Harlem Renaissance’s Smoothest Entertainer
Cabell “Cab” Calloway III was a significant part of the Harlem Renaissance. This era was beneficial to blacks because The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City which became the black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century. The major element which led to the Harlem Renaissance was the Great Migration during and shortly after World War I when Black Americans moved to the North from the South of the United States. Cab Calloway became a well-known singer with his performances at the Cotton Club such as the song “Minnie The Moocher” which he first recorded March 3, 1931 with his Orchestra. In this song, Cab used a call-and-response technique to bat the phrase “Hi-de-ho” back and forth between the stage and the audience. That song sold over a million copies.
Cabell “Cab” Calloway III was born on December 25, 1907 in Rochester, New York to Martha Eulalia Reed and Cabell Calloway II. Cab Calloway learned the art of scat singing from Louis Armstrong who he met while performing at Chicago’s Sunset Club. Scat singing is the using of nonsensical sounds to improvise melodies . In 1928, Cab Calloway was ready to take the next step in his singing career and took over the leadership role of his own band, the Alabamians. The Alabamians were a southern group from Alabama. Cab also appeared on stage and in films throughout the renaissance while he was also singing.
Cab Calloway grew up as an adolescent in a middle-class household, his parents recognized their son’s musical talent, and he began private voice lessons in 1922. Despite his parents’ and teachers’ disapproval of jazz, Calloway began frequenting and performing in many of Baltimore’s nightclubs. He was born in Rochester, New York but he Grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where he first started singing, and where his lifelong love of visiting racetracks took hold. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, Calloway begin to study law at Crane College (which is now the Malcolm X college), but his focus always remained on music. He had to face flaws with his parents. They didn’t approve of him doing jazz and singing but he continued to do it anyway.
In 1993, a National Medal of the Arts was presented to Cab Calloway by the President of the United States at that time (Bill Clinton) for his contribution to American music. The same year he was presented with an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Rochester. Calloway’s later years were spent in White Plains, New York, which is a city in Westchester County, until he had a stroke in June 1994. He then moved to a nursing home in Hockessin, Delaware, where he then died on November 18, 1994, at the age of 86. 4 years later In 1998, The Cab Calloway Orchestra was formed to honor his legacy. Cab Calloway’s music will always be remembered for his musical traits and jazz. He will also be remembered for his acting skills as well. Following the enormous success of his song “Minnie the Moocher” (1931), Calloway became one of the most popular entertainers of the 1930s and ’40s during the Harlem Renaissance.
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