My mom loved the song "Minnie the Moocher." She would sometimes sing parts of it as she cleaned house or cooked. So I grew up knowing the song and that was about smoking opium, but it wasn't until I was in my early 20s that I heard it from the man who wrote it: Cab Callaway.
What a singer! His distinctive voice has such range. And his band was excellent. Dizzy Gillespie and many other jazz stars got their start with Cab.
"Minnie the Moocher" was the first single by a Black performer to sell over a million copies. It was featured in a very weird Betty Boop cartoon and in the Blues Brothers movie.
"The Hi-De-Ho Man" is one of my favorites. His vocal range and scat singing are just incredible.
And no one ever rocked a zoot suit like Cab.
Cab's career continued almost until his death in 1994. In 1981 he made three appearances on Sesame Street.
I saw him in the late 80s at the Venetian Room in the Fairmont in San Francisco. His voice was still amazing and he still had the moves, even in his 80s!
P.
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