From the archives: Jazz singer Cleo Laine and musician John Dankworth

British singer Cleo Laine, one of the most distinctive voices in jazz, died on Friday, July 25, 2025, at age 97. In this “Sunday Morning” report from Sept. 30, 1990, correspondent Billy Taylor spoke with Laine and her husband, musician John Dankworth, about their drive for musical diversity, from jazz and opera to Broadway. Taylor also reports on the couple’s backing of Jazz FM, a just-launched British radio station devoted to jazz, and the music school Laine and Dankworth founded, at which they impart a valuable lesson to aspiring instrumentalists and singers: “Don’t ever copy anybody.”

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