1. Cleo Laine is the widow of jazz composer and musician Sir John Dankworth and the mother of bassist Alec Dankworth and singer Jacqui Dankworth.
14 Facts About Cleo Laine
1. 2.
The family moved constantly, but most of Cleo Laine's childhood was spent in Southall.
3.
Cleo Laine attended the Board School on Featherstone Road, Southall, and was sent by her mother for singing and dancing lessons at an early age.
4.
Cleo Laine went on to attend Mellow Lane Senior School in Hayes before going to work as an apprentice hairdresser, a hat-trimmer, a librarian, and in a pawnbroker's shop.
5.
Cleo Laine auditioned successfully at the age of 24 for John Dankworth's small group, the Johnny Dankworth Seven.
6.
Cleo Laine played the lead in Barry Reckord's Flesh to a Tiger at London's Royal Court Theatre, home of the new wave of playwrights of the 1950s such as John Osborne and Harold Pinter.
7.
Dankworth and Cleo Laine founded the Stables theatre in 1970, in what was the old stables block in the grounds of their home.
8.
Cleo Laine kept touring into the 21st century, including in Australia in 2005.
9.
Cleo Laine performed live in the UK as late as 2018.
10.
Cleo Laine has collaborated with James Galway, Nigel Kennedy, Julian Lloyd Webber and John Williams.
11.
In May 1992, Cleo Laine appeared with Frank Sinatra for a week of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
12.
In 1946, Cleo Laine married George Langridge, a roof tiler, with whom she had a son, Stuart.
13.
On that day, Cleo Laine performed at a concert at The Stables to mark the venue's 40th anniversary.
14.
Cleo Laine then announced Dankworth's death at the end of the show.