Veteran jazz singer DameCleo Laine dies aged 97

Jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, famous for her huge vocal range and wide musical repertoire, has died at the age of 97.
In a long career, Dame Cleo was the first British singer to win a Grammy Award in a jazz category and performed with all the greats – including Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra.
However, her greatest collaborator was her husband, late musician and composer John Dankworth, with whom she established her career in the 1950s.
They also set up the Stables arts centre in Buckinghamshire, which said in a statement it was “greatly saddened today by the news that one of its founders and Life President, Dame Cleo Laine has passed away”.
David Meadowcroft, chairman of the Stables charity, said: “Dame Cleo was a remarkable performer who was loved by audiences around the world and her commitment to ensuring young people had access to great music and music education will continue through the work of The Stables.”
Chief executive and artistic director Monica Ferguson said: “Dame Cleo was admired greatly by fans, other musicians and by The Stables staff and volunteers.
“She will be greatly missed but her unique talent will always be remembered.”
With her electric green eyes, corkscrew hair and husky contralto voice, Dame Cleo became the most recognisable British jazz singer in history.
She had a four-octave vocal range and the ability to perform everything from Schoenberg to a Spike Milligan hit about a man with too many tonsils. (BBC)
One critic said that she was one of Britain’s two great contributions to jazz – the other being gin.
And the Sunday Times once described her as “quite simply the best singer in the world.”