Born in New Orleans' French Quarter, Louis Prima longed to play jazz.
When he was a child, he studied the violin. His older brother Leon took
up trumpet while Louis was still quite young, and he soon followed in
his brother's footsteps. He played in clubs like "The Famous Door" in
the 1930s, and by the time the 1940s rolled around, Prima and his band
were becoming well known. Like many other big bands, Prima always had a
woman singer, his most famous being
Keely Smith, with whom he recorded the
classic "That Old Black Magic". She began with him when she was 16
years old, and he eventually married her. They were divorced in 1962,
and he married 20-year-old
Gia Maione that
same year. In 1967 Prima voiced King Louie of the apes in the animated
Disney feature
The Jungle Book (1967).
Prima died in 1978, but his music continues as some of the best jazz
and swing music ever recorded.
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins(1975)as Louis Prima
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury(1971)as Iron Lips
The Jungle Book(1967)as King Louie of the Apes
The Ed Sullivan Show(1948)as Singer
The Continental Twist(1961)as Louis Evans
Reba McEntire: Sunday Kind of Love(1988)
Start Cheering(1938)
Dancing with the Stars(2005)
The Studio(2025)
Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight(2025)
The Alto Knights(2025)
Here(2024)
The Merv Griffin Show(1962)as Self
The Mike Douglas Show(1961)as Self, Self - Musician, Self - Vocalist
The David Frost Show(1969)as Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson(1962)as Self - Guest, Self
WatchMojo(2006)as Self - King Louie of the Apes
My Music: Songbook Standards - As Time Goes By(2015)
Sinatra: All or Nothing at All(2015)as Self
Vegas: The City the Mob Made(2009)as Self - Singer
