FATS DOMINO

FATS DOMINO:

Born:1928,New Orleans.
Nickname: The Fat Man.
Real Name: Antoine Domino.
Genre: Blues, Country.
Style: Boogie Woogie, Jazz, R&B, Rock ‘n’ roll, Blues, Country, Swing.
Influences: Professor Longhair, Jack Dupree, Hank Williams, Fats Waller, General Jazz & Blues.
Similar Artists: Professor Longhair, Jack Dupree, Jerry Lee Lewis, Moon Mullican, Little Richard, Huey Smith, Merrill E. Moore, James Booker, Ray Charles.

Fats Domino was born in 1928 in New Orleans, Louisiana into a solid background of blues, R&B & Jazz. His earliest influences came from people such as Fats Waller & Louis Armstrong but soon he began soaking up the innovative R&B sounds of the ‘30s & ‘40s & his new favorites were such artists as Joe Turner & Amos Milburn as well as native New Orleans bluesmen like Professor Longhair & Jack Dupree. As with Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats soaked up numerous influences & besides blues, jazz & R&B these included country (notably Hank Williams) & oldtime pop & swing.
Domino recorded his first record in 1949 - "The Fat man", which was based on Jack Dupree’s "Junker blues". It became a major R&B hit in 1950 & is certainly a candidate for first rock ‘n’ roll record. He followed this record with other blues singles like "Goin’ to the river", "Goin’ home" & the political "Korea blues". These & particularly the 1955 "Ain’t that a shame" (an uptempo R&B rocker) were rock ‘n’ roll in the making & the latter was covered by clean crooner Pat Boone (who achieved a massive hit with it but showed he was no master of either blues or R&B).
Fats recorded some of the songs of his roots often as well & 2 such revivals became 2 of his biggest hits ("Blueberry hill" & "My blue heaven").Other hits Domino had in the rock ‘n’ roll era include "Blue Monday", "Hello Josephine", "Valley of tears" & "I’m walking". He also recorded Hank Williams standards ("You win again", "Cheatin’ heart" & "Jambalaya") & other country standards ("My happiness").
He was undoubtedly a big influence of Jerry Lee, who recorded "Hello Josephine"|, "I’m walking", "Sick & tired", "Blueberry hill", "My blue heaven" & others.
In recent years, Fats has suffered from health problems but he recorded & toured until the early ‘90s. Along with Jerry Lee, Fats has had more hits that any other roots based rock ‘n’ roller & his music was popular across a variety of different charts, notably pop & R&B.
Patrick Wall,
July 28, 1998.

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