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Fats Domino

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Fats Domino
Domino in concert in Germany in 1977
Background information
Birth name	Antoine Domino Jr.
Also known as	Fats, The Fat Man
Born	February 26, 1928 (age 85) New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Origin	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Genres	R&B, rock and roll, piano blues, boogie-woogie
Occupations	Songwriter, musician
Instruments	Piano, vocals
Years active	1949–present
Labels	Imperial, ABC, Mercury, Broadmoor, Reprise, Sonet, Warner Bros. Records, Toot Toot

Antoine "Fats" Domino Jr. (born February 26, 1928) is an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. Domino released five gold (million-copy-selling) records before 1955.^[1] Domino also had 35 Top 40 American hits and has a music style based on traditional rhythm and blues ensembles of bass, piano, electric guitar, drums, and saxophone.^[1]

Contents

• 1 Life
  • 1.1 Imperial Records era (1949–1962)
  • 1.2 Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)
  • 1.3 Later career (1980s–2005)
  • 1.4 Domino and Hurricane Katrina
  • 1.5 Post-Katrina activity
• 2 Influence
• 3 Singles discography
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Life

Domino was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Domino family were of French Creole background; Creole was his first language. Domino was delivered at home by his midwife grandmother. Like most families in the Lower Ninth Ward, Domino's family were new arrivals from Vacherie, Louisiana.^[2]
His father was a well-known violinist, and Domino was inspired to play himself. He eventually learned from his uncle, jazz guitarist Harrison Verrett.^[1]

Imperial Records era (1949–1962)

Fats Domino singing "Blueberry Hill" on The Ed Sullivan Show (1956)

 

Domino first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1950 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a strong back beat. "The Fat Man" sold one million copies by 1953.^[3] Fats Domino released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummers Earl Palmer and Smokey Johnson. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That A Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit No. 1 with a milder cover of the song^[4] that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino eventually had 37 Top 40 singles.

Domino's first album, Carry on Rockin', was released under the Imperial imprint, No. 9009, in November 1955 and subsequently reissued as Rock and Rollin' with Fats Domino in 1956.^[5] Combining a number of his hits along with some tracks that had not yet been released as singles,^[5] the album went on under its alternate title to reach No. 17 on the "Pop Albums" chart.^[6]
His 1956 version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached No. 2 in the Top 40, was No. 1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit.^[4]
"Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956–57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others. He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home" (Pop No. 14), "I'm Walkin'" (Pop No. 4), "Valley of Tears" (Pop No. 8), "It's You I Love" (Pop No. 6), "Whole Lotta Loving" (Pop No. 6), "I Want to Walk You Home" (Pop No. 8), and "Be My Guest" (Pop No. 8).
Domino appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock!^[7] and The Girl Can't Help It.^[8] On December 18, 1957, his hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

On November 2, 1956, a riot broke out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Domino jumped out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members were slightly injured.^[9]
Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960, Pop No. 6), co-written by Bobby Charles, and "My Girl Josephine" (Pop No. 14) from the same year. After Imperial Records was sold to outside interests in early 1963, Domino left the label: "I stuck with them until they sold out," he claimed in 1979. In all, Domino recorded over 60 singles for the label, placing 40 songs in the top 10 on the R&B charts, and scoring 11 top 10 singles on the pop charts. Twenty-two of Domino's Imperial singles were double-sided hits.

Post-Imperial recording career (1963–1970s)

Domino moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963. The label dictated that he record in Nashville rather than New Orleans. He was assigned a new producer (Felton Jarvis) and a new arranger (Bill Justis); Domino's long-term collaboration with producer/arranger/frequent co-writer Dave Bartholomew, who oversaw virtually all of his Imperial hits, was seemingly at an end.
Jarvis and Justis changed the Domino sound somewhat, notably by adding the backing of a countrypolitan-style vocal chorus to most of his new recordings. Perhaps as a result of this tinkering with an established formula, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He released 11 singles for ABC-Paramount, but only had one top 40 entry with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963). By the end of 1964 the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.
Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, leaving ABC-Paramount in mid-1965 and recording for a variety of other labels: Mercury, Dave Bartholomew's small Broadmoor label (reuniting with Bartholomew along the way), and Reprise. His final Top 100 chart single was on Reprise, a cover of the Beatles' "Lady Madonna", which peaked at No. 100 in 1968. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades.
He made a cameo appearance in the movie Any Which Way You Can, filmed in 1979 and released in 1980, which resulted in a Country Chart hit, "Whiskey Heaven".

Later career (1980s–2005)

In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked any place else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy.
Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac automobile. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. Domino's last tour was a three-week European Tour in 1995.^[10] In 1998, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts.^[11] In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".^[12]
By the end of his career, Domino was credited with more charted rock hits than any other classic rock artist except for Elvis Presley.^[3]

Domino and Hurricane Katrina

Graffiti on Domino's home from the time he was rumored dead

Fats Domino's office, June 2007

When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005 Domino chose to stay at home with his family, partly because of his wife Rosemary's poor health. His house was in an area that was heavily flooded.
Someone thought Domino was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed", which was shown in news photos. On September 1, talent agent Al Embry announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.
Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. Prior to this, even family members had not heard from Domino since before the storm.^[13] Embry confirmed that Domino and his family had been rescued. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominos 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.^[14]
By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun (see Reconstruction of New Orleans). In the meantime, the Domino family resided in Harvey, Louisiana.
President George W. Bush made a personal visit and replaced the National Medal of Arts that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Fats. The gold records were replaced by the RIAA and Imperial Records catalog owner Capitol Records.^[15]

Post-Katrina activity

Fats Domino, wearing a National Medal of Arts, a replacement by President George W. Bush on August 29, 2006, after the original, bestowed upon him by former President Bill Clinton, was lost in the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina

Domino was the first artist to be announced as scheduled to perform at the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival. However, he was too ill to perform when scheduled and was only able to offer the audience an on-stage greeting. He released an album, Alive and Kickin', in early 2006 to benefit Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians. The title song was recorded after Katrina, but most of the cuts were from unreleased sessions from the 1990s.
On January 12, 2007, Domino was honored with OffBeat magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Best of the Beat Awards held at House of Blues in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared the day "Fats Domino Day in New Orleans" and presented Fats with a signed declaration. OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey and WWL-TV's Eric Paulsen presented Fats with the Lifetime Achievement Award. An all-star musical tribute followed with an introduction by the legendary producer Cosimo Matassa. The Lil' Band O' Gold rhythm section, Warren Storm, Kenny Bill Stinson, David Egan and C. C. Adcock, not only anchored the band, but each contributed lead vocals, swamp pop legend Warren Storm leading off with "Let the Four Winds Blow" and "The Prisoner Song", which he proudly introduced by saying, "Fats Domino recorded this in 1958 ... and so did I." The horn section included Lil' Band O' Gold's Dickie Landry, the Iguanas' Derek Huston, and long-time Domino horn men Roger Lewis, Elliot "Stackman" Callier and Herb Hardesty. They were joined by Jon Cleary (who also played guitar in the rhythm section), Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Irma Thomas, George Porter, Jr. (who, naturally, came up with a funky arrangement for "You Keep On Knocking"), Art Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who wrote and debuted a song in tribute of Domino for the occasion. Though Domino did not perform, those near him recall him playing air piano and singing along to his own songs.
Domino returned to stage on May 19, 2007, at Tipitina's at New Orleans, performing to a full house. A foundation has been formed and a show is being planned for Domino and the restoration of his home, where he intends to return someday. "I like it down there," he said in a February 2006 CBS News interview.^[16]
In September 2007, Domino was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame in Ferriday.
In May 2009, Domino made an unexpected appearance in the audience for The Domino Effect, a namesake concert featuring Little Richard and other artists, aimed at raising funds to help rebuild schools and playgrounds damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
In October 2012, Domino was featured in season 3 of the television series Treme, playing himself.

Influence

He was an important influence on the music of the 1960s and 1970s and acknowledged as such by some of the top artists of that era. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney recorded Fats Domino songs. McCartney reportedly wrote the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" in emulation of Domino's style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 hit "Bad Penny Blues". Domino did manage to return to the "Hot 100" charts one final time in 1968—with his own recording of "Lady Madonna". That recording, as well as covers of two other songs by the Beatles, appeared on his Reprise LP Fats Is Back, produced by Richard Perry and recorded by a band that included New Orleans piano player James Booker; Domino played piano only on one track, "I'm Ready."
John Lennon covered Domino's composition "Ain't That A Shame" on his 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll, his tribute to the musicians who had influenced him.
Jamaican reggae artist Yellowman covered many songs by Fats Domino such as "Be My Guest" and "Blueberry Hill" and more.
He was the influence behind the naming of Jamaican ska band Justin Hinds and the Dominoes in the 1960s, Justin's favorite singer being Fats Domino. In 2007, various artists came together for a tribute to Domino, recording a live session containing only his songs. Guests on the album, Going Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, include Paul McCartney, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Elton John.^[17]
Domino's rhythm, accentuating the offbeat as in the song "Be My Guest", was an influence on ska music.^[18]

Singles discography

Nationally charted hits shown in bold.

A-Side	B-Side	Year	Label + Cat. No.	Chart positions
				US Hot 100	US R&B	UK
Detroit City Blues	The Fat Man	1949	Imperial 5058		2
Boogie-Woogie Baby	Little Bee	1950	Imperial 5065
Hide Away Blues	She's My Baby	1950	Imperial 5077
Hey La Bas Boogie	Brand New Baby	1950	Imperial 5085
Every Night about This Time	Korea Blues	1950	Imperial 5099		5
Tired of Crying	What's the Matter Baby	1951	Imperial 5114
Don't You Lie to Me	Sometimes I Wonder	1951	Imperial 5123
Right From Wrong	No, No Baby	1951	Imperial 5138
Rockin' Chair	Careless Love	1951	Imperial 5145		9
I'll Be Gone	You Know I Miss You	1952	Imperial 5167
Goin' Home	Reeling and Rocking	1952	Imperial 5180	30	1
Poor Poor Me	Trust in Me	1952	Imperial 5197		10
How Long	Dreaming	1952	Imperial 5209		9
Nobody Loves Me	Cheatin'	1953	Imperial 5220
Going to the River	Mardi Gras in New Orleans	1953	Imperial 5231	24	2
Please Don't Leave Me	The Girl I Love	1953	Imperial 5240		3
Rose Mary	You Said You Loved Me	1953	Imperial 5251		10
Something's Wrong	Don't Leave Me This Way	1953	Imperial 5262		6
You Done Me Wrong	Little School Girl	1954	Imperial 5272		10
Where Did You Stay	Baby Please	1954	Imperial 5283
You Can Pack Your Suitcase	I Lived My Life	1954	Imperial 5301
Love Me	Don't You Hear Me Calling You	1954	Imperial 5313
I Know	Thinking of You	1954	Imperial 5323		14
Don't You Know	Helping Hand	April 1955	Imperial 5340		7
Ain't That a Shame	La La	August 1955	Imperial 5348	10	1	23
All By Myself	Troubles of My Own	September 1955	Imperial 5357		1
Poor Me		November 1955	Imperial 5369		1
	I Can't Go On	1955	Imperial 5369		6
Bo Weevil		April 1956	Imperial 5375	35	5
	Don't Blame It on Me	1956	Imperial 5375		9
I'm in Love Again		March 1956	Imperial 5386	3	1	12
	My Blue Heaven			19	5
When My Dreamboat Comes Home		July 1956	Imperial 5396	14	2
	So Long			44	5
Blueberry Hill		September 1956	Imperial 5407	2	1	6
	Honey Chile				2	29
Blue Monday		December 1956	Imperial 5417	5	1	23
	What's the Reason I'm Not Pleasing You			50	12
I'm Walkin'	I'm in the Mood for Love	February 1957	Imperial 5428	4	1	19
The Rooster Song	My Happiness//As Time Goes By//Hey La Bas (4 song EP)	1957	Imperial 147		13
Valley of Tears		April 1957	Imperial 5442	8	2	25
	It's You I Love			6	2
When I See You		July 1957	Imperial 5454	29	14
	What Will I Tell My Heart			64	12
Wait and See		September 1957	Imperial 5467	23	7
	I Still Love You			79
The Big Beat		December 1957	Imperial 5477	26	15	20
	I Want You to Know			32
Yes My Darling	Don't You Know I Love You	February 1958	Imperial 5492	55	10
Sick and Tired		April 1958	Imperial 5515	22	14	26
	No, No			55	14
Little Mary	Prisoner's Song	July 1958	Imperial 5526	48	4
Young School Girl	It Must Be Love	August 1958	Imperial 5537	92	15
Whole Lotta Loving		October 1958	Imperial 5553	6	2
	Coquette			92	26
Telling Lies		January 1959	Imperial 5569	50	13
	When the Saints Go Marching In			50
I'm Ready		April 1959	Imperial 5585	16	7
	Margie		Imperial 5585	51		18
I Want to Walk You Home		July 1959	Imperial 5606	8	1	14
	I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday			17	22
Be My Guest		October 1959	Imperial 5629	8	2	11
	I've Been Around			33	19
Country Boy		January 1960	Imperial 5645	25		19
	If You Need Me					98
Tell Me That You Love Me		April 1960	Imperial 5660	51
	Before I Grow Too Old			84		17
Walking to New Orleans		June 1960	Imperial 5675	6	2	19
	Don't Come Knockin'			21	28
Three Nights a Week		August 1960	Imperial 5687	15	8	45
	Put Your Arms Around Me Honey			58
My Girl Josephine		October 1960	Imperial 5704	14	7	32
	Natural Born Lover			38	28
Ain't That Just Like a Woman		January 1961	Imperial 5723	33	19
	What a Price			22	7
Shu Rah		March 1961	Imperial 5734	32
	Fell in Love on Monday			32
It Keeps Rainin'	I Just Cry	May 1961	Imperial 5753	23	18	49
Let The Four Winds Blow	Good Hearted Man	July 1961	Imperial 5764	15	2
What A Party		September 1961	Imperial 5779	22		43
	Rockin' Bicycle			83
I Hear You Knocking		November 1961	Imperial 5796	67
	Jambalaya (On the Bayou)			30		41
You Win Again		February 1962	Imperial 5816	22
	Ida Jane			90
My Real Name	My Heart Is Bleeding	May 1962	Imperial 5833	59	22
Dance with Mr. Domino		July 1962	Imperial 5863	98
	Nothing New (Same Old Thing)			77
Did You Ever See a Dream Walking		September 1962	Imperial 5875	79
	Stop the Clock			103
Won't You Come on Back	Hands Across the Table	November 1962	Imperial 5895
Hum Diddy Doo	Those Eyes	January 1963	Imperial 5909	124
You Always Hurt the One You Love	Trouble Blues	March 1963	Imperial 5937	102
True Confession	Isle of Capri	May 1963	Imperial 5959
One Night	I Can't Go on This Way	1963	Imperial 5980
There Goes (My Heart Again)		May 1963	ABC 10444	59
	Can't Go on Without You			123
When I'm Walking (Let Me Walk)		July 1963	ABC 10475	114
	I've Got a Right to Cry			128
Red Sails in the Sunset	Song For Rosemary	1963	ABC 10484	35	24	34
I Can't Give You Anything But Love	Goin' Home	August 1963	Imperial 66005	114
Who Cares		1963	ABC 10512	63	27
	Just a Lonely Man	1963	ABC 10512	108
Your Cheatin' Heart	When I Was Young	1964	Imperial 66016	112
Lazy Lady		1964	ABC 10531	86	34
	I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire	1964	ABC 10531	122
If You Don't Know What Love Is	Something You Got Baby	1964	ABC 10545
Mary, Oh Mary	Packin' Up	1964	ABC 10567	127
Sally Was a Good Old Girl	For You	1964	ABC 10584	99
Kansas City	Heartbreak Hill	1964	ABC 10596	99
Why Don't You Do Right	Wigs	1965	ABC 10631
Let Me Call You Sweetheart	Goodnight Sweetheart	1965	ABC 10644
I Done Got Over It	I Left My Heart In San Francisco	1965	Mercury 72463
What's That You Got?	It's Never Too Late	1965	Mercury 72485
The Lady in Black	Working My Way Up Steady	1967	Broadmoor 104
Big Mouth	Wait 'Til It Happens to You	1967	Broadmoor 105
One For The Highway	Honest Papas Love Their Mamas Better	1968	Reprise 0696
Lady Madonna	One for the Highway	1968	Reprise 0763	100
Lovely Rita	Wait 'Till It Happens to You	1968	Reprise 0775
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey	So Swell When You're Well	1969	Reprise 0843
Make Me Belong to You	Have You Seen My Baby	1970	Reprise 0891
New Orleans Ain't the Same	Sweet Patootie	1970	Reprise 0944
Sleeping on the Job	After Hours	1978	Sonet 2168 -UK
Whiskey Heaven	--	1980	Warner Bros. 49610