CLEO LAINE

Cleo Laine (born October 28, 1927, Southall, Middlesex, England—died July 24, 2025, Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, England) was a British singer and actress with a four-octave range who mastered a variety of styles but was best known as the “Queen of Jazz.” Born Clementina Campbell, she was the daughter of a Jamaican father, Alec Campbell, and an English mother, Minnie Hitchings. She quit school at age 14 and took a variety of jobs while auditioning for singing jobs. Her first break came in 1951, when she was hired as a vocalist for the Johnny Dankworth Seven, a well-known jazz group. At that point she adopted the simpler name “Cleo Laine.” In her seven years dedicated solely to performing with Dankworth’s band, she gained a large following and also began to record. In 1958, the year she married Dankworth (died 2010), she took her first theatrical role, in Flesh to a Tiger, set in read more...