Cab Calloway

One of the indelible icons of the swing era, Cab Calloway was a playfully charismatic singer, dancer, bandleader, and composer whose infectious songs and close association with Harlem's Cotton Club brought him lasting stardom. Nicknamed the "Hi-De-Ho Man" after a line in his trademark 1931 hit "Minnie the Moocher," Calloway combined jazz elan and a flamboyant vaudeville stage manner, crafting an outsized persona with his long white-tailed tuxedo, flying jet black hair, and distinctive dance moves -- all of which marked him as the epitome of the jazz age performer. While entert...