While attending San Diego High School, he sang in a boys' quartet and played saxophone in the student band.
In 1945, Cannon, William Dean, Julius Leib and Robert J. Sullivan founded the San Diego Civic Light Opera Co., which ultimately became the Starlight Theatre in Balboa Park.
During its first season in 1946, Cannon debuted on stage in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado," presented in the San Diego Zoo's Wegeforth Bowl.
"[7] In 1964, he began performing as a piano-bar entertainer at the Red Fox Room,[8] a steak house in San Diego, until 1985.
The School for Creative Careers has asked the City of San Diego to enter into a new lease agreement once repairs are done on the theater.