Fats Domino, the piano-playing prodigy whose lightning-fast fingers crafted a rollicking sound blending rock with rhythm-and-blues, has died, authorities said Wednesday.
He was 89.
Domino, a native of New Orleans, died at a private residence early Tuesday morning, according to the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office in Louisiana.
He first learned to play the piano from his brother-in-law, and would go on to inspire Elvis Presley and The Beatles in a career that spanned more than five decades. In his 20s, Domino gained fame with the 1955 hit, “Ain’t That a Shame,” and his 1956 rock n’ roll version of “Blueberry Hill,” which he performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and saw shoot to No. 2 on the Top 40 charts.
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He found further success with a string of other hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including “I’m Walkin'” and “Walking to New Orleans.”
With his recognizable voice and cherubic face, Domino was a familiar sight on the screen. He made appearances in movies, including 1956’s “Shake, Rattle & Rock!” and on the 1969 Monkees’ television special, “33-1/3 Revolutions per Monkee.”
Domino was born Antoine Domino Jr. in 1928, the eighth child in a French Creole family.
According to biographies about Domino, New Orleans bandleader Billy Diamond, who heard the young man play, nicknamed him “Fats” because he reminded him of pianists Fats Waller and Fats Pichon.
Domino in 1986 was among the first acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine in 2004 ranked him as No. 25 on its list of “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”
In a tweet Wednesday, Harry Connick Jr. remembered Domino for helping to “pave the way for new orleans piano players… see you on top of that blueberry hill in the sky.”
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