The family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, when Calloway was 11. His father, Cabell Calloway Jr., graduated from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania in 1898, and worked as a lawyer and in real estate. His mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a Morgan State College graduate, teacher, and church organist. He is also inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame.Ĭalloway was born in Rochester, New York, on Decemto an African American family. Three years later in 2022, the National Film Registry selected his home films for preservation as 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films'. His song 'Minnie the Moocher' was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2019. He posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. In 1993, Calloway received the National Medal of Arts from the United States Congress. His career saw renewed interest when he appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.Ĭalloway was the first African-American musician to sell a million records from a single and to have a nationally syndicated radio show. He had roles in Stormy Weather (1943), Porgy and Bess (1953), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Hello Dolly! (1967). Calloway also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He reached the Billboard charts in five consecutive decades (1930s–1970s). Ĭalloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming known as the 'Hi-de-ho' man of jazz for his most famous song, ' Minnie the Moocher', originally recorded in 1931. 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. Ĭalloway 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 niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist of the swing era.

Cabell Calloway III (Decem– November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader.

The Story Orchestra by Katie Cotton