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

Cleo Laine, whose husky contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz and who was regarded by many as Britain's greatest contribution to the quintessentially American music, has died. She was 97.

The Stables, a charity and venue Laine founded with her late jazz musician husband John Dankworth, said Friday it was "greatly saddened” by the news that "one of its founders and Life President, Dame Cleo Laine has passed away."

Monica Ferguson, artistic director of The Stables, said Laine "will be greatly missed, but her unique talent will always be remembered.”

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."

Associated Press