Happy Birthday Blanche Calloway 1902-1978...Singer, composer and bandleader, Blanche Calloway was the first woman to lead an all-male orchestra, the first African-American woman to vote in Florida in 1958! and whose flamboyant, energetic performance style was a major influence on her younger brother Cab. She got her start at 19 in 1921 in Eubie Blakes "Shuffle Along" then went on to make a splash on national tour of "Plantation Days", staying on in Chicago where she would be a popular performer on the scene. She played the popular Ciro Club in New York and continued to tour until she joined Any Kirk's Philadelphia based band in 1931, learning a great deal about band management in the process. By the end of 1931 she had formed her own all-male big band, Blanche Calloway and her Joy Boys, recording and performing until 1938 when she broke up the group, declaring bankruptcy. As a musician she was considered exceptional but she had limited opportunities due to segregation and the expected gender roles of the time. In the mid-40s she became active in local politics in Philadelphia which she would carry through to Florida and back to Baltimore where she grew up. She was a member of the NAACP, The Congress of Racial Equality and served on the board of the National Urban League. She died after a 12 year fight with breast cancer at the age of 76.
Blanche and her Joy Boys singing her signature song "I Need Lovin'"
She was also Ruth Brown's manager and mentor in the 50's. She was a Christian Scientist and refused any type of treatment or surgery for her cancer. In those days the treatment would have been mastectomy. If she had underwent mastectomy she probably would have caught it early enough.
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