Was Cleo Laine, Dead at 97, a Great Jazz Singer? Not According to Her.

Was Cleo Laine, dead at 97, a great jazz singer? Not according to her.

The death of Cleo Laine Thursday at the age of 97 has inspired a slew of admiring headlines for the acclaimed English vocal and theater star, nearly all of them hailing her as a great jazz singer. It’s a description Laine, who began performing jazz in 1952, took great exception with. “I’d had absolutely no experience as a jazz singer then, and I don’t consider myself a jazz singer now,” she insisted in our 1984 San Diego Union interview, which a…

Cleo Laine, British Jazz Singer & Tony-Nominated Theater Actress, Dies at 97

Cleo Laine, whose husky contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz and who was regarded by many as Britain’s greatest contribution to the quintessentially American music, has died. She was 97. The Stables, a charity and venue Laine founded with her late jazz musician husband John Dankworth, said Friday (July 25) it was “greatly saddened” by the news that “one of its founders and Life President, Dame Cleo Laine has passed away.” …

Cleo Laine (1927 - 2025) Singer and Actor - 3 Quarks Daily

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Dame Cleo Laine obituary

Cleo Laine, who has died aged 97, was not only the most creatively and materially successful jazz singer the UK scene has known, but was also respected worldwide as one of a handful of truly original jazz-inspired vocalists. From modest beginnings in the pubs and dancehalls of austerity Britain in the 1950s, the diminutive singer [...] The post Dame Cleo Laine obituary | Jazz appeared first on Areyoupop.