He was born in Chicago, the son of Tennessee-born Isaac Columbus Toombs and his wife Irene.Cook County, Illinois, Birth Certificates Index, 1871–1922, Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Bob L. Eagle, Eric S. LeBlanc, Blues: A Regional Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2013, p.65 As a child, he ran away from home and from the age of nine performed in vaudeville as a comic entertainer with Butterbeans and Susie, who gave him the nickname "Candy Yams" for his relatively light freckled complexion. He learned to play piano, guitar, and reed instruments, and by 1940 was living in Gary, Indiana, with his mother. 1940 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com. retrieved November 3, 2015 He worked in bands as a guitarist, and in 1942 took Charlie Christian's place in the orchestra at the Lyon's Den club in Oklahoma City. He began working with and for club owner and entrepreneur Denver D. Ferguson in Indianapolis in the early 1940s, promoting concerts and helping Ferguson set up the network later known as the "Chitlin' Circuit".
