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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZPRIMA, Louis(b 7 December 1910, New Orleans; d there 24 August 1978) Trumpet, singer, bandleader and much-loved entertainer. His older brother was well-known trumpeter Leon Prima. He first studied violin, but took up trumpet on his brother's spare instrument c.1925 while Leon was in Texas with Peck Kelley. He led local combos, then went to Cleveland in 1932 playing with Red Nichols. He recorded in Chicago in 1933 with David Rose (piano) and Norman Gast (violin) as the Hotcha Trio, then formed a 17-piece band, Louis Prima and His New Orleans Gang, in New York City in 1934, landed a recording contract and played at the Famous Door in 52nd Street. He appeared on the West Coast in 1936, and in films Swing It and Rhythm On The Range. He wrote 'Sing, Sing, Sing', interpolated by Benny Goodman in 1937 with 'Christopher Columbus' to make the Swing Era 'killer diller'; other well-known compositions were 'It's The Rhythm In Me' and 'Sunday Kind Of Love'. More films included Manhattan Merry-Go-Round and You Can't Have Everything '37, Start Cheering '38; he was back in NYC with his Gleeby Rhythm Orchestra, singing an entertaining, ebbulient mixture of jivespeak, Neapolitan slang and plain bad English which, with solid trumpet playing, resulted in hit records through the '40s: his own 'Robin Hood' '44, top 10 Billboard hits 'Bell-Bottom Trousers' '45, 'Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo)' '47, and 'Oh Babe' '50 (no. 12), each on different labels. He married his fourth wife, Keely Smith, in '52, and signed to Capitol with a combo featuring tenor sax Sam Butera (b 17 August 1927, New Orleans; d 3 June 2009, Las Vegas), dispensing a mixture of novelty, R&B and pop; they soon became a hot attraction in Las Vegas: Smith sang in a clear, straight jazz style, poker-faced and with a Tonto headband, while he perpetrated his familiar infectious nonsense. The album Las Vegas Prima Style was no. 12 '58; Butera's delightful arrangement interpolating 'I Ain't Got Nobody' and 'Just A Gigolo' was a hit on EP (copied by David Lee Roth for a single hit '85, without a dime for Butera). 'That Old Black Magic' reached no. 18 that year; 'I've Got You Under My Skin' charted '59. They made films Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (soundtrack LP charted) and Senior Prom, both '59. He switched to the Dot label, where hits included the album Louis and Keely! and single 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schön' '59, and he had a solo hit with 'Wonderland By Night' '60 (the album of that title made the top ten albums '61). The marriage failed; Prima worked on in Vegas and Lake Tahoe. He provided the voice of the cartoon orangutan in Disney film Jungle Book '69. He fell into a coma in '75, and lingered for three years in a nursing home. |