Cab Calloway was an immensely popular singer and bandleader who got his big break where he took over the leadership of a brilliant, but failing band called "The Missourians" in 1930.
Changed to Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, the band was hired to cover for the Duke Ellington Orchestra when that group was on the road. Calloway became so popular that he and his group became the "co-house" band with Ellington's.
Calloway's twice-weekly live national radio broadcasts on NBC from the Cotton Club boosted his popularity nationwide.
