The Fat Man

The four-disc CD set, Walking to New Orleans is number two on the Niles Library R&B Album Playlist. The man himself, representing classic New Orleans R&B, is at number 25 on the Rolling Stone Magazine 2004 list of the 100 greatest artist of all time.

Born Antoine Dominique Domino in New Orleans in 1928, Fats Domino first drew public attention in 1949 with his Imperial Records releases. The 1949 song “Fat Man” is often considered to be the first rock and roll record. “Fat Man” began a series of hits culminating in the crossover hit “Ain’t That a Shame” in 1955 which made the pop top ten.

The song “Fat Man” brought Fats in contact with Dave Bartholomew, a producer who became Domino’s songwriting partner and an important element of his success. In his Rolling Stone write up on Fats, New Orleans musician Dr. John gives credit to Bartholomew: “ He had the sense to go with the best-feeling take….People would have missed something great about Fats if they had just heard the more ‘correct’ takes—the ones without that extra off-the-wall thing that Fats would bring.”

Fats changed labels and continued to record until around 1970, and he continued to perform live as well. He retired from performing in the 1980s, no longer wanting to leave New Orleans partly because he couldn't get food he liked any place else. Domino’s home in New Orleans was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and a rumor surfaced that he had died. It turns out that he and his wife had been rescued by a coast guard helicopter and sheltered in Baton Rouge. In 2006, President George W. Bush personally delivered a replacement for the National Medal of the Arts that Fats had been awarded by President Bill Clinton and that was lost in the flood.

While not considered to be a musical innovator, Fats Domino’s recordings stand as among the warmest and most approachable in all of R&B. He remained consistently popular well into the rock and roll era. In 2007 he was honored with Offbeat Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The Beatles song “Lady Madonna: was written as an homage to Domino’s style. As of this writing he is 81 years old.

Each of the four discs in this outstanding collection is a smile-maker. Like the Ray Charles album, The Birth of Soul, the songs are arranged chronologically. The liner notes indicate the year of release and chart rankings for each song. Throughout the 1950s Fats had a string of hits which began to taper off in the 60s. Generally he ranked higher on the R&B charts than the pop, but later in his career Fats began to show up on the pop charts only. Some of his highest ranking songs include The Fat Man (#2 R&B); Going to the River (2 R&B, 24 pop); All By Myself (1 R&B); Blueberry Hill (1 R&B, 2 pop; and I'm Walking (1 R&B, 4 pop).

Fats Domino has a warm New Orleans accent and a gently rocking style heard well on Goin' Home (disc 1) and Blue Monday (disc 2). Other highlights include the classic, smooth, Blueberry Hill (disc 2), Walking to New Orleans (disc 3), a loping stroll, and My Girl Josephine (disc 4), a slow jitterbug with minimal instrumentation. This four disc set is not currently available through our library system, but is on order for our collection.