Fats Domino 1928-2017

Fats Domino, the singer-pianist who helped create rock and roll, died yesterday of natural causes at his home in Harvey, Louisiana.  He was 89.

Antoine Domino Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and was the youngest of the eight children of Antoine Domino Sr. and Marie-Donatille Gros.  The family was of French Creole descent, and spoke the Louisiana Creole dialect of French.  He was a student at a community college when he learned piano.  In 1947, he was invited to join a band called the Solid Senders by their leader Billy Diamond, who gave him the nickname "Fats", after two other pianists, Fats Waller and Fats Pichon.

Domino's first recording was a song entitled (perhaps appropriately) The Fat Man, which was written with his producer Dave Bartholomew.  In 1955, his Ain't That A Shame reached the Top Ten.  His biggest hit was Blueberry Hill, written in 1940 by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock.  Among his other hits were I'm Walkin', I Want To Walk You Home and Walkin' To New Orleans.  In 1986, he became one of the earliest inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Although he became a highly successful musician, Domino continued to reside in a working class neighborhood in New Orleans, until the area was flooded as a result of Hurricane Katrina.  He and his family moved to Harvey, across the Mississippi River.

Fats Domino married Rosemary Hall in 1947.  The couple had eight children.  Mrs. Domino passed away in 2008.

Read more at The New York Times, CNN, Rolling Stone, TMZ and Variety.

Here's a small sample of Fats Domino's music, starting with Ain't That A Shame, which was later covered by John Lennon and Cheap Trick.  This video looks like it might have been movie footage.


Domino performed this live version of I'm Walkin' at a Jazz Festival in The Hague, Netherlands.


In 1968, Domino covered the Beatles song Lady Madonna, which Paul McCartney wrote (with John Lennon contributing to the lyrics) while reportedly trying to sing like Domino.  From the thumbnail, you can see that Fats did indeed get to meet the Beatles.