Jacqui Dankworth is a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 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...

 singer. She is the daughter of the jazz musician, arranger and 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...

 and the singer Dame Cleo Laine.

Career

Before taking to the stage as a singer Jacqui Dankworth worked as an actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

, the Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and John Dexter's Company playing a multitude of critically acclaimed roles. The plays soon turned into musicals and before long Dankworth was playing in the West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

. This in turn led her to her own recording career.

In 2003, Dankworth released her first album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, As The Sun Shines Down On Me on Candid Records

Candid Records

Candid Records was founded as a subsidiary of Archie Bleyer's Cadence label in New York City in 1960. The jazz writer and civil rights activist, Nat Hentoff, worked as the label's A&R director, aiming to create a representative catalog of the jazz of the day...

. This album brought her to the attention of Michael Parkinson

Michael Parkinson

Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007.- Early life :...

 and BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

, and she appeared regularly on air throughout that year. More guest appearances followed, Dankworth featured on Courtney Pine

Courtney Pine

Courtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...

’s album Devotion, which was released on 6 October 2003. Tied in with the release, Dankworth performed alongside Pine at the Royal Festival Hall, as part of the London Jazz Festival

London Jazz Festival

The London Jazz Festival is a London-wide music festival held every November. It takes place in a variety of London venues, including larger concert halls—such as the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall—and smaller jazz clubs, such as Ronnie Scott's and Vortex...

.

This new found attention brought her a guest appearance in the film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, Shoreditch, starring Joely Richardson

Joely Richardson

Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...

 and Shane Ritchie. Dankworth appeared in the opening shot singing the Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

number, "My Man", and later sang "Body and Soul" as a featured track.

Dankworth followed the success of As The Sun Shines Down On Me with the 2004 release, Detour Ahead. Her third album, Back To You was released in 2009. She is currently working on an album that she started with her late father.

Personal life

Jacqui is married to Charlie Wood, a blues keyboardist and vocalist from Memphis, Tennessee.

Discography

• As The Sun Shines Down On Me (Candid, 2002)
• Detour Ahead (Candid, 2004)
• Back To You (Audacious Music, 2009)