About this Artist

CLEO LAINE is one of the great singers of jazz. Known especially for her extraordinary vocal range and her exceptional scat singing, Laine is the only singer to have garnered Grammy nominations in the jazz, pop, and classical genres. The nearly one hundred albums to her credit include some of the signature recordings of the jazz repertoire of Ellington, Monk, and Strayhorn, as well as chart-topping albums with great jazz singers such as Mel Tormé, George Shearing, Joe Williams, Toots Thielemans, Kenny Wheeler, Clark Terry, and others.

Laine began her career with a spot in the Johnny Dankworth Seven, in the 1950s one of Britain's best jazz groups. Her acclaimed recording with the group of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life," one of the first ever made of the song, quickly brought her to the top of British jazz polls. After a brief introduction to a live U.S. audience in set at Birdland in 1959, Laine returned to Britain to record a string of acclaimed albums, including 1964's Shakespeare and All That Jazz and 1969's The Unbelievable Miss Cleo Laine.

In 1972 Cleo's first New York concert drew enthusiastic reviews. The first of many appearances at Carnegie Hall followed in 1973. Another in the following year was recorded and the resulting album Live at Carnegie Hall became the first of many Grammy nominations.

Laine has appeared in almost every major city in the United States and has made frequent worldwide tours to Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Iceland, Israel throughout Europe. Cleo's records continue to be distributed worldwide. Her most recent albums are Live in Manhattan (2001), Quality Time (2002), and Loesser Genius (2003).