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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Jazz Matters (featuring 'The Blues Ain't' & 'World Jazz')
Jazz - Released by Qnote Records on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Britannica, Vol. 1
Alexis Korner, George Melly, Cleo Laine
Jazz - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 21 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Palladium Jazz Date (Album of 1961)
Cleo Laine, Orchestra Dave Lindup, The Tubby Hayes Quartet
Pop - Released by British Jazz on 31 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Nixa Jazz Recordings (1956-1958): Cleo's Choice
Cleo Laine, The David Lindup Orchestra
Vocal Jazz - Released by Golden-Tone on 16 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Let The Music Take You
Jazz - Released by Qnote Records on 1 Jan 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Got Rhythm (EP of 1956)
Cleo Laine, John Dankworth & his Orchestra, John Dankworth Seven
Pop - Released by British Jazz on 31 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jazz Britannica, Vol. 4: Annie Ross / Cleo Laine
Jazz - Released by Editions Audiovisuel Beulah on 24 Sep 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Eternal Jazz: Cleo Laine - Big Best Shoes
Jazz - Released by ISIS on 15 Apr 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mad About The Boy
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by BritBop on 4 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cleo Sings Elizabethan
Pop - Released by British Jazz on 31 Mar 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cleo Laine - I'm Beginning to See the Light (Vintage Pop)
Pop - Released by ISIS on 27 Jul 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Hit The Road To Dreamland
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by BritBop on 6 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Just at the Turn of the Tide
Jazz - Released by turn of the tide on 2 May 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Timeless Songs
Pop - Released by Music Today Records on 10 Feb 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo