Featured Artist: Fats Domino 5/3/98
On Sunday, May 3, 1993 I will be doing a feature
on Fats Domino from 3:00-4:30 AM. He was born Antoine Domino on May 10, 1928, in New
Orleans, LA. As a child he played piano, sang and performed in public at the age of 10.
Fats continued with music into and through his childhood and joined the Dave Bartholomew
Band in the mid 40’s.
Fats signed a contract with Imperial Records in 1949. His first record
to be released was called The Fat Man and reached the R&B charts in 1950. The
record became a million seller and became the source of his nick name "Fats."
Fats Domino exploded onto the rock-’n-roll scene in 1955 with his
song, "Ain’t That a Shame." He continued to write songs for Dave
Bartholomew, many of which became hits. In 1956 his put five songs in the top forty,
including "I’m In Love Again" and Fats’ rendition of a song that had
reached number one for Glenn Miller in 1940, "Blueberry Hill." The latter went
to reach number two and was Domino’s highest charting record ever.
His popularly soared when in 1957 he appeared in a move that many
consider to be the best rock-’n-roll movie ever made, "The Girl Can’t Help
It." He sang his hit "Blue Monday."
Fats had a smoky voice with a bit of New Orleans-style accent derived
from his first language of French. He made music that was fun to listen to and in addition
to his pounding piano you could hear a sax riff form Herb Hardesty or Lee Allen.
Fats Domino has his final top ten songs in 1960 which included
"Walking to New Orleans." He also recorded some old Hank Williams songs such as
"Jambalaya" and "You Win Again" and old standards such as "Red
Sails in the Sunset." He made more films along the way, including "Shake, Rattle
and Roll." Fats played Las Vegas frequently and recently in Great Britain his tour
was cut short due to health problems.
Fats still lives in New Orleans with his wife Rosemary, with whom he
has had eight children. His awards are many, including Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement
and Hall of Fame Awards. He recorded 23 gold singles, most of them during
rock-’n-roll’s formative years, 1955-60.
Tune in on Sunday’s from 3-6 AM when I will play the best music
from the 50’s to the 70’s, including R&R, R&B, Jazz and Folk, with
featured artist profiles for the first half of each show. Feel free to call and request
artists for this feature.
Copyright©WWUH: May/June Program Guide, 1998 |
