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 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, 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's musical Shuffle Along. Her big break came in 1923 on the national tour for Plantation Days, which featured her idol, Florence Mills. The show ended in 1927 in Chicago, and Calloway decided to stay there, as it was the jazz capital of the world during the time. The club, the Sunset, 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 songs, which would be promoted as race records, accompanied by Louis Armstrong and Richard M. Jones; the first inception of her Joy Boys orchestra. During this decade, she would also perform with Reuben Reeves and record on Vocalion Records.