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Cab Calloway

Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 ā€“ November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and 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.

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.

Calloway 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. He reached the Billboard charts in five consecutive decades (1930sā€“1970s). Calloway also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He had roles in Stormy Weather (1943), Porgy and Bess (1953), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), and Hello Dolly! (1967). His career saw renewed interest when he appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

Calloway was the first African-American musician to sell a million records from a single and to have a nationally syndicated radio show. In 1993, Calloway received the National Medal of Arts from the United States Congress. He posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. 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. Three years later in 2022, the National Film Registry selected his home films for preservation as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films". He is also inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame and the International Jazz Hall of Fame.

Birth and Death Data: Born December 25, 1907 (Rochester), Died November 18, 1994 (Hockessin)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1930 - 1961

Roles Represented in DAHR: vocalist, leader, director, songwriter, composer, lyricist

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 76-80 of 80 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Decca 111182 10/10/1961 Blues my naughty sweetie gives to me Cab Calloway Orchestra vocalist  
Signature SRC 2070 10-in. 5/5/1949 Baby, it's cold outside Cab Calloway and his Cab Jivers vocalist  
Signature SRC 2071 10-in. 5/5/1949 The hucklebuck Cab Calloway and his Cab Jivers vocalist  
Signature SRC 2072 10-in. 5/5/1949 I've got the world on a string Cab Calloway and his Cab Jivers vocalist  
Signature SRC 2073 10-in. 5/5/1949 Why can't you behave Cab Calloway and his Cab Jivers vocalist  
(Results 76-80 of 80 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Calloway, Cab," accessed April 23, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103488.

Calloway, Cab. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 23, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103488.

"Calloway, Cab." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 23 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103488

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