Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928-October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist and singer-songwriter.
One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. 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.
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. By 1955, five of his records had sold more than a million copies, being certified gold.
Domino was shy and modest by nature but made a significant contribution to the rock and roll genre.
Elvis Presley declared Domino a huge influence on me when I started out and described him as the real king of rock 'n' roll. The artist himself did not define his work as rock and roll, saying of the genre It wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playing down in New Orleans.
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.
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.
More information: Fats Domino Official
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. Like most such families, the Dominos were Catholic.
Antoine was born at home with the assistance of his grandmother, a midwife. His name was initially misspelled as Anthony on his birth certificate. His family had recently arrived in the Lower Ninth Ward from Vacherie, Louisiana. His father was a part-time violin player who worked at a racetrack.
He attended the Louis B. Macarty School, leaving to start work as a helper to an ice delivery man.
Domino learned to play the piano in about 1938 from his brother-in-law, the jazz guitarist Harrison Verrett. By age 14, Domino was performing in New Orleans bars.
In 1947, Billy Diamond, a New Orleans bandleader, accepted an invitation to hear the young pianist perform at a backyard barbecue.
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.
Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville, Tennessee, rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis).
In 1986, Domino was one of the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. Domino's last album for a major label, Christmas Is a Special Day, was released in 1993.
As Hurricane Katrina approached New Orleans in August 2005, Domino chose to stay at home with his family, partly because his wife, Rosemary, was in poor health. His house was in an area that was heavily flooded.
Domino was rumored to have died, and his home was vandalized when someone spray-painted the message RIP Fats. You will be missed.
On September 1, the talent agent Al Embry announced that he had not heard from Domino since before the hurricane struck. Later that day, CNN reported that Domino had been rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Until then, even family members had not heard from him since before the storm. Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The family was then taken to a shelter in Baton Rouge, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and the boyfriend of Domino's granddaughter. He let the family stay in his apartment.
The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. We've lost everything, Domino said, according to the Post.
More information: Rock's Back Pages Library
By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. In the meantime, the Domino family resided in Harvey, Louisiana.
Domino was scheduled to perform at the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans. However, he was suffering from anxiety and was forced to cancel the performance, but he did appear to offer the audience an on-stage greeting.
In 2006 Domino's album Alive and Kickin' was released to benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians and helps preserve the New Orleans sound. The album consists of unreleased recordings from the 1990s and received great critical acclaim.
In September 2007, Domino was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
Domino died on October 24, 2017, at his home in Harvey, Louisiana, at the age of 89, from natural causes, according to the coroner's office.
Domino was one of the biggest stars of rock and roll in the 1950s, but he was not convinced that this was a new genre.
In 1957, Domino said: What they call rock 'n' roll now is rhythm and blues. I've been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans.
According to Rolling Stone, this is a valid statement ... all Fifties rockers, black and white, country born and city bred, were fundamentally influenced by R&B, the black popular music of the late Forties and early Fifties.
More information: CBC
but I don't remember anyone else before me playing that kind of stuff.
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