Cleo Laine, one of England’s most acclaimed jazz singers and an actress who had a memorable Broadway turn as the proprietor of a London opium den in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” died on Thursday at her home in Wavendon, England. She was 97.
Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Jacqui Dankworth.
Ms. Laine, who was known for a smoky voice that she could deploy over a four-octave range and for her skillful scat singing, recorded numerous albums across six decades. She won a Grammy Award in 1986 for best female jazz vocal performance for “Cleo at Carnegie: The 10th Anniversary Concert.” She and her husband, the saxophonist and bandleader John Dankworth, performed all over the world and in various settings ranging from intimate nightclubs to the London Palladium.
Ms. Laine’s interests were wide ranging. She had small roles in a handful of movies, in several of which she was credited simply as “Singer.” She performed in operas, worked pop songs into her act and was drawn to the theater, especially musical theater.
Her performance as Princess Puffer in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel and staged as a nightly murder mystery in which the audience votes on the culprit, earned her a Tony nomination in 1986 as well as a number of murder indictments.
