Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique Domino Jr.[1] (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records.[2] Born in New Orleans to a French Creole family, Domino signed to Imperial Records in 1949. His first single "The Fat Man" is cited by some historians as the first rock and roll single and the first to sell more than 1 million copies.[3][4] Domino continued to work with the song's co-writer Dave Bartholomew, contributing his distinctive rolling piano style to Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" (1952) and scoring a string of mainstream hits beginning with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955). Between 1955 and 1960, he had eleven Top 10 US pop hits.[5] By 1955, five of his records had sold more than a million copies, being certified gold.[6]
Fats Domino
October 24, 2017 (aged 89)
- Fats
- The Fat Man
- Singer
- songwriter
- pianist
1942–2016
8
- Vocals
- piano
Domino was shy and modest by nature but made a significant contribution to the rock and roll genre.[7] Elvis Presley declared Domino a "huge influence on me when I started out" and when they first met in 1959, described him as "the real king of rock 'n' roll". The Beatles were also heavily influenced by Domino.[8][9]
Four of Domino's records were named to the Grammy Hall of Fame for their significance: "Blueberry Hill", "Ain't That a Shame", "Walking to New Orleans" and "The Fat Man".[3] He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. The Associated Press estimates that during his career, Domino "sold more than 110 million records".[10]
Biography[edit]
Early life and education[edit]
Antoine Domino Jr. was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the youngest of eight children born to Antoine Caliste Domino (1879–1964) and Marie-Donatille Gros (1886–1971). The Domino family was of French Creole background, and Louisiana Creole was his first language.[11] Like most such families, the Dominos were Catholic.[12]
Antoine was born at home with the assistance of his grandmother, a midwife. His name was initially misspelled as Anthony on his birth certificate.[13] His family had recently arrived in the Lower Ninth Ward from Vacherie, Louisiana.[14] His father was a part-time violin player who worked at a racetrack.[15][16]
He attended the Louis B. Macarty School, leaving to start work as a helper to an ice delivery man.[17] Domino learned to play the piano in about 1938 from his brother-in-law,[18] the jazz guitarist Harrison Verrett.[6][19]
Early career (1940s)[edit]
By age 14, Domino was performing in New Orleans bars.[5][20] In 1947, Billy Diamond, a New Orleans bandleader, accepted an invitation to hear the young pianist perform at a backyard barbecue. Domino played well enough that Diamond asked him to join his band, the Solid Senders, at the Hideaway Club in New Orleans, where he would earn $3 a week playing the piano.[16] Diamond nicknamed him "Fats", because Domino reminded him of pianists Fats Waller and Fats Pichon, but also because of his large appetite.[21][5]
Recordings for Imperial Records (1949–1962)[edit]
Domino was signed to the Imperial Records label in 1949 by owner Lew Chudd, to be paid royalties based on sales instead of a fee for each song. He and producer Dave Bartholomew wrote "The Fat Man", a toned down version of a song about drug addicts called "Junker Blues"; the record had sold a million copies by 1951.[17] Featuring a rolling piano and Domino vocalizing "wah-wah" over a strong backbeat, "The Fat Man" is widely considered the first rock-and-roll record to achieve this level of sales.[22][23] In 2015, the song would enter the Grammy Hall of Fame.[18]
Domino released a series of hit songs with Bartholomew (also the co-writer of many of the songs), the saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler, the bassist Billy Diamond and later Frank Fields, and the drummers Earl Palmer and Smokey Johnson. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were the saxophonists Reggie Houston,[24] Lee Allen,[25] and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader.[26]
Personal life[edit]
Domino was married to Rosemary Domino (née Hall) from 1947 until her death in 2008; the couple had eight children: Antoine III (1950–2015), Anatole, Andre (1952–1997), Antonio, Antoinette, Andrea, Anola, and Adonica.[7][96]
Even after his success he continued to live in his old neighborhood, the Lower Ninth Ward, until after Hurricane Katrina, when he moved to a suburb of New Orleans.[53][97]
