At the age of 24 Laine joined
John Dankworth's small group, the Johnny Dankworth Seven where she adopted the name “Cleo Laine”. Laine later played with his big bands, Johnny Dankworth & His Orchestra as well as Johnny Dankworth & His New Radio Orchestra, with which she performed until 1958. Dankworth and Laine married that year.
Show Boat had its longest run to date in that London production, 910 performances. During this period, Laine had two major recording successes. "You'll Answer to Me" reached the British Top 10 while Laine was in the 1961
Edinburgh Festival production of
Kurt Weill's opera/ballet
The Seven Deadly Sins. It eventually hosted more than 350 concerts per year. In 1972, Laine had a successful tour of Australia; Her first performance in the United States was a concert later that year at New York's
Lincoln Center, followed in 1973 by the first of her many
Carnegie Hall appearances. Tours of the US and Canada soon followed, and with them a succession of record albums and television appearances, including
The Muppet Show in 1977. This led, after several nominations, to her first
Grammy award, in recognition of the live recording of her 1983 Carnegie concert. She kept touring into the 21st century, including in Australia in 2005. She performed live in the UK as late as 2018. Laine played roles in
Colette, a musical by Dankworth in 1979; and in
Stephen Sondheim's
A Little Night Music in 1983 and
Franz Lehár's
The Merry Widow the following year for
Michigan Opera. In 1985 she originated the role of Princess Puffer in
The Mystery of Edwin Drood on Broadway, for which she received a
Tony nomination. In May 1992, Laine appeared with
Frank Sinatra for a week of concerts at the
Royal Albert Hall in London. In 1978,
Derek Jewell of the
Sunday Times dubbed her "quite simply the best singer in the world." Laine was billed as having a "five-octave range". ==Personal life and death==