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Fats Domino music biography continued...

Louisiana, Domino began playing piano at nine and a year later was playing for pennies in small local clubs where he got the nickname "Fats" for his considerable frame. In the mid-1940s Domino joined trumpeter Dave Bartholomew's band. Bartholomew recognized Domino's talent which led to a solo contract with Imperial, and the 1949 album "The Fat Man," which eventually sold one million copies. By the time the rock & roll boom began in the mid-1950s, Domino had established himself as an R&B hitmaker ("Goin' Home," 1952; "Going to the River," 1953), but it wasn't until 1955, when Pat Boone covered his instant classic, "Ain't That A Shame," that Domino established himself as a rock and roll star amongst both black and white teenagers. For the next five years Domino struck solid gold with "I'm in Love Again" (Number Three), "Blueberry Hill" (Number Two), and "Blue Monday" (Number Five) in 1956; "I'm Walkin'" (Number Four, 1957); "Whole Lotta Loving" (Number Six, 1958); and many others. He eventually collected 23 gold singles. His last million-seller came in 1960 with "Walkin' to New Orleans." All in all, critics hailed Domino as "the only successful rhythm and blues singer to have consistent popularity in the pop charts without greatly changing his style."



Like that of many other American rock pioneers of the 1950s, Domino's popularity declined with the introduction of British and psychedelic rock in the 1960s. He left Imperial for ABC in 1963, and had a moderate hit with "Red Sails in the Sunset," but did not reach the charts again except for a modest success with his version of the Beatles' "Lady Madonna" in 1968. Through the mid-1970s Fats played six to eight months a year. In 1980 he performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Domino continues to tour and record sporadically. And he made headlines in 2005 when he was dramatically rescued from his New Orleans home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He followed with the benefit CD Alive and Kickin' in 2006. Fans are sure glad he is.