orig. Cabell Calloway III
born Dec. 25, 1907, Rochester, N.Y., U.S.
died Nov. 18, 1994, Hockessin, Del.
U.S. singer and big-band leader.
He fronted his first group in 1928; it became the house band at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1931. An accomplished scat singer who combined audacious showmanship with prodigious vocal range and imagination, he became most identified with his hit "Minnie the Moocher" (1931). Exposure with his band launched the careers of many important jazz soloists. The composer George Gershwin modeled the character Sportin' Life in his musical Porgy and Bess (1935) on Calloway, who later performed the role himself.
Cab Calloway.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; The New York Public Library; Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations