Biography
Louis Leo Prima 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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Louis Prima, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
all 26
Movies 21
self 17
TV Shows 5
Legends (2006)
'Yoda' (2004)
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins (1975)
The Jungle Book (1967)
Sackgasse (1963)
The Continental Twist (1961)
Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959)
Senior Prom (1958)
Jazz Ball (1956)
The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)
Rose of Washington Square (1939)
Start Cheering (1938)
You Can't Have Everything (1937)
Rhythm on the Range (1936)
Swing It (1936)
The Champ's a Chump (1936)
Gallery
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1910-12-07
Deathday1978-08-24 (67 years old)
Birth NameLouis Leo Prima
Birth PlaceNew Orleans, United States
Relationshipshttp://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/34e077108e7bc2add8c2d6fbd539cd9c (1945-01-01 - 1953-06-18), Gia Maione (1963-01-01 - 1978-08-24), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/86b2c1da2cb47a8e704835dfa7467775 (1929-06-25 - 1936-01-01), http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/2bec678125d4d4c26c936c27a1cad4b2 (1936-07-25 - 1945-01-01), Keely Smith (1953-01-01 - 1961-01-01)
ChildrenLena Prima, Louis Prima, Jr.
CitizenshipsUnited States
Awardsstar on Hollywood Walk of Fame
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
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