Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer, dancer, and bandleader. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular big bands from the start of the 1930s to the late 1940s. Calloway's band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitarist Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway had several hits in the 1930s–1940s, becoming known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, Minnie the Moocher, recorded in 1931. He also made several stage, film, and television appearances until his death in 1994 at the age of 86. He influenced later singers such as Michael Jackson and various hip-hop performers. Calloway is the first African American musician to sell a million records from a single song and to have a nationally syndicated radio show. He is in the Grammy Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.