Louis Prima

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Louis Prima and Keely Smith singing for the radio in the 1950s
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Louis Prima and Keely Smith singing for the radio in the 1950s

Louis Prima (December 7, 1910- August 24, 1978) was an Italian-American entertainer, singer, actor, and trumpeter born in New Orleans.

Contents

History

Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a Swing combo in the 1930s, a Big Band in the 1940s, a hot Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-Rock go-go band in the 1960s, in all cases projecting his exuberant personality.

Prima was born into a musical family of Sicilian descent in New Orleans. He studied violin for several years as a child. His older brother Leon Prima was a well regarded local bandleader. Prima was proud of his heritage, and made a point of letting the audience know at every performance that he was Italian-American and from New Orleans. His singing and playing showed that he absorbed many of the same influences as his fellow Crescent City musician, Louis Armstrong, particularly in his hoarse voice and scat singing.

In his youth in New Orleans Prima played trumpet with Irving Fazola, his brother's band, and the pit band of the Saenger Theater before forming his own group, Louis Prima's New Orleans Gang. He moved to New York in 1934, working regularly on 52nd Street. His 1936 composition "Sing, Sing Sing" became one of the biggest hits and most covered standards of the swing era, famously being performed in Carnegie Hall by Benny Goodman with a featured performance by Gene Krupa on drums.

He moved to Los Angeles to headline at the Famous Door nightclub. He appeared in several Hollywood movies, including a featured performance with Bing Crosby in the 1936 film Rhythm on the Range. In the late 1940s he added young singer Keely Smith (who was to become Prima's 4th wife) and saxophonist/arranger Sam Butera to lead his band, called Sam Butera and the Witnesses.

The act, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, was very much the model for Sonny and Cher, the exuberant Italian musician and the serious exotic female singer. (Smith was of Cherokee descent; Cher was Armenian.) Prima, Smith, and Butera put on a live show that rocked as hard as anyone's.

In 1967, Prima made a memorable contribution to the Walt Disney film The Jungle Book, as the voice of the raucous orangutan King Louie. "I Wanna Be Like You" was a hit song from the movie that led to the recording of two albums with Phil Harris: The Jungle Book and More Jungle Book, on Disneyland Records. He can also be heard on the soundtrack to The Man Called Flintstone.

Prima performed shows in Las Vegas throughout the 1950s and '60s, before returning to New Orleans in the early 1970s. In 1975 he went into a coma following surgery to remove a brain tumor. He never recovered, and died three years later. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans; his gray marble crypt is topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel.

The Prima-Butera arrangements and recordings continued to be copied by younger musicians, including David Lee Roth, who covered his medley of "Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" in the 1980s, and Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and other nouveau swing bands of the 1990s, covering such Prima standards as "Jump and Jive and Wail". And Butera and the Witnesses also continue to tour.

Notable Television Appearances

1. THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW – VARIOUS EPISODES FROM 1937-1962

2. THE BOB HOPE SHOW – 2/12/65

3. THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW – 3/22/71

4. THE DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW – 10/18/59

5. THE STEVE LAWRENCE SHOW – 11/1/65

6. THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW – 12/30/65

7. MERV GRIFFIN – 2/12/75

8. THE JOHNNY CARSON SHOW – 8/28/63, 2/3/64, 3/11/71

9. THE ART LINKLETTER SHOW – 6/4/64

10. THE JERRY LEWIS SHOW – 10/20/58

11. DOWN BEAT – 5/9/50

12. SATURDAY NIGHT DANCE PARTY – 7/12/52

13. COLGATE SUMMER COMEDY HOUR – 8/29/54

14. COLGATE VARIETY HOUR – 6/26/55

15. TONIGHT! AMERICA AFTER DARK – 2/7/57

16. THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW – 10/5/57, 3/28/67

17. THE DINAH SHORE CHEVY SHOW – 11/24/57

18. THE CHEVY SHOW STARRING BETTY HUTTON – 4/27/58

19. THE JERRY LEWIS SHOW – 10/20/58

20. A TOAST TO JEROME KERN – 9/22/59

21. HERE’S HOLLYWOOD – 12/15/61

22. THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON – 8/28/63, 2/3/64, 3/11/71

23. AN EVENING WITH LOUIS PRIMA – 3/17/65

24. THE DANNY THOMAS HOUR – “AMERICA, I LOVE YOU” – 1/8/68

Movie Appearances

  • 1936 THE STAR REPORTER IN HOLLYWOOD 24 MINUTES
  • 1936 SWING IT 17 MINUTES
  • 1936 VITAPHONE VARIETS 10 MINUTES
  • 1936 RHYTHM ON THE RANGE 85 MINUTES
  • 1937 START CHEERING 79 MINUTES
  • 1937 MANHATTAN MERRY-GO-ROUND - REP FILM 78 MINUTES
  • 1937 YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING - FOX FILM 99 MINUTES
  • 1938 SWING CAT'S JAMBOREE 10 MINUTES
  • 1938 START CHEERING - COLUMBIA FILM
  • 1939 ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE - FOX FILM 86 MINUTES
  • 1943 NEW ORLEANS BLUES 15 MINUTES
  • 1948 RHYTHM MASTERS 15 MINUTES
  • 1957 THE WILDEST 15 MINUTES
  • 1958 SENIOR PROM 82 MINUTES
  • 1959 HEY BOY! HEY GIRL! - COLUMBIA FILM 81 MINUTES
  • 1961 TWIST ALL NIGHT - ALTA VISTA FILM 85 MINUTES
  • 1966 THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE 87 MINUTES
  • 1967 JUNGLE BOOK 78 MINUTES
  • 1975 RAFFERTY & THE GOLD DUST TWINS (A/K/A RAFFERTY & THE HIGHWAY HUSTLERS) 91 MINUTES
  • 1975 RAFFERTY & THE HIGHWAY HUSTLERS - VENTURE FILM
  • 1980 RAGING BULL - UNITED ARTISTS FILM
  • 1990 SENIOR PROM - COLUMBIA FILM JAZZ BALL 60 MINUTES

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