He attended a school for the blind in Little Rock, Arkansas where he joined the school choir. He won an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee and at first worked with local bands, as well as starting a band of his own. In 1942 he joined a band led by
Jay McShann, and the next year he joined
Duke Ellington's band, replacing
Herb Jeffries. He worked eight years with Ellington before becoming a soloist. Some of his singing is classified as
rhythm and blues, but he is really best classified as a bridge between
R&B and
traditional pop music. His biggest hit was "
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