Entertainment scene Cleo, after Ella, is ‘Queen’

Press, 14 October 1976, Page 28

Entertainment scene Cleo, after Ella, is ‘Queen’

By

JOHN McNEILL

The undisputed Queen of Song — Cleo Laine — who is to give two concerts in Christchurch next week, did not come by her title easily. The title is unofficial of course — awarded by me— but there can be no-one more worthy of it, no-one to match her remarkable talents as songstress, vocal performer, jazz artist. Ella Fitzgerald held the premier slot in regardratings for more years than one can remember, and as an old lady she can still render a song with great feeling. Now only Cleo can give the variety of interpretation that Ella set as the standard on which others should be judged. Her apprenticeship was joined the John Dankworth Seven, a bopflavoured group labouring under the influence of Charlie Parker at Ronnie Scott’s, the mecca of British jazz. Dankworth had been looking for a singer, but had been inundated with Doris Day types. Cleo had had little success against the Doris competition. But when Dankworth heard her sing, the bond was

formed and marriage later strengthened it. By the end of the fifties, Cleo had begun to make her mark in Britain, starring in stage shows, as vocalist with groups as diverse as combos and

the Scottish National Orchestra, doing film scores, television and concert appearances. The influence of Dankworth was strong in those years, but the real Cleo began to emerge, gradually.

The experience gained In all those clubs, singing before people who were interested and people who were not, gave Cleo the poise and control now so evident in her performances.