From her modest beginning in English dance halls, Cleo Laine has gone on to become one of the most celebrated singers of our time, with a command of a dazzling array of vocal styles - she is the only singer to receive Grammy nominations in the female popular, classical and jazz categories. Lively memories of her Jamaican father and English mother, the hand-to-mouth existence cheered by her obsession with the pianola and her certainty that she would one day become a singer, lead to the Soho audition at which she met John Dankworth. Their marriage in 1958 consolidated a personal and professional collaboration which took them on to make musical history. Interspersed with the stories of her private life are frank accounts of her work and friendships with countless international stars such as Ray Charles, Frankie Howerd, Dudley Moore, Stephen Sondheim and Elisabeth Welch.
