Louis Prima
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Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American entertainer, singer, actor, and trumpeter. He was referred to as the King of the Swingers. 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 Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock go-go band in the 1960s. In each of his musical endeavors, he incorporated his exuberant personality into his act.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Origins
Prima was born into a musical family in New Orleans. His family emigrated from Sicily, and after a brief stay in Argentina settled in the United States. Prima studied violin for several years as a child. His older brother, Leon, 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, 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 with old New Orleans friends like Eddie Miller (tenor sax and clarinet) and George Brunies (trombone), and also new acquaintances like Pee Wee Russell (clarinet). Prima's 1936 composition "Sing Sing Sing" became one of his biggest hits and one of the most covered standards of the swing era; Benny Goodman's performance of the song at Carnegie Hall with a featured performance by Gene Krupa on drums has become iconic.
Prima 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 singer Keely Smith (who was to become his fourth wife) and later, 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 and Cher both being of Cherokee descent. In 1959, Prima and Smith won the Grammy Award for Best Peformance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Old Black Magic."
In 1967, Prima lent his voice to the Walt Disney film The Jungle Book, as the raucous orangutan King Louie. He performed the hit song "I Wan'na Be Like You" on the soundtrack, leading 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.
[edit] The Vegas Years
In the early 1950s as the popularity of the Big Band sound started to wane, and Prima began losing money, just as he needed it to support the pregnant Smith. Prima found work with Smith in small venues all over the East Coast. Eventually he called up his friend Bill Miller, who was then entertainment director of The Sahara nightclub and casino in Las Vegas, and asked for a job. His friend Cab Calloway warned him against the cramped Sahara lounge, but the financial pressure was too great. Prima and Smith worked hard throughout the 1950s, performing multiple shows a night, finishing at 6 am. Their efforts were rewarded with a resurgence in their popularity, and they were at least partly responsible for making the lounge at The Sahara a hotspot. To bolster the cut-down band, Prima brought in Sam Butera to play saxophone and lead the band. Over the next nine years, he and Smith raised two children, while he made scores of records, owned racehorses, appeared on television, and even opened a golf course. They outgrew the lounge and were promoted to the big room.
During this episode of new-found success, according to Smith, the couple drifted further and further apart. One night, he refused to conduct for one of Smith's performances, delegating to Butera instead. A few days later they were in court, petitioning for divorce.
Following the divorce, he began dating Gia Maione. Maione was a long-time fan of Prima's, was already familiar with all the arrangements to his songs, and even kept a signed photo of him in her purse. She eventually became Prima's fifth and final wife, and was with the band right up until 1975. By this point, the band was putting out a markedly different and more contemporary sound, with electric organs and synths.
In 1975, following headaches and episodes of memory loss, he sought medical attention, and found out he had a brain tumor. He went into a coma following surgery to remove the tumor. He never recovered, and died three years later, having been moved back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans; his gray marble crypt is topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel. The inscription on the crypt's door quote the lyrics from one of his hits: "When the end comes, I know, they'll all say 'just a gigolo' as life goes on without me. Lovingly, your little family..." [1]
[edit] Legacy
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, Jive and Wail". The pop band Smash Mouth mentioned his name in the song "Heave-Ho" (from their album Fush Yu Mang), and covered "I Wan'na Be Like You" for the soundtrack album of The Jungle Book 2. "I Wan'na Be Like You" was also covered by Los Lobos. The surviving original members of Bill Haley & His Comets have recorded and performed several of Prima's songs since the mid-1990s, most notably "Buona Sera", which they dedicate to Prima's memory. Alex Harvey and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band also came under the spell of Louis Prima.
Prima's original recordings have also featured in many films, including Mad Dog and Glory, Big Night, Mickey Blue Eyes,Casino, Kicking and Screaming, and Analyze This.
Butera and the Witnesses also continue to tour.
