He grew up in Salt Lake City, where his father, a preacher, founded a Baptist church. The family moved to Portland when Washington was 16, and he later lived in Seattle, doing odd jobs. In 1922 he moved to San Francisco to be a singer. Eventually he toured in vaudeville, played Harlem nightclubs, and appeared in black stage shows. In 1933, he was in the Broadway show "Strike Me Pink". He made several recordings on the Columbia label.