Louis Prima
Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an Italian-American entertainer, singer, actor, and trumpeter born in New Orleans. 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 hot Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-Rock go-go band in the 1960s, in all cases projecting his exuberant personality.
Biography
Origins
Prima was born into a musical family of Sicilian origin 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 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 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 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 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 Wan'na 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.
The Vegas Years
In the early 1950s, the popularity of the Big Band sound started to wane, his income reduced, and with Smith pregnant, Prima found work with Smith in small venues all over the East Coast. Eventually he called up a friend of his, Bill Miller, who was then entertainment directory 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 6am, and this was rewarded with a resurgence, and was at least partly responsible for making the lounge at The Sahara a hotspot. To bolster the cut-down band, he brought in Sam Butera to play saxophone and lead the band.. This 9-year period of his career was kept busy with raising two children, making scores of records, owning racehorses, television appearances and Prima even opened a golf course. They outgrew the lounge and were promoted to the big room, something that didn't sit right with Smith.
During this episode of new-found success, according to Smith, he "changed", perhaps in an attempt to impress critics who had usually denied him his rightful credit due to his apparently relaxed attitude to his craft. They drifted further and further apart until one night, he refused to conduct for one of Smith's performances, delegating to Butera instead. A couple of days later they were in court, petitioning for divorce.
Following the divorce, he took on Gia Maione. Maione was a long-time fan of Prima's, who was already familiar with all the arrangements, and even kept a signed photo of him in her purse. To the surprise of no one, she became Louis' 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 problems with his memory, he sought medical attention. He went into a coma following surgery to remove a brain 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]
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 has professed a liking of Prima's work, mentioning his name in the song "Heave-Ho" (from their album Fush Yu Mang), and covering "I Wan'na Be Like You" for the soundtrack album of The Jungle Book 2. "I Wanna Be Like You" was also covered by Los Lobos.
Prima's original recordings have also featured in movies, including Big Night (1996_ and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999).
Butera and the Witnesses also continue to tour.
His works were also in the motion picture Analyze This in 1999.