English jazz singer and beloved showtune interpreter Cleo Laine died July 24 at the age of 97. The news was shared by British arts venue The Stables, which was founded by Ms. Laine and her late husband John Dankworth in 1970 in converted outbuildings of their Buckinghamshire home.

Born Clementine Dinah Hitching in Middlesex, England, October 28, 1927, Ms. Laine spent her childhood studying singing and dancing, but started her career as a hairdresser, hat-trimmer, librarian, and pawnbroker. At the age of 24, she joined the Johnny Dankworth Seven, the beginning of a lifelong romantic and professional life with the jazz composer and musician—the two married in 1958, seven years after she first joined his group.

She would soon add acting to her list of skills, starring in Flesh to a Tiger at London's Royal Court Theatre that same year, going on to appear in Valmouth, A Time to Laugh, Booths With Strawberry Jam, and a long-running 1971 revival of Show Boat. Bi-racial—Laine's father was Jamaican, and her mother English—Ms. Laine was among the first actors to be authentically cast in the bi-racial role of Julie in the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical.

Throughout her stage career, Ms. Laine was also becoming an acclaimed recording artist in the U.K., including her British Top 10–hit "You'll Answer to Me." She would bring her renown to the U.S. in the early '70s, first with a concert at Lincoln Center and several evenings at Carnegie Hall and a North American concert tour. Before long, she had made guest appearances on The Muppet Show, and won a Grammy Award for the live recording of her 1983 Carnegie Hall concert.

Ms. Laine never strayed too far from musical theatre, starring in productions of A Little Night Music and The Merry Widow at Michigan Opera, and Dankworth's 1980 musical Colette. A 1988 album Cleo Sings Sondheim was dedicated to the work of the Tony-winning Broadway writer, including an especially beloved take of Night Music's "Send in the Clowns."

She had technically made her Broadway debut with a 1977 concert run titled Cleo On Broadway, but her acting premiere came with the 1985 original Broadway production of Rupert Holmes' The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Laine created the role of Princess Puffer, who memorably warns the audience of the "Wages of Sin" in her opium den. The performance earned Ms. Laine a 1986 Tony nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.

She was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1997, with her additional accolades including four Grammy nominations and one win, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the U.S. Recording Industry, a Jazz Lifetime Achievement Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BBC Jazz Awards, and a BASCA Gold Badge Award.

Ms. Laine was pre-deceased by her son, Stuart, from an earlier marriage in 2019, and husband Dankworth in 2010; and is survived by son Alec Dankworth, daughter Jacqui Dankworth, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.