Blanche Calloway
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Blanche Dorothea Jones Calloway (February 9, 1902 – December 16, 1978) was an American jazz singer, composer, and bandleader. She was the older sister of
Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...
and was a successful singer before her brother. With a music career that spanned over fifty years, Calloway was the first woman to lead an all-male orchestra and performed alongside musicians such as Cozy Cole,
Chick Webb William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Early life Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. ...
, and her brother. Her performing style was described as flamboyant and a major influence on her brother's performance style.


Early life

Calloway was born in Rochester, New York. When she was a teenager, the family, including her four siblings - Bernice, Henry, Cabell III (later Cab Calloway), and Elmer who was born in 1912 before the move to Baltimore - moved to Baltimore, Maryland around 1912 or 1913. The family had originally lived in Baltimore prior to Rochester but had left due to tough times with the crash of the real estate market where Cabell II worked. Her father, Cabell, was a lawyer and her mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a music teacher. In Baltimore, the family lived with the grandparents, Cabell I and Elizabeth Calloway, at 1017 Druid Hill Avenue. The neighborhood was populated only by African-Americans at the time. The family was described as being middle-class, even upper-class for the particular section of the city they lived in. The date of Cabell II's death is debatable, some sources argue that he passed after the family had moved to Baltimore on October 15, 1913. Another source claims that he died in 1910, and her mother married insurance salesman John Nelson Fortune a few years later. The couple would have two more children: John in 1916 and Mary Camilla in 1918. The family later moved to 2216 Druid Hill Avenue. Calloway's mother was a major influence on her and her siblings' passion for music. Aside from her and Cab, their brother Elmer would also go on to briefly pursue a musical career. Calloway's mother made her take piano and voice lessons as a child, but never promoted the idea of a musical career for the young Calloway. Martha hoped that her daughter would pursue a "respectable" career, such as a teacher or nurse. Calloway dreamed of a musical career and was influenced as a youth by Florence Mills and Ida Cox. Her music teacher would encourage her to audition for a local talent scout and to her mother's annoyance, Calloway dropped out of Morgan College in the early 1920s to seek out a career in music.


Family

Blanche Calloway's first common-law husband was Henry Waddy; he played multiple roles throughout their relationship, not only as a romantic partner but also functioning as Calloway's manager and agent. They lived and worked together throughout the 1920s and Waddy became close with Cab Calloway as well, who often referred to him as ‘Watty.’


Early professional career

Even in her youth, Blanche Calloway was a singer, starting in choir concerts given by the local Grace Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. By 1921, Calloway left home to tour with cabaret troupes, specifically the Smarter Set Co., originally established in 1909 and led by brothers Salem Tutt Whitney and J. Homer Tutt. Calloway appeared in one of the brothers’ skits Up and Down as one of the featured ‘Bronze Beauties’ on December 5, 1921. From there, her roles expanded from chorus girl to bit parts, and eventually to featured singer. Calloway made her professional debut in Baltimore in 1921 with Eubie Blake and
Noble Sissle Noble Lee Sissle (July 10, 1889 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer, and playwright, best known for the Broadway musical ''Shuffle Along'' (1921), and its hit song "I'm Just Wild About Harry". Ea ...
's musical ''
Shuffle Along ''Shuffle Along'' is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle, and a book written by the comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. One of the most notable all-Black hit Broadway shows, it was a landmark in African-America ...
''. Her big break came in 1923 on the national tour for ''
Plantation Days ''Plantation Days'' (1922) was a touring musical revue with Sam Wooding and James P. Johnson as musical directors at different stages of the tour. Produced by Morris "Maury" Greenwald,Sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring ...
, became her main stage and where Cab Calloway likewise worked after his move to Chicago. Surprising for the time, Blanche Calloway earned higher wages than Cab, making around two to three hundred dollars whereas Cab regularly made $35 a week. She became popular in the Chicago scene and would continue to tour nationally, performing at New York's Ciro Club in the mid-1920s. Shortly after her time at the Ciro Club, she moved to Chicago, Illinois. In 1925, she recorded two
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
songs, which would be promoted as race records, accompanied by
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
and
Richard M. Jones Richard M. Jones, born Richard Marigny Jones (sometimes written Richard Mariney Jones), (June 13, 1892 – December 8, 1945) was an American jazz pianist, composer, band leader, and record producer. Numerous songs bear his name as author, includi ...
; the first inception of her Joy Boys orchestra. During this decade, she would also perform with
Reuben Reeves Reuben "River" Reeves (October 25, 1905 in Evansville, Indiana – September 1975 in New York City) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Reeves started out playing locally in the Midwest; he moved to New York City in 1924 and then to C ...
and record on Vocalion Records. At one point, she performed with her brother's band before going on to work with Andy Kirk's orchestra, the Clouds of Joy, at the Pearl Theater in Philadelphia in 1931 and recorded three songs, including a song she wrote which has been called her "trademark" song: "I Need Lovin". While working with Kirk, Calloway failed to take over his orchestra, to serve as bandleader. Despite her attempts to take over his band, she learned extensively about music management. In 1931 annual emancipation celebration dances were held. These celebrations about the ending of slavery held a similar reverence as Memorial Day and activities ranged from formal gatherings to more leisure activities, the latter becoming more popular over time with picnics and dances lasting for days. Blanche Calloway attended in Wheeling, West Virginia, appearing in “The September Show” as the main attraction. She would go on to form another big band, Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys, which included Ben Webster on tenor saxophone and Cozy Cole on drums. This made her the first woman to lead an all-male jazz orchestra. This big band recorded four times in 1931 and once in 1934 and 1935, releasing recordings on
RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...
. The band would eventually change their name to Blanche Calloway and Her Orchestra and in 1933 the '' Pittsburgh Courier'' called Calloway and her orchestra one of the top ten outstanding African American orchestras. During 1934 and 1935 she would record eight songs with this group, including songs such as "Just a Crazy Song", "Make Me Know It", "You Ain't Livin' Right", and a remake of "I Need Lovin'". Calloway and Her Joy Boys performed heavily in New York City, including at the Lafayette Theatre, the
Harlem Opera House Harlem Opera House was a US opera house located at 211 West 125th Street, in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect John B. McElfatrick, it was built in 1889 by Oscar Hammerstein; it was his first theater ...
, and the Apollo Theatre. A version of the Joy Boys would tour, featuring Cozy Cole still on drums, Bennie Moten, Andy Kirk,
Chick Webb William Henry "Chick" Webb (February 10, 1905 – June 16, 1939) was an American jazz and swing music drummer and band leader. Early life Webb was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to William H. and Marie Webb. The year of his birth is disputed. ...
, and Zack Wythe. She wrote a number of songs for the group, including "Rhythm of the River" and "Growling Dan".


Career struggles

She struggled in the racially segregated and male-dominated music industry of the period. As an African American performer she had to frequently play to segregated audiences. While on tour in 1936, she used the women's bathroom at a gas station in Yazoo, Mississippi. In response, the police were called, an orchestra member was pistol whipped, and both he and Calloway were jailed for disorderly conduct and fined $7.50. While the two were in jail, another member stole the group's money and abandoned the band in Mississippi. The musicians went their own separate ways and Calloway sold her yellow
Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
for cash to leave the state. As a musician, Calloway had a reputation for being "exceptional", but was given few opportunities outside of being a singer or dancer due to gender roles of the time. Her flamboyant and sometimes provocative lyrics challenged the stereotype of what a female performer was supposed to be. By the mid-1930s Calloway struggled to find bookings as her brother's career grew in popularity.


Influence on Cab Calloway

Calloway was a major influence on her brother's career and performance style. Her own performance style was lively, dramatic, and animated. She would teach her brother about performing, and the two would sometimes perform together as a brother and sister act. Calloway helped her brother get his first role on stage, in ''Plantation Days'', when another cast member fell ill. She may have served as the influence for Cab's signature "Hi De Ho" chant in his song " Minnie the Moocher". He says he came up with the phrase when he forgot the words during a performance, but his sister had performed and recorded a song earlier in 1931 called "Just a Crazy Song". In the song, Calloway opened it with her wailing "Hi Hi Hi, Ho De Ho De Ho", with the backing band performing call and response. Another song of Calloway's, "Growlin' Dan", tells the story of Minnie the Moocher and the King of Sweden, and also uses the phrase "Ho De Ho De Ho." The two performers most likely collaborated and often borrowed from one another.


Later career and life

After years of struggling for major success, in 1938 she declared bankruptcy and broke up her orchestra. In 1940 she formed a short-lived all-women orchestra, feeding on the popularity of
all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...
s during World War II. The band struggled to get bookings and soon disbanded after forming. Calloway continued to sing on occasion and moved to a suburb of Philadelphia with her husband in the mid-1940s. She became a socialite and served as a
Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
committeewoman. She eventually separated from her husband after discovering he was a bigamist. In the early 1950s Calloway moved to Washington, D.C., where she managed the nightclub Crystal Caverns. She hired
Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the " Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a pop music style to R&B music in a series of hit songs for Atl ...
to perform at the club and would become Brown's manager. Brown credited Calloway with discovering her and helping her get a contract with
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
. In the late 1950s Calloway moved to Florida and became a disc jockey for WMBM in Miami Beach. Eventually, she became program director of the station, and served in that role for 20 years before moving back to Baltimore. While still in Florida, she became the first African American precinct voting clerk and the first African American woman to vote in Florida in 1958. She became an active member of the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
and the Congress of Racial Equality, also serving on the board of the National Urban League. In 1964, she and about forty other African American women protested with the NATO Women's Peace Force at The Hague. Calloway converted to
Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...
and credited the religion with helping her fight her 12-year battle with cancer. Around 1968, she formed Afram House, a mail-order cosmetics company for African Americans. She moved back to Baltimore and married her high school sweetheart. She died from breast cancer on December 16, 1978, at the age of 76.


Further reading

*Dance, Stanley. ''The World of Swing: An Oral History of Big Band Jazz''. Cambridge: Da Capo Press (2001); *Hine, Darlene Clark. ''Black Women in America An Historical Encyclopedia''. Brooklyn: Carlson Publishing Inc. (1993);


References


External links

* Blanche Calloway onAllmusic
Blanche Calloway discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calloway, Blanche 1902 births 1978 deaths Swing singers American women jazz singers American jazz singers African-American jazz composers American jazz composers African-American women composers African-American women singers American women composers Musicians from Baltimore American Christian Scientists African-American activists Converts to Christian Science Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in Maryland Maryland Democrats Pennsylvania Democrats 20th-century American singers 20th-century jazz composers Musicians from Rochester, New York Singers from Maryland Activists from Rochester, New York 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American composers Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Maryland 20th-century women composers