Cleo Laine
With a multi-octave voice similar to Betty Carter's, incredible scatting ability, and ease of transition from a throaty whisper to high-pitched trills, Cleo Laine was born in 1927 in the Southall section of London, the daughter of a Jamaican father and English mother. Her parents sent her to vocal and dance lessons as a teenager, but she was 25 when she first sang professionally, after a successful audition with the big band led by Johnny Dankworth. Both Laine and the band recorded for Esquire, MGM and Pye during the late '50s, and by 1958, she was married to Dankworth.
With Dankworth by her side, Laine began her solo career in earnest with a 1964 album of Shakespeare lyrics set to Dankworth's arrangements, Shakespeare: And All That Jazz. Laine also gained renown for the first of three concert albums recorded at New York's Carnegie Hall, 1973's Cleo Laine Live! At Carnegie Hall. She also recorded two follow-ups (Return to Carnegie and The 10th Anniversary Concert) the latter of which in 1983 won her the first Grammy award by a Briton. She has proved a rugged stage actress as well, winning a Theater World award for her role in the Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, (in addition to Tony and Drama Desk nominations as well). In 1976 she recorded a jazz version of Porgy and Bess with Ray Charles, and also recorded duets with James Galway and guitarist John Williams. Laine and Dankworth continued to tour into the 1990s, and she received perhaps her greatest honor when she became the first jazz artist to receive the highest title available in the performing arts: Dame Commander.
© John Bush /TiVo
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Sometimes When We Touch
Classical - Released by RCA Victor on Nov. 1, 1901
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nothing Without You
Jazz - Released by Concord Records on Jan. 1, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Laine: That Old Feeling (Voice)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on Jan. 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cleo Laine Sings Sondheim
Jazz - Released by RCA Victor on Jan. 1, 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Blue And Sentimental
Jazz - Released by RCA Victor on May 10, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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A Lover and His Lass
Cleo Laine, John Dankworth, Dankworth Seven
Jazz - Released by Esquire Records on Dec. 14, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All Of Me
Pop - Released by Sunset Blvd. Records on Aug. 26, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Quintessential Cleo
Vocal Jazz - Released by Qnote Records on Jan. 1, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Love Is Here to Stay
Vocal Jazz - Released by Jazz Arena on Dec. 6, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Love Music
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by A-Jazz Records on Jun. 27, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
If We Lived On the Top of a Mountain
Vocal Jazz - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on Mar. 15, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Façade - An Entertainment (Poems By Dame Edith Sitwell)
Film Soundtracks - Released by Soundtrack Classics on Apr. 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
All About Me
International Pop - Released by Trunk Records on Aug. 26, 2020
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My One and Only Love
Jazz - Released by Amra Record on Feb. 12, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Let The Music Take You
Vocal Jazz - Released by Qnote Records on Jan. 1, 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Lover and His Lass (Album of 1955)
Cleo Laine, Keith Christie Quartet
Pop - Released by British Jazz on Mar. 31, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -