Gia Maione born 20 May 1941

Gia Maione Prima (May 20, 1941 – September 23, 2013) was an American singer and the fifth wife of musician/entertainer Louis Prima. 

Born in the Roebling section of Florence Township, New Jersey, Maione lived in Bordentown before moving with her family to Toms River, New Jersey. From the early age of 3, her sole interest was music. At age 4 began 17 years of piano and extensive vocal training under Alma Steedman, Choir Director at Westminster Choir College at Princeton University. Upon graduation in June 1959 from Toms River High School (now known as Toms River High School South) in New Jersey, she received the National Arion Society Award in Music. With intent to attend Julliard School of Music in New York City, Gia worked at the local Howard Johnsons Restaurant, to begin saving money for the tuition and to continue her vocal and piano instruction. 

Louis  & Gia Maione Prima with Frank Sinatra

In late 1961 it came to Gia's attention that Louis Prima was conducting a nationwide search for a new vocalist. His tour brought him to the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where Gia auditioned on Mother's Day 1962 and Louis immediately selected her. Prima had divorced Keely Smith, his former lead vocalist, the year before. Smith left the orchestra, creating the opening that Maione filled. Gia began touring with Prima's ensemble The Witnesses and in 1963 married him at Lake Tahoe and released her debut album entitled "This Is ...Gia" which earned her praise for her performances of such standards as "Moonglow", "My Funny Valentine", and "Unforgettable". She had two children with Prima, a daughter named Lena and a son named Louis Prima Jr. 

                                    

The next 12 years were a whirlwind of live regular performances, TV shows and recordings. Las Vegas: Sahara Hotel, Sands Hotel, Tropicana Hotel; New York: Copacabana, Basin Street East, Ben Maksiks Town and Country; Philadelphia: Palumbo's; Chicago: Palmer House. TV Shows: Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Steve Lawrence, Art Linkletter. Gia worked closely with Louis in creating the Prima Magnagroove record label for which she and Louis recorded many classic albums and singles from 1963 through 1975 which included 14 albums and numerous singles for Capitol Records, Disney Records, DeLite Label, Brunswick Records and Prima label.  The couple performed and recorded together until Prima fell ill in 1975. 

Although paired with Prima near the end of his career, Prima, Maione and the orchestra remained extremely popular and sang to sold-out crowds up to 1975. In 1975, while undergoing an operation in Los Angeles to remove a benign brain tumor, Prima lapsed into a coma and never regained consciousness. He died almost three years later on August 24, 1978, in his hometown of New Orleans. 

The Prima estate was tied up in litigation for almost 15 years following Prima's death. He left Maione Gia in debt, to the point where she was forced to sell off assets to appease his ex-wives and biological children. Maione was so impoverished, with millions in debt to the medical institutions, that she was sewing Lena and Louis Jr.'s clothing. In 1994, Maione assumed control of the Prima archives, at which time she set about managing his vast musical legacy. 

She dedicated herself to remastering and re-releasing Prima's work. Among her other duties, Maione handled the licensing of Prima's work for television, film and advertising, such as the use of 'Jump, Jive and Wail' for a series of Gap ads in the late 1990s. While living in Island Heights, New Jersey in 2002, she filed suit against Unidisc Music claiming that proper royalties had not been paid. Owing to this, Gia forbid Disney Studios to reuse Prima's character King Louie in The Jungle Book 2. 

Professionally, Gia volunteered for many benefit charities and telethons and sponsored many golf tournaments to benefit charities.  She was inducted in the Toms River Regional Schools Hall of Fame in 2004. She created the Louis Prima ASCAP Foundation Award and operated Prima Music, LLC, which released previously unavailable Prima titles. The company also operated www.louisprima.com and LGL Music Publishing Co. 

In 2011, Gia Prima with the assistance of long-time friend and counsel, Anthony J. Sylvester of Sherman Atlas Sylvester & Stamelman, LLP established the Gia Maione Prima Foundation, Inc. for the purpose of making donations to other tax-exempt organizations that support and encourage an appreciation for American Jazz, American popular music and jazz performance. Gia lived out her days in the Florida panhandle and died on September 23, 2013 in Pensacola,  at the age of 72. She is buried alongside her husband Louis Prima at Lakelawn Metaireie Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana.  

(Edited from Wikipedia, Legacy & The Gia Maione Prima Foundation)

 

Louis Prima born 7 December 1910

Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an Italian American entertainer, singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. He was referred to as the King of the Swingers.

Prima was born into a musical family in New Orleans. His family emigrated from Sicily, and after a brief stay in Argentina settled in the United States. Prima studied violin for several years as a child. His older brother Leon was a well regarded local bandleader. Prima was proud of his heritage, and made a point of letting the audience know at every performance that he was Italian-American and from New Orleans. His singing and playing showed that he absorbed many of the same influences as his fellow Crescent City musician, Louis Armstrong, particularly in his hoarse voice and scat singing.

In his youth, Prima played trumpet with Irving Fazola, his brother's band, and the pit band of the Saenger Theatre before forming his own group, Louis Prima's New Orleans Gang. At 22, he was spotted performing with Red Nichols by Guy Lombardo who encouraged him to move to New York in 1934 where he was working regularly on 52nd Street with old New Orleans friends like Eddie Miller (tenor sax and clarinet) and George Brunies (trombone), and also new acquaintances like Pee Wee Russell (clarinet). Prima's 1936 composition "Sing Sing Sing" became one of his biggest hits and one of the most covered standards of the swing era; Benny Goodman's performance of the song at Carnegie Hall with a featured performance by Gene Krupa on drums has become iconic.

In 1937, Prima and his smaller gang (Federico, Masinter, Pinero, and Meyer Weinberg on clarinet) returned to the Famous Door in New York to perform. He also appeared at Billy Rose's Casa Mañana club in May 1938. He racked up about a quarter million dollars throughout seven weeks at Casa Mañana. He was booked by William Morris Agency in late 1938. This entailed travelling throughout the east coast. Stops were made in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Miami Beach, New 

Orleans, and St. Louis. These trips were sometimes made in the course of one night of driving. The crew always travelled by car, since it was the cheapest option.

 In 1939, Prima dissolved his Gang in favour of fronting a big band of his own; The Gleeby Rhythm Orchestra. In World War II, Prima was deemed unfit for military service because of a knee injury, so he continued performing. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended his performance in Washington D.C., and formally invited him to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday celebration. He appeared in photographs with the President, which ultimately boosted his publicity.

                           

He moved to Los Angeles where he headlined at the Famous Door nightclub. In 1948, he hired sixteen year old Dorothy Keely Smith, as his singer and their onstage chemistry was immediate. He would make her Mrs. Prima number four in 1952. In 1954, Prima accepted a booking at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas and his late 

Prima, Smith and Elvis

show became one of the city’s hottest attractions.

In January 1961, Prima was invited by Frank Sinatra to perform in the inaugural gala for President John F. Kennedy; the two played "Old Black Magic" together. The constant performances and Prima's infidelities were too much for Smith. After finishing up their contract at the Desert Inn, she filed for divorce at the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Nevada in Las Vegas. Prima married another singer, Gia Maione, after which he continued to work in Vegas.

In 1967, Disney, in an inspired decision, cast Prima in the animated feature, “The Jungle Book” as the orangutan, King Louis. "I Wanna Be Like You" was a hit song from the movie that led to the recording of two albums with Phil Harris who voiced Baloo the Bear: “The Jungle Book” and “More Jungle Book”, on Disneyland Records. He also appeared on the soundtrack to “The Man Called Flintstone”. Prima's act moved back to New Orleans in the early 1970s.

Prima suffered a heart attack in 1973. Two years later, following headaches and episodes of memory loss, he sought medical attention, and was diagnosed with a brain stem tumour. He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and went into a coma following surgery. He never recovered, and died three years later, in 1978, having been moved back to New Orleans. He was buried in Metairie Cemetery in a gray marble crypt topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel, sculpted in 1997 by Russian-born sculptor Alexei Kazantsev. The inscription on the crypt's door quotes the lyrics from one of his hits: "When the end comes, I know, they'll say, 'just a gigolo' as life goes on without me…"

 (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia)