I met this incredible lady at a family occasion some years ago. Having been introduced, I was totally star struck and the dozens of questions and the musical arrangements I desperately wanted to ask about just fell out of my head. As someone bought up and actively a musician since of the age of 7, including playing jazz with a famed uncle (I came a very distant second) Cleo was to me an icon. This track and her plaintive, 'Wish you were here' is fast becoming, due for replacement, it's getting a little worn.

Cleo Liane, was a Jazz musician and actress. Born Clementine Laine in Southall, London to a Jamaican father and English mother who nurtured her musical talent from an early age. Cleo joined the John Dankworth Orchestra in 1953 and performed to sell-out theatre audiences throughout the world. She married 'Johnny' in 1958 and that year played the lead in Sandy Wilson's musical Valmouth. Her talents encompassed jazz, popular and classical music, opera and theatre. She was the first female performer to have received Grammy nominations across the jazz, popular and classical music categories She appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, on Broadway and in the West End, as well as being frequently seen on television. Cleo was created a Dame in the 1997 New Year's Honours list. .... If you fancy a good cry, listen to Cleo singing 'Send in the clowns'.