In 1982, the British rock’n’roll revival band The Stargazers laid down a version of one of Louis Prima’s greatest shuffles Oh Marie. Although supported by a stylishly shot video by Absolute Beginners director Julian Temple, they were dismayed when CBS put it out as Hey Marie for their second single. Possibly the band were right, because Hey Marie didn’t chart. But it was a fine piece of work, Danny Brittain delivering a Prima-esque vocal without sounding like a carbon copy, and the Anders Janes (double bass) and Ricky Lee Brawn (drums) rhythm section
Horn of plenty: The charismatic Louis Prima blasts his trumpet for a studio portrait in Los Angeles, 1958
© MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
on top form. Three years before David Lee Roth of Van Halen launched a solo career with an excavation of Prima’s Just AGigolo / I Ain’t Got Nobody in 1985, which was widely seen as sparking arevival of interest in Prima’s music, The Stargazers had already done it for more selective British rock’n’roll fans.