Fats Domino: Legendary rock'n'roll pianist and songwriter who inspired Elvis Presley and faced down Hurricane Katrina

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A benevolent, friendly man, Fats Domino was an unlikely spearhead of the rock’n’roll revolution of the mid-Fifties. His 1949 song “The Fat Man”, a cheerful celebration of his size, can be viewed as the first rock’n’roll record. The dichotomy is easily explained: Fats Domino found his style at that time, and some years later, it happened to correspond with the new music. He is a supreme example of someone being in the right place at the right time, and was bemused at being hailed as a rock’n’roll pioneer. “Well, I wouldn’t want to say I started it,” he would say, “but I don’t remember anyone before me playing that kind of stuff.”

Domino’s music was drenched in New Orleans culture, and he was born Antoine Domino Jr in the low-lying ninth ward of the city in 1928. His first language was English, albeit spoken and sung with a heavy Creole patois.

There was little money in the house as Domino’s father tried to support his nine children with a job at the race track. His father played the violin but young Antoine Domino’s inspiration came from his uncle, Harrison Verret. Verret had played banjo with Kid Ory and he encouraged Domino to practise on an old family piano. “He’s the one that taught me the foundations,” said Domino. “Once he showed me the chords, I knew I could play with just about any band.”

Domino loved the boogie-woogie records of Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson and he loved the good humour found in Fats Waller, Big Joe Turner and Louis Jordan. He was intrigued by local heroes like Champion Jack Dupree and Professor Longhair. He saw himself as following in the tradition of New Orleans barroom entertainers, although every record he made had Fats Domino stamped right through it.

His first jobs were menial ones in the French Quarter such as working in a bakery, gardening and hauling ice. He nearly lost some fingers in an accident at a bedspring factory. In 1946 he played with Billy Diamond’s band at one of the finer venues in the city, the Hideaway Club on Desire Street. By then, Domino was 5ft 5in and 15 stone and Diamond was the first to call him “Fats”. He proved to be a main attraction with the band.

In 1947, Lew Chudd formed Imperial Records in Los Angeles and he befriended a New Orleans trumpeter, Dave Bartholomew, who was playing in Houston. When they reconvened in New Orleans, Bartholomew took him to see Fats Domino at the Hideaway Club. Bartholomew used his own band when he produced Domino’s first session in Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans in December 1949. They recorded a rewrite of Champion Jack Dupree’s 1941 single “Junker’s Blues”, now called “The Fat Man”. Because it was only recorded on a single track machine, they could not adjust Domino’s piano playing, which was too dominant. As it turned out, the scorching boogie-woogie opening sold the record. Within a fortnight, 100,000 copies had been sold in New Orleans and it made the national R&B chart, rising to number 6.

As with Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right (Mama)” (1954) and Gene Vincent’s “Be Bop a Lula” (1956), Fats Domino’s “The Fat Man” is an astonishing recording debut that also captures the essence of his future style. There is the exuberant vocal – in this instance, Domino is saying it’s OK to be fat – and from time to time, he mimics a trumpet with a “wah wah wah”. This wordless vocalising is a feature of many of his records and the Domino theory was that the public was more likely to remember sounds than words. Domino’s subsequent singles did not sell as well but the locals loved the Creole feel of “Hey! La Bas Boogie”.

In September 1950 he had another national success with “Every Night About This Time”, developing another of his trademarks, the bluesy piano triplets, which had been borrowed from Little Willie Littlefield. In 1952, he had his first R&B number 1 with the lament “Goin’ Home” and when the record was deposed, it was by another New Orleans record, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” by Lloyd Price, on which Domino played piano. Domino’s wife, Rose Mary Hall, was the inspiration for “Rose Mary”; he said, “‘Rose Mary’ was the only song I ever wrote about a real person. I wrote a lot of songs with girls’ names in them, but they weren’t real people.” He remained devoted to his wife and they raised eight children, all of their names beginning with “A”.

Because of the racial divisions in American society, successful black records were often remade with white performers. In 1955 Fats Domino topped the R&B charts for 11 weeks with “Ain’t That A Shame” but, although his record did cross over to the pop charts, the song became a US number 1 for Pat Boone. The trim Boone also inexplicably covered “The Fat Man”. Another of Domino’s hits, “Bo Weevil”, was covered by Teresa Brewer. Nevertheless, Domino appeared alongside white performers on tours organised by the DJ Alan Freed who had branded the new music “rock’n’roll”.

Fats Domino almost topped the US charts with the jovial “I’m In Love Again”, which featured an irresistible interplay between Domino’s vocal and Lee Allen’s tenor sax. The B-side of that record, “My Blue Heaven”, this time featuring his other saxophonist, Herb Hardesty, became Domino’s first UK hi, in 1956. Domino revived many standards including “I’m in the Mood for Love”, “Margie”, “Jambalaya”, “Put Your Arms Around Me, Honey” and his show-stopping “When the Saints Go Marching In”, but the most successful was the romantic “Blueberry Hill”, which reached number 2 on the US pop charts in 1956. It was also his only Top 10 success in the UK.

Bartholomew and Domino wrote many of their hits, including Domino’s personal favourite, “Blue Monday” (a song about his love of leisure) and “I’m Walkin’” (which was covered by Ricky Nelson), “I Want to Walk You Home” and “My Girl Josephine”. Anything would make a song: Domino heard someone selling roosters in the street and this led to “The Rooster Song”. His “Whole Lotta Lovin’” came from the sounds he heard in Mardi Gras parades.

Domino appeared in several of the rock’n’roll films – Shake, Rattle & Rock! (1956, singing “Honey Chile”, “I’m In Love Again”, “Ain’t That a Shame”), Disc Jockey Jamboree (1957, “Wait And See”), The Big Beat (1958, playing the title song and “I’m Walkin’”) and The Girl Can’t Help It (1956, “Blue Monday”). He always looked happy and contented, but to some, his constant grin was an example of Uncle Tom-ism. His sound had hardly changed, but he did mention rock’n’roll in lyrics such as “I’m Ready” (1959) and he had orchestral backings on several songs. His many albums included Rock and Rollin’ with Fats Domino (1956), Here Stands Fats Domino (1957), The Fabulous Mr D (1958) and A Lot of Dominoes (1960).

As well as his own songs and standards, Domino often performed songs by other New Orleans writers including Chris Kenner (“Sick and Tired”), Roy Hayes (“I’m Gonna be a Wheel Someday”) and Bobby Charles (“Walkin’ to New Orleans”, “It Keeps Rainin’”). He turned down Charles’s “See You Later Alligator”, a hit for Bill Haley and his Comets, and his brother-in-law Reggie Hall’s song “You Talk Too Much”, a hit for Joe Jones.

In 1959, when the young songwriter Tommy Boyce was about to be kicked out of his home, for indolence, Domino recorded Boyce’s “By My Guest” and gave him a million-seller. The young Ernest Evans took his stage name, Chubby Checker, as a tribute to Fats Domino, but by 1960, Domino was being regarded as repetitious rather than consistent. Strings were added on occasion and his piano can hardly be heard on “Let The Four Winds Blow” (1961) where his voice contrasts with Earl Palmer’s superb percussion. Domino’s songs became fragmentary, although, with more application, both “My Girl Josephine” and “Shu Rah” could have been, indeed should have been, classic records.

In 1963, Domino moved to ABC-Paramount and his new output had to compete with tracks he had previously recorded for Imperial. The ABC tracks were mostly disappointing, but there was a marvellous version of the standard “Red Sails in the Sunset” as well as the playfulness of “Mary Oh Mary” and “Wigs”.

Rather belatedly, Domino made his first UK appearance in 1967, appearing at Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre. The concert was a formidable success, although the Teddy boys did not care for the opening act, the Bee Gees. A few months later, the Beatles wrote and recorded “Lady Madonna”, which can be seen, in part at least, as a tribute to Domino. When Domino recorded it, he struggled with the complicated lyric. That criticism is valid for the entire album Fats Is Back (1968), as neither the producer Richard Perry nor the arranger Randy Newman realised that the best way to record Domino was to leave him alone.

Domino appeared in the concert film, Let The Good Times Roll (1973) and he sang “Whiskey Heaven” in the Clint Eastwood film Any Which Way You Can (1980). He recorded very little in later years, although Sleeping On the Job (1979) is fine and even his seasonal album, Christmas is a Special Day (1993), has its moments.

Domino loved ultra-spicy cajun cooking and, for a time, he marketed Fats Domino’s Fried Chicken. When the franchise folded, he recorded commercials for the Southern fast-food chain Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits. Throughout the Seventies, he played in Las Vegas, sometimes working there for 10 months a year. Occasionally, Elvis Presley would go on stage with the words, “Hello, I’m Fats Domino.”

In the Eighties, Domino decided to remain at home, at the flamboyant mansion he had built in New Orleans and he drove around in a pink Cadillac. Although he wore expensive jewellery, he never felt threatened because, quite simply, everybody loved him and appreciated what he had done for the city. President Bill Clinton said he would love to play saxophone for Fats Domino, but not even an invitation to the White House, nor his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, could tempt Domino to leave New Orleans.

Domino even stayed at home in 2005 when others were evacuating at the approach of Hurricane Katrina. Initially there were fears that he had died in the storm which wrecked his house, but he was eventually rescued. However, his house was ruined and most of his possessions, including his gold and platinum discs, were destroyed by the floods.

President George W Bush made a personal visit and replaced the National Medal of Arts that was lost in the debris. His gold records were also replaced.

In 2007 he played a benefit concert in aid of New Orleans, which remained his home until his death.

Antoine Domino (Fats Domino), singer and pianist, born 26 February 1928, died 24 October 2017