Minto Cato

Minto Cato, born La Minto Cato on August 23, 1900, in Little Rock, Arkansas, was a mezzo-soprano opera singer and stage performer whose career spanned the Harlem Renaissance era from the 1920s through the late 1940s. She pursued her musical education at the Washington Conservatory of Music in Washington, D.C., and subsequently taught piano in public schools in Arkansas and Georgia. By 1919, she had established her own music studio in Detroit.

Cato launched her performing career in 1922 on B. F. Keith's vaudeville circuit, making her debut at Detroit's Temple Theater. The following year she married impresario Joe Sheftell, with whom she had a daughter, Minto Cato Sheftell, around 1924. Throughout the 1920s, Cato performed in a number of Sheftell's productions, among them the Creole Bronze Revue, and the two toured Europe, Alaska, Canada, and Mexico together in a production they called the Southland Revue. She also worked as a vaudeville producer both in the United States and abroad during this period.

After separating from Sheftell in 1927, Cato continued performing independently. She appeared in a solo act at Chicago's Regal Theater in 1929. From 1920 until 1930, she sang alongside Louis Armstrong in the Blackbirds shows, and she introduced the song "Memories of You" in Blackbirds of 1930. Her Broadway career extended from 1930 to 1940 and included credits in both Blackbirds and John Henry.

Cato subsequently moved into opera, performing in Il trovatore in 1936, followed by Aida in New York, Show Boat, and Gentlemen Unafraid in 1938. She later appeared in La traviata in 1947. She returned to Europe and continued performing into the early 1950s. Cato died in New York City on October 26, 1979.