Guitar and mandolin player Coleman was born in Oklahoma. In 1940, when he was 18 years old, the family was living in Los Angeles. He became a member of the Julius Wechter ‘s Baja Marimba Band which had formed after the success of Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, to which Wechter had earlier belonged. Coleman also worked with Alpert and his band; his best known contribution was ”Tijuana Taxi” about a taxi that takes a short cut off-road across Mexican fields. He died prematurely from surgical complications and was survived by his widow, Eleanor. Both Wechter and Alpert included tribute songs for him in their later albums. Alpert also included “Tijuana Taxi” in his and gave a co-writer credit to Eleanor.