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• Cab Calloway was a popular jazz bandleader and scat singer. He led one of America's most popular big bands, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, through the 1930s and 40s. At different points in its history, the band featured such jazz legends as trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, bassist Matt Hinton and guitarist Danny Barker.

  Calloway's orchestra was initially hired by Harlem's Cotton Club as a replacement for Duke Ellington's orchestra while they were touring. Calloway's band proved to be so popular that they became the "co-house" orchestra along with Ellington's. During this time, Calloway was featured on Walter Winchell's radio program and performed with Bing Crosby at the Paramount Theatre.

  In 1931, Calloway recorded the legendary single "Minnie the Moocher", which he also performed for a Betty Boop animated short. The popularity of the song earned him the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man."

  In the 1950s, Calloway turned his attention to his family, but remained a popular figure in films and television and on Broadway where he appeared in a 1952 production of Porgy and Bess and an all-black revival of Hello, Dolly!.

  Interest in Calloway renewed after his 1980 appearance in The Blues Brothers, and in 1994, the Cab Calloway School of the Arts opened in Wilmington, Delaware.

• Fast Facts

  1. Full Name: Cabell Calloway III
  2. Born: December 25, 1907
  3. Died: November 18, 1994
  4. Birthplace: Rochester, New York
  5. Published The New Cab Calloway's Hepsters Dictionary: Language of Jive in 1944
  6. Performed his popular song "Minnie the Moocher" in The Blues Brothers movie

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Louis Armstrong | Duke Ellington | Dizzy Gillespie | The Blues Brothers | Jimmy Smith

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