Legacy
In 2010, honoring his lifelong commitment to the music of the city of his birth, and to commemorate the 100th anniversary of that event, Prima was honored by being the annual poster subject of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, in a painting created by artist and singer Tony Bennett, under his birth name Anthony Benedetto.
On July 25, 2010 Louis Prima received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame's 50th anniversary on the year of his 100th birthday. His son, Louis Prima Jr, performed a concert in honor of his father, which included all of Louis Prima's hits.
On November 1, 2010 Chicago Review Press released That Old Black Magic: Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and the Golden Age of Las Vegas by Tom Clavin. The book focuses on many aspects of Prima's life, particularly his act and relationship with Keely Smith.
The Prima-Butera arrangements and recordings continued to be copied by younger musicians, including David Lee Roth, who covered his medley of "Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" in the 1980s, and Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and other nouveau swing bands of the 1990s, covering such Prima standards as "Jump, Jive and Wail". The pop band Smash Mouth mentioned his name in the song "Heave-Ho" (from their album Fush Yu Mang), and covered "I Wanna Be Like You" for the soundtrack album of The Jungle Book. "I Wanna Be Like You" was also covered by Los Lobos, Phish and by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy for the soundtrack of the 1996 movie Swingers. The surviving original members of Bill Haley & His Comets have recorded and performed several of Prima's songs since the mid-1990s, most notably "Buona Sera", which they dedicate to Prima's memory.
Louis Prima wrote the swing classic "Sing Sing Sing" which was covered by Fletcher Henderson and Benny Goodman. In 1940, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra recorded "Be Happy", a song Louis Prima co-wrote. "A Sunday Kind of Love" was another Louis Prima composition that became a standard of the swing and big band era. "Jump Jive an' Wail" was a Louis Prima composition that became another standard, a song which was revived by Brian Setzer.
Prima's original recordings have also featured in many films, including Mad Dog and Glory, Big Night, Anger Management, Mickey Blue Eyes, The Sopranos, Casino, Swingers, Kicking and Screaming, Elf, Swing Kids, Analyze This and Igor, as well as the game Mafia II. Prima's character also plays an important role in the film Big Night; he is the famous celebrity who never appears.
Sam Butera and the Wildest toured with their Prima tribute, between 2000 and 2004, before Butera retired. He died from complications due to pneumonia, on June 3, 2009.
Also in 2008, Louis Prima was posthumously inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)