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

[oldbrownhat]

Another great gone AP article here

...Laine's 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's "Noye's Fludde."

Laine's 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.

In 1997, Laine became the first British jazz artist to be made a dame, the female equivalent of a knight.

"It is British jazz that should have received the accolade for its service to me," she said when the honor was announced. "It has given me a wonderful life, a successful career and an opportunity to travel the globe doing what I love to do..."

 

[LVSteve]

She was one of the few singers my dad liked. The BBC gave her a nice obituary, too.

Cleo Laine: Acclaimed jazz singer dies aged 97

She was the first British singer to win a Grammy in a jazz category and performed with all the greats.

www.bbc.com

 

[oldbrownhat]

She was one of the few singers my dad liked. The BBC gave her a nice obituary, too.

Cleo Laine: Acclaimed jazz singer dies aged 97

She was the first British singer to win a Grammy in a jazz category and performed with all the greats.

www.bbc.com

Thanks for posting the BBC obit. Hadn't got to that one yet.

"...She had a four-octave vocal range and the ability to perform everything from Schoenberg to a Spike Milligan hit about a man with too many tonsils...."

I gotta find the Spike Milligan one!