Cleo Laine
Encyclopedia
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE (born 28 October 1927) is a jazz
singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing
and vocal range. Though her natural range is that of a contralto
she is able to produce a "G above high C" giving her an overall compass of well over three octaves."
Laine is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz
, popular
and classical music categories. She is the widow of jazz composer Sir John Dankworth
.
, Middlesex, to a black
Jamaica
n father and English
mother who sent her to singing and dancing lessons at an early age. She attended the Board School in Featherstone Road, until recently Featherstone Primary School. She worked as an apprentice hairdresser, librarian and for a pawnbroker, got married in 1947 (divorced 1957) to George Langridge, a roof tiler, and had a son, Stuart.
(1927–2010), with which she performed until 1958, when she married Dankworth in secret at Hampstead Register Office. The only witnesses were the couple's friend, pianist Ken Moule
, and his arranger, Dave Lindup. They had two children: Alec Dankworth
and Jacqui Dankworth
, both also internationally successful musician
s.
She then began her career as a singer and actress. She played the lead in a new play at London's Royal Court Theatre
, home of the new wave of playwrights of the 1950s such as John Osborne
and Harold Pinter
. This led to other stage performances such as the musical Valmouth
in 1959, the play A Time to Laugh (with Robert Morley
and Ruth Gordon
) in 1962, Boots With Strawberry Jam (with John Neville
) in 1968, and eventually to her show-stopping Julie in Wendy Toye
's production of Show Boat
at the Adelphi Theatre
in London in 1971.
production of Kurt Weill
's opera
/ballet
The Seven Deadly Sins, directed and choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. In 1964 her Shakespeare and All that Jazz album with Dankworth received widespread critical acclaim.
Laine's international activities began in 1972, with a successful first tour of Australia
. Shortly afterwards, her career in the United States
was launched with a concert at New York
's Lincoln Center, followed in 1973 by the first of many Carnegie Hall
appearances. Coast-to-coast tours of the U.S. and Canada
soon followed, and with them a succession of record albums and television appearances, including The Muppet Show
in 1977. This led, after several nominations, to her first Grammy award, in recognition of the live recording of her 1983 Carnegie concert.
She has collaborated with many well-known classical musicians including James Galway
, Nigel Kennedy
, Julian Lloyd Webber
and John Williams
.
Other important recordings during that time were duet albums with Ray Charles
(Porgy and Bess) as well as Arnold Schoenberg
's Pierrot Lunaire
, which won Laine a classical Grammy nomination.
, started in Britain, continued in the United States with starring performances in Sondheim
's A Little Night Music
and The Merry Widow
(Michigan Opera). In 1980 she starred in Colette, a new musical by Dankworth. The show originally opened at The Stables Theatre, Wavendon in 1979 and transferred to the Comedy Theatre, London in September 1980. In 1985 she originated the role of Princess Puffer in the Broadway hit musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood
, for which she received a Tony
nomination, and in 1989 she received the Los Angeles critics' acclaim for her portrayal of the Witch in Sondheim's Into the Woods
.
In 1979 Laine was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) for services to music.
In 1983 Laine won the Grammy Award - Best Female Jazz Vocalist, for Cleo at Carnegie: The 10th Anniversary Concert.
In May 1992 Laine appeared with Frank Sinatra
for a week of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall
, London. She told a reporter in 2007: "I was very impressed with his singing, to me he sounded even better in those concerts than he did on the records. It was a real thrill to be part of his show."
Laine recorded more albums, including one with another jazz legend Mel Tormé
(Nothing Without You). In 1991 she recorded the 12-track CD Jazz for the RCA label, which featured her vocals on classics such as Lady Be Good
, St. Louis Blues
and The Midnight Sun
. The album also featured jazz musicians Gerry Mulligan
, Clark Terry
and Toots Thielemans
.
She also returned to Carnegie Hall
during the late 1990s to mark 25 years since her hit record Cleo - Live At Carnegie. Her performance was recorded and released as Cleo Laine - Live In Manhattan.
, Sarah Vaughan
and Carmen McRae
. Her concerts sold out across the globe, usually supported by Dankwoth with his band, orchestra or smaller group. Her usual band included John Horler
(piano), Alec Dankworth
(bass), Allan Ganley
(drums) and Mark Nightingale
(trombone).
Laine's autobiography, Cleo, was published in September 1994 by Simon & Schuster. Her second book, You Can Sing If You Want To, was published by Victor Gollancz in October 1997.
In the 1997 New Year's Honours list, Laine's membership of the order was elevated to Dame Commander, and she was appointed Dame Cleo Laine DBE (the equivalent of a knighthood for women).
In the 2006 New Year's Honours list, her husband was made a knight bachelor
, becoming Sir John Dankworth. They were one of the few couples where both partners held their titles in their own right and the only couple in jazz to be thus recognised.
On 28 October 2007, Laine turned 80. She marked her birthday with a series of special concerts in the United Kingdom, including an appearance with the John Dankworth sextet at Birmingham Town Hall
on 18 December 2007. She said of her milestone birthday: "I don't think about being 80. What would be the point? I'm limping a bit because they've given me a new knee, but that's about the only difference. I don't want to start thinking about what I should or shouldn't be doing at my age. It's not right."
To celebrate the 80th birthdays of both Laine and Dankworth, Union Square Music released the four disc box set I Hear Music - the most comprehensive and lovingly produced examination of their careers ever assembled: Disc 1: Early Days (1944–56), Disc 2: John, Big Band and The Movies (1956–74), Disc 3: Focus On Cleo (1955–91), Disc 4: A Family Affair (including recordings made with their children, Alec and Jacqui, from 1982 to 2005).
In 2008, Dankworth and Laine won the Gold Award at the BBC Jazz Awards. The couple got a standing ovation for their performance with Guy Barker's specially-assembled big band at the finale of the award ceremony.
A New York critic wrote of Laine and Dankworth's September 2008 engagement at Blue Note: "Dankworth’s alto sax and clarinet sound as gossamer as ever, while Laine’s voice remains a wonder of agility and plummy richness. After 57 years of dual music-making (and 50 of marriage), the Dankworths can anticipate one another’s every move; they make a stage seem as comfortable as their living room."
In 2010, Laine and her husband appeared in an episode of the cult CBeebies
children's show ZingZillas
. The episode was called 'ScatZilla!'.
The longevity of Laine's voice has also been noted by, amongst others, her husband. At the age of 80 her vocals, he noted during an interview, were almost unchanged from decades earlier.
Ella Fitzgerald
, Sarah Vaughan
and Lena Horne
were all influences on Laine when she was young.
.
A week after Dankworth's death, Laine stepped in for her late husband and appeared again in concert at Pinner
in North West London. Laine has continued to perform and give interviews in the months following Dankworth's death. She appeared as a headline act at the Music in the Garden festival at Wavendon in June and July 2010.
In March 2010, Laine and Dankworth's final musical collaboration was released on CD and for download - Jazz Matters. The recording featured the Dankworth Big Band playing new compositions written by Dankworth for the couple's performance at the 2007 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
.
Auditorium, and smaller studio space at Stage 2. The venue was completely rebuilt in 2000, with the new foyer following the plan of the original theatre, with a subsequent development in 2007 to create Stage 2. On 6 February 2010 it celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala concert starring Laine.
A street in Adelaide, South Australia was named "Cleo Lane" after her.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing
Scat singing
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal improvisation with wordless vocables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice.- Structure and syllable choice...
and vocal range. Though her natural range is that of a contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
she is able to produce a "G above high C" giving her an overall compass of well over three octaves."
Laine is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, popular
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
and classical music categories. She is the widow of jazz composer Sir John Dankworth
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
.
Early life
Laine was born as Clementina Dinah Campbell in SouthallSouthall
Southall is a large suburban district of west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
, Middlesex, to a black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n father and English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
mother who sent her to singing and dancing lessons at an early age. She attended the Board School in Featherstone Road, until recently Featherstone Primary School. She worked as an apprentice hairdresser, librarian and for a pawnbroker, got married in 1947 (divorced 1957) to George Langridge, a roof tiler, and had a son, Stuart.
Early career
Laine did not take up singing professionally until her mid-twenties. She auditioned successfully for a band led by musician John DankworthJohn Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
(1927–2010), with which she performed until 1958, when she married Dankworth in secret at Hampstead Register Office. The only witnesses were the couple's friend, pianist Ken Moule
Ken Moule
Kenneth John Moule was an English jazz pianist, best known as a composer and arranger.-Biography:Born in Barking, Essex in 1925, Kenneth was the only child of Frederick and Ethal Moule...
, and his arranger, Dave Lindup. They had two children: Alec Dankworth
Alec Dankworth
Alec Dankworth is an English jazz bassist and composer.Dankworth was born in London, the son of John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. He grew up in the villages of Aspley Guise and Wavendon, living at the Old Rectory, Wavendon, where his parents established the Wavendon All-Music Plan which includes the...
and Jacqui Dankworth
Jacqui Dankworth
Jacqui Dankworth is a British jazz singer. She is the daughter of the jazz musician, arranger and composer Sir John Dankworth and the singer Dame Cleo Laine.-Career:...
, both also internationally successful musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s.
She then began her career as a singer and actress. She played the lead in a new play at London's Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, home of the new wave of playwrights of the 1950s such as John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
and Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
. This led to other stage performances such as the musical Valmouth
Valmouth
thumb|1st edition Cover by [[Augustus John]] Valmouth is a 1919 novel by British author Ronald Firbank. Valmouth is an imaginary English spa resort that attracts centenarians owing to its famed pure air...
in 1959, the play A Time to Laugh (with Robert Morley
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
and Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary's overly solicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, as the eccentric Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the...
) in 1962, Boots With Strawberry Jam (with John Neville
John Neville
John Neville, OBE, CM was an English theatre and film actor who moved to Canada in 1972. He enjoyed a resurgence of international attention in the 1980s as a result of his starring role in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen .-Early life:Neville was born in Willesden, London, the...
) in 1968, and eventually to her show-stopping Julie in Wendy Toye
Wendy Toye
Wendy Toye, CBE, was a British dancer, stage and film director and actress.Beryl May Jessie Toye was born in London. She initially worked as a dancer and choreographer both on stage and on film, collaborating with the likes of directors Jean Cocteau and Carol Reed...
's production of Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
in London in 1971.
1960s - 1970s: Recording and performing success
During this period she had two major recording successes. "You'll Answer to Me" reached the British Top 10 while Laine was 'prima donna' in the 1961 Edinburgh FestivalEdinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
production of Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
/ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
The Seven Deadly Sins, directed and choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. In 1964 her Shakespeare and All that Jazz album with Dankworth received widespread critical acclaim.
Laine's international activities began in 1972, with a successful first tour of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Shortly afterwards, her career in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was launched with a concert at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Lincoln Center, followed in 1973 by the first of many Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
appearances. Coast-to-coast tours of the U.S. and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
soon followed, and with them a succession of record albums and television appearances, including The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
in 1977. This led, after several nominations, to her first Grammy award, in recognition of the live recording of her 1983 Carnegie concert.
She has collaborated with many well-known classical musicians including James Galway
James Galway
- External links : IMGArtists.com 15 September 2008. AllAboutJazz.com 5 August 2008.*...
, Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...
, Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...
and John Williams
John Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
.
Other important recordings during that time were duet albums with Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
(Porgy and Bess) as well as Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Pierrot Lunaire
Pierrot Lunaire
Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire' , commonly known simply as Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 , is a melodrama by Arnold Schoenberg...
, which won Laine a classical Grammy nomination.
1980s - 1990s: Broadway and a Grammy
Laine's relationship with the musical theatreMusical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
, started in Britain, continued in the United States with starring performances in Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music
A Little Night Music is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a literal English translation of the German name for Mozart's Serenade...
and The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
(Michigan Opera). In 1980 she starred in Colette, a new musical by Dankworth. The show originally opened at The Stables Theatre, Wavendon in 1979 and transferred to the Comedy Theatre, London in September 1980. In 1985 she originated the role of Princess Puffer in the Broadway hit musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical)
Drood is a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is written by Rupert Holmes, and was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings . Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score...
, for which she received a Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination, and in 1989 she received the Los Angeles critics' acclaim for her portrayal of the Witch in Sondheim's Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
.
In 1979 Laine was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) for services to music.
In 1983 Laine won the Grammy Award - Best Female Jazz Vocalist, for Cleo at Carnegie: The 10th Anniversary Concert.
In May 1992 Laine appeared with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
for a week of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, London. She told a reporter in 2007: "I was very impressed with his singing, to me he sounded even better in those concerts than he did on the records. It was a real thrill to be part of his show."
Laine recorded more albums, including one with another jazz legend Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
(Nothing Without You). In 1991 she recorded the 12-track CD Jazz for the RCA label, which featured her vocals on classics such as Lady Be Good
Oh, Lady be Good!
"Oh, Lady be Good!" is a 1924 song by George and Ira Gershwin.The song was introduced by Walter Catlett in the Broadway show, Lady, Be Good!, written by Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson, and the Gershwin brothers, starring Fred Astaire and Adele Astaire. It ran for 330 performances in its original...
, St. Louis Blues
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team is named after the famous W. C. Handy song "St. Louis Blues", and plays in the 19,150-seat Scottrade...
and The Midnight Sun
The Midnight Sun
"The Midnight Sun" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Synopsis:The Earth has begun moving away from its usual orbit and is gradually falling in its rotation towards the sun. A prolific artist, Norma, and her landlady, Mrs. Bronson, are the last people in...
. The album also featured jazz musicians Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
, Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
and Toots Thielemans
Toots Thielemans
Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
.
She also returned to Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
during the late 1990s to mark 25 years since her hit record Cleo - Live At Carnegie. Her performance was recorded and released as Cleo Laine - Live In Manhattan.
2000s: Recognition and honours
By the late 1990s, Laine became regarded as one of the top jazz vocalists of all time - in the same league as Ella FitzgeraldElla Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
and Carmen McRae
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer, composer, pianist, and actress. Considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century, it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and her ironic interpretations of song lyrics that made her memorable...
. Her concerts sold out across the globe, usually supported by Dankwoth with his band, orchestra or smaller group. Her usual band included John Horler
John Horler
John Douglas Horler is an English jazz pianist. He is the brother of fellow jazz musician David Horler and the uncle of Natalie Horler, who is the lead singer in the successful eurodance band Cascada....
(piano), Alec Dankworth
Alec Dankworth
Alec Dankworth is an English jazz bassist and composer.Dankworth was born in London, the son of John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. He grew up in the villages of Aspley Guise and Wavendon, living at the Old Rectory, Wavendon, where his parents established the Wavendon All-Music Plan which includes the...
(bass), Allan Ganley
Allan Ganley
Allan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....
(drums) and Mark Nightingale
Mark Nightingale
Mark Daryl Nightingale is an English jazz trombonist.Nightingale began on trombone at age nine, and played in the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Jazz Orchestrain his teens. He attended Trinity College of Music from 1985-88...
(trombone).
Laine's autobiography, Cleo, was published in September 1994 by Simon & Schuster. Her second book, You Can Sing If You Want To, was published by Victor Gollancz in October 1997.
In the 1997 New Year's Honours list, Laine's membership of the order was elevated to Dame Commander, and she was appointed Dame Cleo Laine DBE (the equivalent of a knighthood for women).
In the 2006 New Year's Honours list, her husband was made a knight bachelor
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
, becoming Sir John Dankworth. They were one of the few couples where both partners held their titles in their own right and the only couple in jazz to be thus recognised.
On 28 October 2007, Laine turned 80. She marked her birthday with a series of special concerts in the United Kingdom, including an appearance with the John Dankworth sextet at Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...
on 18 December 2007. She said of her milestone birthday: "I don't think about being 80. What would be the point? I'm limping a bit because they've given me a new knee, but that's about the only difference. I don't want to start thinking about what I should or shouldn't be doing at my age. It's not right."
To celebrate the 80th birthdays of both Laine and Dankworth, Union Square Music released the four disc box set I Hear Music - the most comprehensive and lovingly produced examination of their careers ever assembled: Disc 1: Early Days (1944–56), Disc 2: John, Big Band and The Movies (1956–74), Disc 3: Focus On Cleo (1955–91), Disc 4: A Family Affair (including recordings made with their children, Alec and Jacqui, from 1982 to 2005).
In 2008, Dankworth and Laine won the Gold Award at the BBC Jazz Awards. The couple got a standing ovation for their performance with Guy Barker's specially-assembled big band at the finale of the award ceremony.
A New York critic wrote of Laine and Dankworth's September 2008 engagement at Blue Note: "Dankworth’s alto sax and clarinet sound as gossamer as ever, while Laine’s voice remains a wonder of agility and plummy richness. After 57 years of dual music-making (and 50 of marriage), the Dankworths can anticipate one another’s every move; they make a stage seem as comfortable as their living room."
In 2010, Laine and her husband appeared in an episode of the cult CBeebies
CBeebies
CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
children's show ZingZillas
ZingZillas
ZingZillas is a television programme aimed at young children, broadcast on the BBC pre-school channel CBeebies.-Overview:ZingZillas is a music show aimed at the under sixes....
. The episode was called 'ScatZilla!'.
Voice
Laine is famed for not only her interpretative style, but also her four octave range and vocal adaptability. As well as hitting deep soulful notes, Laine's thrilling scatting and crystalline top notes have become her signature. Though her natural range is that of a contralto she is able to produce a "G above high C". Derek Jewel of the Sunday Times dubbed her "quite simply the best singer in the world."The longevity of Laine's voice has also been noted by, amongst others, her husband. At the age of 80 her vocals, he noted during an interview, were almost unchanged from decades earlier.
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
and Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
were all influences on Laine when she was young.
Death of Sir John Dankworth
Dankworth died on 6 February 2010, hours before a planned concert at The Stables Theatre in Wavendon to celebrate the venue's 40th anniversary. He had been ill for several months following a concert tour in the United States. Despite her grief, Laine performed at the 40th anniversary concert, along with the John Dankworth Big Band and several members of her family - only announcing his death at the end. Laine's decision to perform featured on newspaper front pages all over the world, including a full photograph of her on the front page of The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
.
A week after Dankworth's death, Laine stepped in for her late husband and appeared again in concert at Pinner
Pinner
- Climate :Pinner's geographical position on the far western side of North West London makes it the furthest London suburb from any UK coastline. Hence the lower prevalence of moderating maritime influences make Pinner noticeably warmer in the spring and the summer compared to the rest of the capital...
in North West London. Laine has continued to perform and give interviews in the months following Dankworth's death. She appeared as a headline act at the Music in the Garden festival at Wavendon in June and July 2010.
In March 2010, Laine and Dankworth's final musical collaboration was released on CD and for download - Jazz Matters. The recording featured the Dankworth Big Band playing new compositions written by Dankworth for the couple's performance at the 2007 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
.
The Stables Theatre
Dankworth and Laine founded The Stables Theatre in 1970 in what was the old stables block in the grounds of their home. It was an immediate success with forty seven concerts given in the first year. The venue now presents over 350 concerts and around 250 education events in its two auditoria; the 400 seat Jim MarshallJim Marshall
Jim Marshall may refer to:*Jim Marshall , Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives*Jim E...
Auditorium, and smaller studio space at Stage 2. The venue was completely rebuilt in 2000, with the new foyer following the plan of the original theatre, with a subsequent development in 2007 to create Stage 2. On 6 February 2010 it celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala concert starring Laine.
Discography
- 1950-52 Get Happy EsquireEsquire RecordsEsquire Records is the name of two defunct record labels:*Esquire Records , jazz record label founded by Carlo Krahmer and Peter Newbrook in 1947. It issued recordings by British musicians, and others, under licence, from the American Prestige label, the Chicago blues label Delmark, and the Swedish...
ESQ317 Reissued in 1985-6 (3 tracks) - 1955 Cleo Sings British (10") Esquire
- 1957 Meet Cleo Laine
- 1957 In Retrospect MGM
- 1957 She's the Tops MGM 2354026
- 1959 ValmouthValmouththumb|1st edition Cover by [[Augustus John]] Valmouth is a 1919 novel by British author Ronald Firbank. Valmouth is an imaginary English spa resort that attracts centenarians owing to its famed pure air...
(original cast) Pye - 1961 Jazz Date (with Tubby Hayes) Wing
- 1961 Spotlight on Cleo
- 1962 All About Me Fontana
- 196? Cleo Laine Jazz Master Series DRG Records MRS 502
- 1963 CindyElla (orig cast of 1962 Xmas production) Decca
- 1963 Beyond the Blues (American Negro Poetry) Argo
- 1964 Shakespeare and All that Jazz Fontana
- 1964 This is Cleo Laine Shakespeare and All That Jazz Philips
- 1966 Woman Talk Fontana
- 1967 Facade (with Annie Ross) British reissue: Philips Fontana
- 1968 If We Lived on Top of a Mountain Fontana
- 1968 Soliloquy Fontana
- 1969 The Idol (Dankworth soundtrack w/ 2 Cleo vocals) Fontana
- 1969 The Unbelievable Miss Cleo Laine Fontana
- 1971 Portrait Philips
- 1972 An Evening with Cleo Laine and the John Dankworth Quartet Philips, Sepia
- 1972 Feel the Warm Philips
- 1972 Showboat (single LP) EMIColumbia
- 1972 Showboat (double LP) EMI/Stanyan
- 1972 This is Cleo Laine EMI
- 1973 I Am A Song RCA
- 1973 Day by Day Stanyan
- 1974 Live at Carnegie Hall RCA
- 1974 CloseUp RCA
- 1974 Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg) Ives Songs RCA
- 1974 A Beautiful Thing (with James Galway) RCA
- 1974 Easy Living (anthology of Fontana tracks) RCA
- 1974 Spotlight on Cleo Laine (double LP) Philips
- 1974 Cleo's Choice Pye
- 1975 Cleo's Choice (abridged issue on Quintessence Jazz) Quintessence
- 1975 The Unbelievable Miss Cleo Laine Contour 6870675
- 1975 Born on a Friday RCA
- 1976 CloseUp (reissue?) Victor
- 1976 Live at the Wavendon Festival BBC (Black Lion)
- 1976 Porgy & Bess (with Ray Charles) London
- 1976 Return to Carnegie RCA
- 1976 Best Friends (with John Williams) RCA
- 1976 Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz in the '70's RCA
- 1977 20 Famous Show Hits Arcade
- 1977 The Sly Cormorant (read by Cleo and Brian Patten) Argo (Decca)
- 19?? Romantic Cleo RCA 42750
- 1978 Showbiz Personalities of 1977 9279304
- 1978 The Early Years Pye GH653
- 1978 Gonna Get Through RCA
- 1978 A Lover & His Lass Esquire Treasure
- 1978 Wordsongs (double LP) RCA
- 1979 One More Day DRG
- 1979 The Cleo Laine Collection (double LP) RCA
- 1980 Cleo's Choice (reissue?) Pickwick
- 1980 Collette (original cast) Sepia
- 1980 Sometimes When We Touch (with James Galway) RCA
- 1980 The Incomparable Black Lion BLM51006
- 1981 One More Day Sepia
- 1982 Smilin' Through (with Dudley Moore) CBS
- 1983 Platinum Collection (double LP) Magenta
- 1983 Off the Record WEA Sierra GFE DD1003
- 1984 Let the Music Take You (w/ John Williams) CBS
- 1985 Cleo at Carnegie the 10th Anniversary Concert RCA
- 1985 That Old Feeling CBS
- 1985 Johnny Dankworth and his Orchestra,
- 1985 The John Dankworth 7 featuring Cleo Laine" EMI
- 1986 Wordsongs Westminster
- 1986 The Mystery of Edwin Drood Philips
- 1986 Unforgettable 16 Golden Classics Castle
- 1986 Cleo Laine The Essential Collection Sierra
- 1987 Unforgettable PRT
- 1987 Classic Gershwin (1 track on this CD, Embraceable You) CBS
- 1988 Cleo Laine Sings Sondheim RCA
- 1988 Showboat (reissue of 1972 cast album) EMI/Stanyan
- 1988 Cleo Laine & John Dankworth Shakespeare and All That Jazz Affinity
- 1989 Woman to Woman RCA
- 1989 Jazz RCA
- 1989 Portrait of a Song Stylist Harmony
- 1991 Young At Heart Castle ATJCD 5959
- 1991 Spotlight on Cleo Laine Phonogram 848129.2
- 1991 Pachebel's Greatest Hits (1 track) RCA
- 1992 Nothing Without You (with Mel TorméMel TorméMelvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
) Concord - 1993 On the Town (1 track)
- 1994 I Am a Song RCA
- 1994 Blue and SentimentalBlue and Sentimental (album)Blue and Sentimental is a 1994 studio album by Cleo Laine.-Track listing:# "The Lies of Handsome Men"# "I've Got a Crush on You"# "Blue and Sentimental"# "Afterglow"# "Not You Again"# "Primrose Colour Blue"# "What'll I Do?"...
RCA - 1995 Solitude RCA
- 1997 The Very Best of Cleo Laine RCA
- 1997 Mad About the Boy Abracadabra
- 1998 Ridin' High (Early Sessions) Koch
- 1998 Trav'lin' Light: The Johnny Mercer Songbook (1 track) Verve
- 1998 Let's Be Frank (1 track) MCA
- 1998 The Collection Spectrum Music
- 1999 Sondheim Tonight Live From the Barbican (1 track) Jay
- 1999 The Best of Cleo Laine Redial
- 1999 The Silver Anniversary Concert (Carnegie Hall, Limited Edition) Sepia
- 1999 Christmas at the Stables
- 1999 That Old Feeling Sony
- 2001 Quintessential Cleo Gold Label
- 2001 Live in Manhattan Gold Label
- 2002 Quality Time Universal/Absolute
- 2003 Loesser Genius Qnote
- 2005 Once Upon A Time Qnote
- 2006 London Pride (2 tracks with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra) Castle Pulse
- 2010 Jazz Matters Qnote
Awards and recognition
- Honorary doctorates:
- Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had... - University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
- University of YorkUniversity of YorkThe University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
- Open UniversityOpen UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
- University of LutonUniversity of BedfordshireThe University of Bedfordshire is based in Luton and Bedford, the two largest towns in the English county of Bedfordshire. The university was created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University on 1 August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council...
- Berklee College of Music
- 1985 Grammy AwardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, FemaleGrammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, FemaleThe Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for quality jazz vocal performances... - Made Honorary Fellow of Hughes HallHughes Hall, CambridgeHughes Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It is often informally called Hughes, and is the oldest of the four Cambridge colleges which admit only mature students...
, University of CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally... - The Worshipful Company of Musicians awarded her their Silver Medal for a Lifetime Contribution to British Jazz (1998)
- Lifetime Achievement Award to Laine by the US recording industry (1991)
- Worshipful Company of MusiciansWorshipful Company of MusiciansThe Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of music making in London moved from the City to the...
awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. - Made an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages UKSOS Children's Villages UKSOS Children's Villages UK is an autonomous charity based in Cambridge in the United Kingdom and part of the international group SOS Children's Villages, the largest international charity group dedicated to the care of orphaned and abandoned children...
in recognition of her support for the CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
based charity. - 2008 BBC Jazz Awards - Gold Award.
A street in Adelaide, South Australia was named "Cleo Lane" after her.