Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway (December 25, 1907–November 18, 1994), born Cabell Calloway III, was a famous jazz singer and bandleader. Calloway was born in Rochester, New York, on Christmas Day in 1907, and raised primarily in Baltimore, Maryland. He was born into a middle-class family which hoped that their son would become a lawyer like his father. While Calloway did attend law school in Chicago, his real desire was to be an entertainer. In fact, during his law school days, he spent many late nights performing in local night clubs. While performing in one of these clubs, he met trumpeter Louis Armstrong who taught him to sing in the scat style.

Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the 1950s. Calloway's Orchestra featured performers that included Dizzy Gillespie, Milton Hinton, Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, and Leon "Chu" Berry.

In 1931, he recorded his most famous song, Minnie the Moocher. That song and St. James Infirmary Blues appeared in Betty Boop animated shorts, Minnie the Moocher and Snow White, respectively. Cab took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention.

In 1959, he played the prominent role of "Sportin' Life" in a production of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess aside William Warfield and Leontyne Price as the title characters.

In 1965 he starred in The Cincinnati Kid with Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson.

In 1980, he gained renewed interest when he appeared as a supporting character in the film, The Blues Brothers where he performed Minnie The Moocher to buy time for the Brothers to make it to their own concert.

He continued to perform right up until his death in 1994 at the age of 88.