Louis Prima Jr. (born June 16, 1965) is an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
singer and the son of
Louis Prima
Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he for ...
.
Early life
Louis Prima Jr. is the youngest child of musician and entertainer Louis Prima. His mother Gia Maione began performing with his father in 1962. She taught Louis Jr. to play the
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
at 5 years old. He grew up on the outskirts of
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...
, on his dad's golf course, Fairway to the Stars, and spent two weeks every summer at his grandparents' house in
Toms River, New Jersey
Toms River is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. Its mainland portion is also a census-designated place of the same name, which serves as the county seat of Ocean County.Seaside Heights
Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,New Orleans
New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Covington, Louisiana
Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is par ...
but soon realized the house might need to be razed due to a termite infestation. The family moved back to Las Vegas.
In school, Prima took band class and told his mother he wanted to play
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
. He continued playing through high school, and cites his band directors Bruce Cullings and William "Mac" McMosley as major influences in his life. They competed in the Heavy Division of the Chaffey Jazz Festival, and they marched in the
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...
and
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl ...
.
Musical career
After graduating from high school, Prima started college to enter the business world. He landed a good job, with what he believed a future, and dropped out of college after only one semester. Within a year, he found a band that was renamed Problem Child. Problem Child became popular in the local Vegas scene and at several venues in Hollywood. They opened for numerous acts in every genre, from Winger to
Savatage
Savatage () was an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album ''Sirens'' (1983), they changed t ...
.
In 1995, Problem Child disbanded, and Prima shifted his musical focus to his other love, the music and style of his father. Enlisting the talents of his sister
Lena
Lena or LENA may refer to:
Places
* Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso
* Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada
* Lena, Norway, a village in ...
, who had long since quit the music business and established herself as a Las Vegas performer, Prima put together a band in his father's mold. With the aid of his father's keyboard player, Bruce Zarka, he assembled a band of some of the top musicians in Vegas. He left the music world and began a career in food and beverage management. He started a family and performed only casually with friends.
For several years Prima juggled the demands of a full-time job, part-time music career, and raising his children. In 2010 at age 44, he quit his lucrative day job. At a stage of life when some performers are hanging up their instruments in favor of more secure employment, Prima, a divorced father of two, gambled on a full-time career bringing his dad's musical style to new generations. "I may be good at management," he said, "but that's not what I was supposed to be doing."
On July 25, 2010, shortly after their performance at the
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...
(a.k.a. Jazz Fest), and in the year his father would have turned 100, Prima, Sarah Spiegel and the Witnesses were present when his father's posthumous star was put on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
.
On July 10, 2012 Prima and the Witnesses released their debut album, ''Return of the Wildest'', on Warrior Records/
Universal Music Distribution
Universal Music Distribution was the primary music distribution unit of parent company Universal Music Group until 2015 when the company was dismantled.
It oversaw the sales, marketing and distribution activities for UMG labels Republic Record ...
. Touring in support of ''Return of the Wildest'', the band made their national television debut on ''
Access Hollywood Live
''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...
''. Hosts
Billy Bush
William Hall Bush (born October 13, 1971) is an American radio and television host. He is a member of the Bush family, a nephew of President George H. W. Bush and cousin of President George W. Bush and Florida governor Jeb Bush.
After appear ...
and
Kit Hoover
Catherine "Kit" Hoover (born July 29, 1970) is an American television host, sportscaster and broadcast journalist currently serving as the anchor of ''Access Hollywood'', and co-host of ''Access Daily with Mario & Kit''.
She has worked as a s ...
had such a good time dancing along with the band that they were asked to return for the hit television show's Christmas special that had guest
Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE (born October 30, 1945), is an American actor, comedian, author, executive producer, and director. After rising to fame as Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli on the American television series '' Happy Days'', Winkler has ...
jumping out of his seat to join in. Their worldwide tour continued through October 2013, and included a performance at the first BottleRock Napa Valley festival. sharing the bill with
Macklemore
Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lew ...
Zac Brown Band
Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini ( fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele ...
, and
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill.
The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and ...
.
Prima's second album, titled ''Blow'', was recorded at
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
in the same studio where his father and mother recorded.
Discography
* ''Return of the Wildest'' (Warrior, 2012)
* ''Blow'' (Warrior, 2014)