 Amongst the singers whose work he backed in the late 1940s were Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Mae Morse and, as part of a group called Ten Cats & A Mouse, Peggy Lee.As "Big Dave" Cavanaugh, he also released singles such as "Big Dave's Special" / "One Stop" and "The Cat from Coos Bay" / "Loosely with Feeling".In the early 1950s, Cavanaugh became a Director of A & R (Artists and Repertoire) for Capitol Records, where, during a stint that would endure to the end of his career, he signed artists such as Dakota Staton, Donna Hightower, Nancy Wilson, Plas Johnson and Sandler & Young.