Thursday, October 26, 2017

Fats Domino [1928-2017]

Artist: Fats Domino
LP: Getaway With Fats Domino
Song: "Why Don't You Do Right"
[ listen ]
Song: "Reelin' and Rockin'"
[ listen ]

I just heard the sad news that Fats Domino has died. Born in New Orleans in 1928, Fats (real name Antoine Dominique Domino, Jr.) was performing on the piano in local bars by the time he was 14 years old. He went on to basically invent rock-n-roll—even Elvis Presley names him the real King of the genre. Fats had a string of hits in the mid-1950s and early '60s; his "Getaway With Fats Domino" LP is from 1965. 

In 2005 it was thought that Fats Domino had perished in Hurricane Katrina since nobody had heard from him, but he had actually been rescued from his flooded home by a Coast Guard helicopter. He ended up staying with the quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team for a few days, since the fellow was dating Fats' granddaughter at the time.

In Down Beat magazine in 1953, Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler made a bold prediction: “Can’t you envision a collector in 1993 discovering a Fats Domino record in a Salvation Army depot and rushing home to put it on the turntable?” he wrote. “We can. It’s good blues, it’s good jazz, and it’s the kind of good that never wears out.” As a matter of fact, I can too. You can read more about Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. on Wikipedia here, and go here to find his obituary in The New York Times.

Fats Domino
[ February 26, 1928 — October 24, 2017 ]
We will miss you, Fats.

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