s \u201cShow Boat\u201d in 1971 provided Laine with a show-stopping song, \u201cBill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laine began winning a following in the United States in 1972 with a concert at the Alice Tully Hall in New York. It wasn\u2019t well-attended, but The New York Times gave her a glowing review.<\/p>\n<p>The following year, she and Dankworth drew a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall, launching a series of popular appearances. \u201cCleo at Carnegie\u201d won a Grammy award in 1986, the same year she was a Tony nominee for \u201cThe Mystery of Edwin Drood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A reviewer for Variety in 2002 found her voice going strong: \u201ca dark, creamy voice, remarkable range and control from bottomless contralto to a sweet clear soprano. Her perfect pitch and phrasing is always framed with musical imagination and good taste.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps Laine\u2019s most difficult performance of all was on Feb. 6, 2010, at a concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the concert venue she and Dankworth had founded at their home, during which Laine and both of her children performed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m terribly sorry that Sir John can\u2019t be here today,\u201d Laine told the crowd at the end of the show. \u201cBut earlier on my husband died in hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laine said in an interview with the Boston Globe in 2003 that the secret of her longevity was that \u201cI was never a complete belter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was always a protective side in me, and an inner voice always said, \u2018Don\u2019t do that \u2014 it\u2019s not good for you and your voice.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laine is survived by her son and daughter.<\/p>\n<p><em>Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed. AP journalist Robert Barr, the principal writer of the obituary, died in 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11579064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-07-25T17:09:41Z","apple_news_api_id":"5fb463ad-99bc-4b2f-acee-d08062c55908","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-07-25T18:20:07Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AX7RjrZm8Sy-s7tCAYsVZCA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight.","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[85,24255],"tags":[],"feature":[],"location":[],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[1963],"class_list":["post-11579035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-world"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"24255","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":"","print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":"","really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bostonherald.com\/2025\/07\/25\/cleo-laine-dies","id":"cG9zdDoyMTcyODI2","siteName":"Sharing Dash","syndicationSourceStack":[{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bostonherald.com\/2025\/07\/25\/cleo-laine-dies","id":"cG9zdDoyMTcyODI2","siteName":"Sharing Dash","sourceUrl":"https:\/\/sharingdash.medianewsgroup.com"}],"source_url":"https:\/\/sharingdash.medianewsgroup.com"},"market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"metered","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":11579064,"title":"AP25206585308265","filename":"AP25206585308265.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/AP25206585308265.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/25\/cleo-laine-dies\/ap25206585308265\/","alt":"Cleo Laine performs at the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert","author":"13","description":"","caption":"File &#8211; Cleo Laine performs at the Jazz at Lincoln Center concert, &#8220;Here&#8217;s to the Ladies: a Celebration of Great Women in Jazz,&#8221; in New York, Nov. 17, 2003. 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