- Former bandleader of the famous Harlem Cotton Club in the 30s
- He recorded "Minnie the Moocher". The record was the first jazz album to sell a million copies. (March 3, 1931)
- Cab Calloway School of the Arts opened in 1992 in Wilmington Delaware, was named after him.
- Was the inspiration for the character of Oogie Boogie in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).
- He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 1993 by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C.
- Scored two notable Broadway successes: In George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess" (1952), opposite Leontyne Price and William Warfield, and "Hello, Dolly!" (1967), opposite Pearl Bailey and daughter Chris Calloway.
- Has four daughters, eight grandsons, and two great-grand children.
- The oldest featured actor to appear in The Blues Brothers (1980), Calloway outlived co-stars John Candy by more than 4 months and John Belushi by better than 12 years and 7 months.
- Father of singer/actress Chris Calloway.
- Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1987.
- Grandfather of C. Calloway Brooks, and Rupert Osaze Dia Crosse.
- Father-in-law of Rupert Crosse.
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