Of all the musical giants of the past seven decades, specifically since the days of the big swing bands and Dixieland jazz, there is one who stands out amongst them all as the greatest contributor towards modern music and the course it eventually took. His name is Louis Prima and it all started when he took off at the once-famed 52nd Street in New York City.

As a singer, songwriter, trumpeter, and actor, Prima is regarded as one of the most successful entertainers of the big band jazz era, and his contributions to swing helped shape the genre. He wrote and recorded iconic hits, including “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which is considered one of the most famous big band swing songs of all time. The New Orleans born Prima is also renowned for his recordings of “I’m Just a Gigolo (I Ain’t Got Nobody),” “Pennies from Heaven,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” and “Buona Sera (Good Night),” among many others. Additionally, he voiced King Louie, the beloved orangutan featured in Disney’s Oscar-nominated 1967 film The Jungle Book, and earned an RIAA Gold certification for the soundtrack featuring “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)” performed by Prima.

With countless covers and re-recordings of his music, plus synchs in major visual media, Prima continued to influence musicians and entertain listeners for generations. The Charlie Calello Orchestra’s rendition of “Sing, Sing, Sing,” released in 1979, was on disco charts for almost a year. Reba McEntire’s recording of “Sunday Kind of Love” reached #5 on Hot Country Singles and earned Prima an ASCAP Writers Award in 1984. The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s cover of “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” was the breakout single on their 1998 Grammy Award-winning album The Dirty Boogie. That same year, Prima’s version featured in an iconic Gap ad campaign and was credited with the resurgence of swing music into the mainstream in the ‘90s. More recently in 2018, Kids See Ghosts, a rap duo comprised of Kanye West and Kid Cudi, released “4th Dimension,” a Gold-certified track that sampled “What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin’)” and reached #42 on the Hot 100.

Prima’s song “Sing, Sing, Sing” and album The Wildest! were also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and he additionally earned the first ever Grammy award in the Vocal Group category for his rendition of “That Old Black Magic” in 1958. Prima blazed trails across the industry, becoming one of the first independent record producers, forming Prima Magnagroove Records in 1963, which produced his music and signed other artists through 1975. In 2010, he received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in honor of his centennial year.