Early Career
Laine did not take up singing professionally until her mid-twenties. She auditioned successfully for a band led by musician John Dankworth (1927–2010), with which she performed until 1958, when she married Dankworth in secret at Hampstead Register Office. The only witnesses were the couple's friend, pianist Ken Moule, and his arranger, David Lindup. The couple had two children, Alec and Jacqui, both successful musicians.
Laine began her career as a singer and actress. She played the lead in a new play at London's Royal Court Theatre, home of the new wave of playwrights of the 1950s such as John Osborne and Harold Pinter. This led to other stage performances such as the musical Valmouth in 1959, the play A Time to Laugh (with Robert Morley and Ruth Gordon) in 1962, Boots With Strawberry Jam (with John Neville) in 1968, and eventually to her show-stopping Julie in Wendy Toye's production of Show Boat at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1971.
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