
| Genres: |
Big Band & Swing,
Jazz,
Pop / Rock,
Vocals
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| Decades Active: |
1950s,
1960s,
1970s,
1980s,
1990s,
2000s
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| Search for Artist on: |
OLDIES.com,
Wikipedia,
Flikr (photos),
YouTube (videos)
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Biography
7 December 1911, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 24 August 1978, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. A trumpeter, band leader, singer and composer, Prima was the son of Italian immigrant parents. He was educated at Jesuit High School, and studied the violin for several years under Hemmersback, before switching to the trumpet. At the age of 17, inspired by jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and King Oliver, he gained his first job as a singer/trumpeter in a New Orleans theatre - his elder brother, Leon, also played trumpet at a local nightspot. For a time in the early 30s Prima worked with Red Nichols, before forming his own seven-piece New Orleans Gang, with its signature tune, "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans", who recorded more than 70 titles in New York for various labels from 1934-39. Several of them made the US Hit Parade, including "The Lady In Red", "In A Little Gypsy Tea Room" and "The Goose Hangs High". His sidemen during this period included Georg Brunis...
Read the Full Biography of Louis Prima
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