I don’t consider myself a jazz singer… I’m a singer of songs,” said the vocal star, who won a Grammy in the Best Female Jazz Vocal Performance category.

Cleo Laine, whose husky contralto was one of the most distinctive voices in jazz and who was regarded by many as Britain’s greatest contribution to the quintessentially American

Popular English actress and jazz singer Cleo Laine, born Clementine Dinah Hitching, has passed away at the age of 97.