Cab calloway biography bandleaders
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Although he describes himself as a loner in his autobiography, Of Minnie the Moocher & Me, bandleader/singer Cab Calloway was an exuberant entertainer who loved making audiences happy and enjoyed life. Born Cabell Calloway III on Christmas day in 1907, he spent his early childhood in Rochester but grew up in Baltimore where his mother was a schoolteacher and his father, a lawyer. To his parent’s dismay he hustled on the streets and spent more time at the racetrack than in school. He took voice lessons at 14, learned to play the drums, and joined Johnny Jones and His Arabian Tent Orchestra at the age of 17.
His older sister Blanche was in show business, and Cab joined her in the touring cast of the black revue Plantation Days when he was 20. When the show closed he entered Crane College where he played basketball. But he continued singing, landing the emcee’s job at the Sunset Cafe, a prominent Chicago nightclub, and leading the band, the Alabamians. While popular in the Mi
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Cab Calloway, a renowned jazz musician and bandleader, was born in Rochester, New York, to Cabell Calloway Jr. and Martha Eulalia Reed. He grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he attended high school and performed with a group known as the Baltimore Melody Boys. Calloway attended Crane College in Chicago for pre-law but soon abandoned his studies for a career in the music industry, following the path of his sister, Blanche, an established singer. He started out performing for various Chicago nightclubs, eventually securing a fläck as a drummer and singer at the Sunset Club, a popular jazz venue in Chicago’s South Side. While working at the Sunset, Calloway earned the reputation of being a charismatic, lively performer and, in 1928, served as the club’s mästare of ceremonies. One year later, he led the house grupp, the Alabamians.
In 1929 Calloway and the Alabamians went on tour to New York City’s Harlem, and while his band did not meet with much success, Calloway was immediately reco
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Cab Calloway
American jazz singer (1907–1994)
This article is about the musician. For the school, see Cab Calloway School of the Arts.
Musical artist
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years.[2]
Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular dance bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole.[3]
Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming the first African-American musician to sell one million copies of