Cleo Laine

Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE (born Clementina Dinah Campbell; 28 October 1927 – 24 July 2025) was a British jazz singer and an actress. She was born in Southall, Middlesex to a white English mother and black Jamaican father. She was famous for her scat singing and for being able to sing very high and very low notes.

Dame Cleo Laine
Laine in 1963
Background information
Birth name	Clementine Dinah Bullock
Born	(1927-10-28)28 October 1927 Southall, Middlesex, England
Died	24 July 2025(2025-07-24) (aged 97) Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, England
Genres	Jazz pop
Occupation(s)	Singer actress
Years active	1950s–2018

She was the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music categories. Laine was the widow of jazz composer Sir John Dankworth.

Laine died on 24 July 2025 at her home in Wavendon, Buckinghamshire at the age of 97.

Cleo Laine Media

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  Cleo Laine op Schiphol * * 28 september 1962

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  Lena Horne's 80th birthday JUne 23, 1997 New York city © copyright John Mathew Smith 2001

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  Laine performing at Playa Vista, Los Angeles, in 2007