Bill By Cleo Laine

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I still get goosebumps starting at about 2:52. Listen to this twice and you WILL be hooked ! Dame Cleo Laine (Lady Dankworth) is a jazz singer and an actress noted for her scat singing and vocal range. Cleo Laine is famed not only for her interpretative style, but also her four-octave range and vocal adaptability. Though her natural range is that of a contralto she is able to produce a "G above high C", an overall compass of well over 3 octaves. She is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music categories. Her major recording success was "You'll Answer to Me", which reached the British Top 10 in 1961. Her international activities began in 1972, first with a tour of Australia followed by a concert at New York's Lincoln Center. She has collaborated with well-known musicians James Galway, Nigel Kennedy, Julian Lloyd Webber and John Williams. Other important recordings were duet albums with Ray Charles ("Porgy and Bess") and Mel Tormé ("Nothing Without You"). She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to music and later appointed Dame Cleo Laine. Laine is the widow of jazz composer Sir John Dankworth. "Showboat" is a 1927 musical with music by Jerome Kern and most lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The lyrics for this selection were written by P. G. Wodehouse and revised for the musical by Hammerstein. This selection is from the CD "Showboat (1971 London Revival Cast)" [Cast Recording] released in 1995.