Louis Prima was born to Italian immigrant parents Angelina and Anthony Prima on December 7, 1910 in the town that he would eventually draw his biggest influences from, New Orleans, Louisiana. Louis' first instrument was a saxophone that he received on his 10th birthday from the leader of the Dixieland band that his older brother Leon was in. He never quite took to the saxophone, and eventually gave it up and studied instead the violin. Near the end of his high school career however, he switched to the instrument that he is most associated with, and for which he acquired his nickname "the lip," the trumpet. And although he had no formal training on the trumpet, as Sam Butera is quoted as saying, "Louis discovering the trumpet was like a fish discovering water."

After high school, from 1927-1934, Louis played throughout New Orleans...