Legacies and laughs: Tom Lehrer and Dame Cleo Laine

Two legendary singers and favourite guests of The Music Show passed away this week at 97 years old: Tom Lehrer and Dame Cleo Laine. 

Dame Cleo Laine was one of England’s most acclaimed jazz singers, with a distinctive smoky contralto voice and four octave vocal range. She was also an actor, initially confined to Caribbean characters and expanding to major roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Into the Woods, and even as the voice of God in Noye’s Fludde. In this candid 2004 interview, Andrew Ford sat down with Cleo in Rochester Castle to speak about Damehood, her love of Shakespeare and jazz, and passing on music education to the next generations.

Armed with a piano and microphone, Tom Lehrer took on many social and political issues of the Cold War era. His pastiche satirical songs remain startlingly relevant today. In 2000, decades after he retired from touring and became an academic, he spoke to Andrew Ford on The Music Show. He reminisced fondly about his 1960 tour of Australia which saw him threatened with jail time in South Australia if he was to perform five of his songs.