Look how beautiful she looks, too! She would have been about 54 here. That's all natural, baby. No botox back then! She really was at her absolute best during her 40's through 60's. She still is amazing.
I have loved her since the early seventies. I know this will sound strange, but it was Dame Cleo and The Coal Miners daughter, Loretta Lynn, who first made me aware of the extraordinary power of the human voice.
This is exquisite and, just my opinion, even better than what was recorded at Carnegie Hall and released in 1983 by RCA. Cleo’s voice is so beautiful and her late husband’s arrangements are and were always fabulous, especially here. Thank you so much for the upload.
For me her version with Ray Charles of Porgy and Bess , their double album which I still have from my teen years the best of all recorded . Grateful to have seen them both live in concert at the Centre in the Square in K-W , ON before I moved from there out west . Somehow think all the years she is one of a best kept secret somehow . Only us aware of jazz , blues and interpretations of these songs know of her . Bassey , Streisand , Eder all over the map all these many years but somehow Cleo , a sweet incredible secret voice . Have many her albums and cds .
I had been a huge fan for many years, starting when I was about 14. I saw them many times on the west coast and always went back stage. They were always SO nice and fun and funny. Then, in my early 30's, life kicked in, my musical tastes changed and I lost touch with my passion for them. I hadn't seen them live since the early '90's. With this quarantine, and while looking for some music to listen to while renovating a house, I rediscovered her, too! And, that has brought about a whole range of emotion I didn't expect. I feel like I missed a great party not seeing them live live these past nearly thirty years. And now, with John having passed away at only 82 and Cleo at 93, I think the days of her performing live may be over. Their annual garden fundraiser at their home was last held in 2017...why didn't I ever go? Thankfully, there are some great clips on youtube of much of what I feel I have missed. I did play their music, and others, like Ella and Sinatra for my sons when they were young, two of which became jazzers in school in orchestra, marching band and jazz bands. One a sax player, the other trumpet. I like to think I set that in motion with what they heard growing up. You should have seen my sax playing son's face when I first played a couple of just John's cd's for him! I am reading John's book now and have ordered the book about them and Cleo's two books. Thanks to the internet, they and their music will always be there. She will always be young and beautiful and both of them oh so talented. We will always be able to see how they looked at each other and the sheer perfection they had when they performed together.
