Early rock ’n’ roller embodied buoyant spirit, droll resilience
Singer had more than three dozen Top 40 pop hits in the 1950s, ’60s
Fats Domino, the New Orleans rhythmand-blues singer whose two-fisted boogiewoogie piano and nonchalant vocals, heard on dozens of hits, made him one of the biggest stars of the early rock ’n’ roll era, died Tuesday at his home in Harvey, La., across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. He was 89.
His death was confirmed by the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office.
Domino had more than three dozen Top 40 pop hits through the 1950s and early ’60s, among them “Blueberry Hill,” “Ain’t It a Shame” (also known as “Ain’t That a Shame,” which is the actual lyric), “I’m Walkin’,” “Blue Monday” and “Walkin’ to New Orleans.” Throughout, he displayed both the buoyant spirit of New Orleans, his hometown, and a droll resilience that reached listeners worldwide.
He sold 65 million singles in those years, with 23 gold records, making him second only to Elvis Presley as a commercial force. Presley acknowledged Domino as a predecessor.
Rotund and standing 5 feet 5 inches — he would joke that he was as wide as he was tall — Domino had a big, infectious grin, a fondness for ornate, jewel-encrusted rings and an easygoing manner in performance; even in plaintive songs his voice had a smile in it. And he was a master of the wordless vocal, making hits out of songs full of “woo-woo”s and “la-la”s.
Working with songwriter, producer and arranger David Bartholomew, Domino and his band carried New Orleans parade rhythms into rock ’n’ roll and put a local stamp on nearly everything they touched.
In 1947, Domino married Rosemary Hall, and they had eight children: Antoine III, Anatole, Andre, Antonio, Antoinette, Andrea, Anola and Adonica. His wife died in 2008.
In 1949, Bartholomew brought Lew Chudd, the owner of Imperial Records in Los Angeles, to the New Orleans’ club the Hideaway. Chudd signed Domino on the spot, with a contract, unusual for the time, that paid royalties rather than a onetime purchase of songs.
Immediately, Domino and Bartholomew
wrote “The Fat Man” and recorded it with Bartholomew’s studio band. By 1951, it had sold a million copies.
Domino’s trademark triplets, picked up from “It’s Midnight,” a 1949 record by boogie-woogie pianist and singer Little Willie Littlefield, appeared on his next rhythm-and-blues hit, “Every Night About This Time.” The technique spread like wildfire, becoming a virtual requirement for rock ’n’ roll ballads.
Domino’s appeal to white teenagers broadened as he embarked on national tours and appeared with mixed-race rock ’n’ roll revues. Appearances on national television, on Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan’s shows, put him in millions of living rooms.
Domino had his biggest hit in 1956 with his version of “Blueberry Hill,” a song that had been recorded by Glenn Miller’s big band in 1940. It peaked at No. 2 on the pop charts and sold a reported 3 million copies.
He followed with two more top five pop hits: “Blue Monday” and “I’m Walkin’.”
His life on the road ended in the early 1980s, when he decided that he did not want to leave New Orleans, saying it was the only place where he liked the food.
He went on to perform regularly at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Reclusive and notoriously resistant to interview requests, Domino stayed home even when he received a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 1987. (He did travel to New York when he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 as one of its first members, although he did not take part in the jam session that concluded the ceremony.) In 1999, when he was awarded the National Medal of Arts, he sent his daughter Antoinette to the White House to pick up the prize.
He even refused to leave New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city on Aug. 29, 2005, remaining at his flooded home — he was living in the Lower Ninth Ward then — until he was rescued by helicopter Sept. 1.
“I wasn’t too nervous,” about waiting to be saved, he told The New York Times in 2006. “I had my little wine and a couple of beers with me; I’m all right.”