Editing Scatman Crothers (section)

==Music career==
Crothers began his musical career as a teenager. He sang and was self-educated on guitar and drums. He was in a band that played in [[speakeasy|speakeasies]] in Terre Haute, Indiana.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://orangebeanindiana.com/2020/09/12/scatman-crothers-terre-haute-speakeasies-to-beloved-stardom/ | title=Scatman Crothers: Speakeasies to Stardom - | date=12 September 2020 }}</ref><ref name="dies">{{cite news |title=Scatman Crothers Dies at 76; Actor Got Start in Speakeasies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/23/obituaries/scatman-crothers-dies-at-76-actor-got-start-in-speakeasies.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=12 December 2018 |date=23 November 1986 |agency= Associated Press |page=1045 }}</ref><ref name="Cohen">{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Jerry |date=23 November 1986 |title=Versatile Entertainer, 76, Began Long Career in Speak-Easy at 14: Singer-Actor Scatman Crothers Dies of Cancer |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-23-mn-12632-story.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=12 December 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190418231917/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-23-mn-12632-story.html |archive-date=18 April 2019}}</ref> During the 1930s, Crothers formed a band, spending eight years living in [[Akron, Ohio]], and performing five days a week on a radio show in [[Dayton, Ohio]]. The station manager thought he needed a catchier name, so Crothers suggested "Scatman" for his [[scat singing]]. He married Helen, a native of [[Steubenville, Ohio]], in 1937. In the 1940s, the couple moved to [[California]].<ref name="Price">{{cite news |last= Price |first=Mark J. |title=Local history: Scatman Crothers strolled to fame while living in Akron hotel |url= https://www.ohio.com/akron/lifestyle/local-history-scatman-crothers-strolled-to-fame-while-living-in-akron-hotel |newspaper=[[Akron Beacon Journal]] |access-date=12 December 2018 |date=27 February 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190402155232/https://www.ohio.com/akron/lifestyle/local-history-scatman-crothers-strolled-to-fame-while-living-in-akron-hotel |archive-date=2 April 2019 |publisher=[[GateHouse Media, LLC]]}}</ref>

He performed in [[Los Angeles]] and [[Las Vegas]], and at the [[Apollo Theater]] in [[Harlem]], New York City.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] released several of his singles, including "I'd Rather Be a Hummingbird", "Blue-Eyed Sally", and "Television Blues". High Fidelity Records released his album ''Rock and Roll with Scatman Crothers''. He went on [[United Service Organizations|USO]] tours with [[Bob Hope]].<ref name="Harlem">{{cite book |first1=Henry |last1=Louis |first2=Evelyn |last2=Brooks Higginbotham |title=Harlem Renaissance Lives from the African American National Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_vRLcgEdGoC&pg=PA133 |access-date=11 December 2018 |year=2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-538795-7 |page=133}}</ref> Crothers also performed with bandleader [[Slim Gaillard]]. According to the jacket notes of the ''Let Freedom Sing'' CD set, Crothers was part of the music group The Ramparts, who sang "The Death of [[Emmett Till]]" (1955), a song by [[A. C. Bilbrew]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Ramparts. The Death of Emmett Till |url=http://www.45cat.com/record/nc493177us |work=[[Dootone Records]] |year=1955 |access-date=19 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Brian |last=Berger |url=http://hilobrow.com/2012/05/23/scatman-crothers/ |title= Scatman Crothers |work= HiLoBrow |date= May 23, 2012 |access-date=19 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1955-12-31/ed-1/seq-1/ |title= Ballad of Emmett Till Released by Record Firm |newspaper=[[The Carolina Times]] |date=December 31, 1955 |page=1 |via= North Carolina Newspapers |access-date=19 April 2019}}</ref>