Britain’s most successful ever jazz singer dies aged 97

Dame Cleo Laine, one of Britain’s most revered and adored jazz vocalists and a trailblazer whose musical reach stretched across jazz, classical, pop and musical theatre, has died at the age of 97. Her children, Jacqui and Alec Dankworth, confirmed her death in a statement, saying she passed peacefully and asking for privacy as the family mourns the loss of their 'dearly beloved mother' (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)

Laine rose to fame in the 1950s through her musical and personal partnership with her husband, the respected saxophonist and composer Sir John Dankworth. But her career extended far beyond just their collaborations. She became the only woman ever nominated for Grammy awards in jazz, pop and classical categories, able to deliver both Schoenberg numbers and duets with Ray Charles with equal skill. Her technical brilliance included a rare four-octave range and mastery of the famously difficult art of scat singing (Picture: Andy Sheppard/Redferns)

Born Clementina Campbell in Uxbridge back in 1927, Laine was the daughter of a Jamaican father and an English mother. Her early life in Southall was pretty modest and grounded. She worked in a hair salon, a library and even a pawnbroker’s shop. Her first marriage to George Langridge produced a son, Stuart, but the relationship ended as Laine pursued music more seriously. Langridge, she later said, thought her ambitions were 'a pipe dream'. George wouldn't have to wait long to eat his words (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)

She began singing in clubs after work, eventually auditioning for the Dankworth Seven in her mid-20s. That audition would launch Clementina into professional music. She changed her name to Cleo Laine, joined the band on £7 a week and soon left her first marriage behind. She and Dankworth married in 1958 and built one of the most enduring creative and romantic partnerships in British jazz (Picture: David Redfern/Redferns)

Laine’s voice became her extremely unique signature: controlled, expressive and wildly flexible. Her 1961 pop crossover hit You’ll Answer to Me reached number 5 in the UK charts, while she also took on a number of theatre and acting roles. In the decades that followed, she earned acclaim for bold musical choices, from jazz renditions of Shakespeare and Auden to performances in New York that wowed critics (Picture: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

Her American breakthrough came via appearances at Carnegie Hall and on Broadway, and an album of Stephen Sondheim’s songs that still remains highly regarded to this day. Over the course of her decorated career, Laine worked with legends including Ray Charles, John Williams and James Galway. In 1992, she opened for Frank Sinatra at the Royal Albert Hall, solidifying her stature as a global performer who could command any stage (Picture: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Back in 1970, she and her husband John Dankworth founded The Stables, a music venue and education hub built on the grounds of their Buckinghamshire property. It's since hosted artists from the likes of Dave Brubeck to Amy Winehouse, and has become one of the UK’s most respected small venues for live music and community outreach. Its educational programs continue to support emerging musicians today (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)

Laine received a number of official honors for her contribution to music, becoming an OBE in 1979 and then a dame in 1997. Dankworth was knighted in 2006. Together, they remained active performers into old age, touring frequently and continuing to collaborate until Dankworth’s death in 2010 at the age of 82 (Picture: David Redfern/Redferns)

In a truly unforgettable gesture of strength and loyalty, Laine went ahead with a scheduled concert on the same night Dankworth died. And fulfilled her obligations to her adoring fans in the crowd. Joined by Jacqui and Alec onstage to mark 40 years of The Stables, she only revealed her husband’s death at the end of the show. 'I instinctively knew Johnny would want it to go on,' she later said. 'Johnny and me… we were joined at the hip' (Picture: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

She is survived by Jacqui and Alec. Her eldest son, Stuart, died in 2019 aged 72. Dame Cleo Laine leaves behind a towering legacy - a genre-defying voice, a body of work that spanned continents and a life that helped shape the sound of British jazz for more than half a century (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)