William Schomberg
| Reuters
British jazz singer Cleo Laine, who performed with musical greats such as Frank Sinatra and starred as an actor in London’s West End and on Broadway, has died at 97, according to reporting from multiple outlets.
The Guardian and The New York Times reported the news July 25, citing a statement from Laine’s children, musicians Jacqui and Alec Dankworth.
“It is with deepest sadness that we announce the passing of our dearly beloved mother, Cleo, who died peacefully yesterday afternoon,” the statement to The Guardian read. “We will all miss her terribly. The family wish to be given space to grieve and ask for privacy at this very difficult time.”
The Stables Theatre, a U.K. music venue that Laine co-founded with her late husband, confirmed the news in a statement posted to its website.
Born to an English mother and a Jamaican father in a suburb of London in 1927, Laine initially worked as a hair-dresser, a hat-trimmer and a librarian. She first married in 1946 and had her first son, Stuart.
Driven by her dream of becoming a singer, she divorced and got her big break in 1951, when she joined the band of English saxophonist and clarinetist John Dankworth at 24.
How Clementine Campbell became Cleo Laine
At the time, she had thought she’d been born Clementine Campbell, though a passport application later revealed her mother had used her own surname Hitching on the birth certificate. The men of the Dankworth Seven band thought her name was too cumbersome for a poster, and that her nickname Clem was too cowboy-like.
They settled on a new stage persona for her by drawing “Cleo” and “Laine” from hats.
In 1958, she and Dankworth married. Their home became a magnet for London’s jazz set: Friends included stars from across the Atlantic such as Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young and Dizzy Gillespie.
After acting as well as singing in Britain through the 1960s, Laine toured Australia in 1972 and performed at New York’s Lincoln Centre. The recording of a further show, at Carnegie Hall, won her a Grammy Award.
Her recordings included “Porgy and Bess” with Ray Charles. In 1992, she appeared with Sinatra for a series of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London, but she was best known for her work with Dankworth’s bands. He later became her musical director.
The couple built their own auditorium in the grounds of their home near London and were friends with Princess Margaret, the sister of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Their two children went on to become musicians.
Dankworth – who Laine described as being “joined at the hip” with her – died in 2010. Hours after his death, Laine performed a scheduled show in their auditorium, announcing the news about her husband only at the end of the concert.
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY