Louis Leo Prima (; December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American trumpeter, singer, entertainer, and bandleader. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he formed a seven-piece New Orleans–style jazz band in the late 1920s, fronted a swing combo in the 1930s and a big band group in the 1940s, helped to popularize jump blues in the late 1940s and early to mid 1950s, and performed frequently as a Vegas lounge act beginning in the 1950s.
From the 1940s through the 1960s, his music further encompassed early R&B and rock 'n' roll, boogie-woogie, and Italian folk music, such as the tarantella. Prima made prominent use of Italian music and language in his songs, blending elements of his Italian and Sicilian identity with jazz and swing music. At a time when ethnic musicians were discouraged from openly stressing their ethnicity, Prima's conspicuous embrace of his Sicilian ethnicity opened the doors for other Italian-American and ethnic American musicians to display their ethnic roots.
Prima is also known for providing the voice for the orangutan King Louie in the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book.
Early life Louis Leo Prima was from a musical Italian American family in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, Anthony Prima, was the son of Leonardo Di Prima, a Sicilian immigrant from Salaparuta, while his mother, Angelina Caravella, had emigrated from the island of Ustica north of Sicily as a baby. Prima was the second child of four; his older brother, Leon, was born in 1907, while his sisters Elizabeth and Marguerite were younger. Marguerite died when she was three years old. Leon, Louis, and Elizabeth were all baptized at St. Ann's Parish. They lived in a house at 1812 St. Peter Street in New Orleans.
Prima's mother was a music lover, and she made sure that each child played an instrument. Louis was assigned the violin and started out playing at St. Ann's Parish. He became interested in jazz when he heard black musicians, including Louis Armstrong. Italian immigrants, Italian-Americans, and African-Americans in New Orleans at the time frequently socialized together in the same clubs and bars. Local clubs tailored to the ostracized Italian community, such as Matranga's, Joe Segrettas, Tonti's Social Club, and Lala's Big 25, were all Italian-American clubs owned and operated by Italians; African Americans were always welcomed in these clubs and often played music and fraternized with Italians and Italian-Americans. Prima's interest in jazz was sparked while frequenting these clubs and observing black and Italian jazz artists playing together.
According to author Garry Boulard in his book Louis Prima, Prima paid attention to the music coming from clubs and watched his older brother Leon play the cornet. When Leon left the house to spend one summer in Texas, Prima practiced continuously on his worn-down cornet. He formed a band in 1924 with his childhood friends "Candy" Candido (bass), Irving Fazola (clarinet) and Johnny Viviano (drums).
Prima attended Jesuit High School but transferred to Warren Easton High, then a boys' school, in the fall of 1926. At Warren Easton, he played with the "Eastonites", the school band. In 1927, he partnered with fellow musician Frank Federico and the pair played at "The Whip", a run-down French Quarter nightclub. By the spring of 1928, Prima decided he would become a professional musician.
Career After finishing high school in New Orleans, Prima had a few unsuccessful gigs, including when he joined the Ellis Stratakos Orchestra in 1929. Prima, Federico and saxophonist Dave Winstein drove to Florida for a gig but no one showed up. They made it to a relative's house, where they were given money for gas and a meal. Prima did not give up. He joined Joseph Cherniavsky's Orchestra in 1929 at Jefferson Parish. He got a temporary job playing on the steamship Capital that docked on Canal Street.
Although the Capital did not provide him with a big break for his career, he did meet his first wife Louise Polizzi there. They married on June 25, 1929. From 1931 to 1932, Prima occupied his time by performing in the Avalon Club owned by his brother Leon. His first break was when Lou Forbes hired him for daily afternoon and early evening shows at The Saenger.
New York City New York was an attraction for hungry musicians during the Great Depression. Guy Lombardo met Prima while he was performing at club Shim Sham during the Mardi Gras season of 1934.
Prima and his New Orleans Gang In September 1934, Prima began recording for the Brunswick label. He recorded "That's Where the South Begins", "Long About Midnight", "Jamaica Shout", and "Star Dust".
Prima and his New Orleans Gang featured Frank Pinero playing piano, Jack Ryan on bass, Garrett McAdams on guitar, and Pee Wee Russell on clarinet. The band had their first performance at a club called the Famous Door, owned and operated by Jack Colt. Prima's recordings from 1935 were a combination of Dixieland and swing. In May 1935, Prima and Russell recorded "The Lady in Red", a national jukebox hit. They also recorded "Chinatown", "Chasing Shadows" and "Gypsy Tea Room".
Martha Raye played a role in Prima's professional and personal life. She was a comedian with potential to become a singer. The two featured a show at the club that granted Prima his first national debut on "The Fleischman Hour". In March 1936, Prima wrote and recorded "Sing Sing Sing", which subsequently became a hit for Benny Goodman.
California Prima moved to California to expand his music. During this time there was a movement for big bands and orchestras. Prima hired Louis "Sherman" Masinter on the string bass, a New Orleans native. He fired McAdams so that he could have Frank Federico, his childhood friend, play the guitar.
With all of his success, his marriage back in New Orleans had already failed. He and Louise were divorced in 1936, following infidelities going back at least to the French Quarter in 1933.
A few months later, he was involved in a new fling with Alma Ross, an actress. Prima and Ross were quite serious and after only a few months together he asked her to marry him while he started his tour out in the Midwest. The couple faced problems in Wisconsin and Chicago because they did not meet the marital requirements. Guy Lombardo helped them out by arranging a place in South Bend, Indiana. They wed on July 25, 1936. The couple had a few problems; one of the worst was that Louis denied much about his past. He never confessed to Alma that he had a daughter until she found out from a tax return. Prima also pushed Ross into signing with Paramount in 1937.
He continued to travel along the East Coast with his band. Prima struggled to upgrade to big band style. It was not supported by his mentors in New York or Los Angeles. With the help of Guy Lombardo he traveled to Chicago to promote his new format at the Blackhawk in October 1936. The new format was unsuccessful.
Reinvented in New York In 1937, Prima and his smaller gang (Federico, Masinter, Pinero, and Meyer Weinberg on clarinet) returned to the Famous Door in New York to perform. He also appeared at Billy Rose's Casa Mañana club in May 1938. He earned nearly a quarter million dollars throughout seven weeks at Casa Mañana.
He was booked by William Morris Agency in late 1938, which sent him to Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Miami Beach, New Orleans, and St. Louis. The band traveled by car, since it was the cheapest option.
World War II In 1939, Prima was under contract to appear in Black theatres in New York, Baltimore, Boston and Washington D.C. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended his performance in Washington D.C., and formally invited him to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday celebration. He appeared in photographs with the President, which ultimately boosted his publicity. Deemed unfit for military service in World War II because of a knee injury, Prima continued performing.
By the mid-1940s, Prima was experiencing great success. People were purchasing tickets early in the morning for shows later on that evening. Despite the anti-Italian sentiment during the war, Prima continued to record Italian songs, the most famous being "Angelina", named after his mother. Others included "Please No Squeeza Da Banana", "Baciagaloop (Makes Love on the Stoop)", and "Felicia No Capicia".
He performed the Italian songs at the Strand Theatre in New York. He brought in $440,000 in six weeks. In Detroit he could bring in about $38,000 for an afternoon performance. With all of this success, he decided to go back to Chicago to prove himself; he sold out the "Panther Room" in that city.
Prima had several big hits in the summer of 1945, including "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" and "Bell-Bottom Trousers". As his career grew, however, his marriage with Alma simultaneously failed. They got a divorce when she discovered he had been cheating on her with another actress. Alma was supposed to receive $15,000 a year or 7.5% of his earnings. Prima ignored the payments until they piled up to about $60,000, which forced him to write a settlement check of $45,000 plus $250 per week. Later he married his secretary, Tracelene Barrett.
By the end of the war years, the popularity of big band music was diminishing, and by 1947 Prima was playing more jazzy versions of his music. Under a new contract with RCA Victor, he recorded "Civilization"; "You Can't Tell the Depth of the Well"; "Say it with a Slap"; "Valencia"; "My Flame Went Out Last Night"; "Thousand Islands"; "Mean To Me"; and "Tutti Tutti Pizzicato".
In 1948, Prima and Barrett had a baby girl.
Personality Fans knew Prima as a genial and patient celebrity: he always signed autographs or posed for pictures with a smile. To the record companies and big corporations, however, Prima showed little deference, and he was uncompromising in seeking maximum compensation for his work.
Warner Brothers offered him $60,000 to be in a movie based on the life of Helen Morgan, but he rejected it; when the studio increased the offer to $75,000, it was still not enough. Prima wanted $100,000 and creative control of his role, which was rejected by Warner Brothers. He had protracted disputes with the Strand Theatre in New York City and Majestic Records, and he flatly refused to allow a former songwriter to advertise herself as "formerly featured with Louis Prima's orchestra".
Prima had expensive tastes: he shopped at luxury clothing stores and always wore top-brand suits. He spent great sums on horse racing and his own private stable of horses. He said he enjoyed gambling because it relaxed him; riding was another one of the things that relaxed him the most outside of his busy performing life. He knew each of his horses well and read about training. Another hobby was boating. He purchased a boat for his third wife Tracelene Barrett for their honeymoon on the Hudson River.
Keely Smith Keely Smith was twenty when she met Prima in August 1948. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, she made a point to stop by the Surf Club in Virginia Beach to visit him. To her surprise, Prima was looking for a new female vocalist to replace Lily Ann Carol. Smith was wearing a bathing suit and was not allowed into the club until she put on proper attire. Luckily, someone was able to lend her some acceptable clothing and she auditioned. She landed the part and was soon traveling with his band.