Bartholomew had heard of Fats Domino, and the two of them went to the Hideaway Club to see his act. He'd made a prior appointment to look up Bartholo?mew and scout out talent for his California-based label. One day in 1949, Lew Chudd, owner of Imperial Records came to New Orleans. In 1948, he married Rose Mary Hall, his childhood sweetheartĮnter trumpeter Dave Bartholomew, the leader of a popular local dance band that had already recorded on the DeLuxe label. But Fats fooled them all: within two years he was back playing with a small combo in a local roadhouse called the Hideaway Club. One day a pile of springs fell on his hands and doctors told him he'd never play the piano again. Working for pennies was all well and good, but he also had a "real" job, working in a bedspring factory. However, Fats' career almost ended before it started. Of course, there were also the boogie-woogie and stride giants: Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, Champion Jack Dupree, and Roy "Professor Longhair" Byrd. He must have gathered a lot of pennies, because by the time he was 17 or so, Billy Diamond, in whose band he was playing, had already started calling him "Fats." (A photo from around 1945, however, shows "Slim" Domino.)įats' early influences were Louis Jordan, Roy Milton, Amos Milburn, Joe Turner, Camille Howard, Count Basie, Little Willie Littlefield, and Charles Brown (not a bad bunch to have influence you). It took only two years before he was performing for pennies in some of the wilder local clubs. When he was six, the family (there were eight other children) inherited an old upright piano, and he took to it eagerly, influenced by his brother-in-law Harrison Verret (a banjo and guitar player). There was nothing threatening about his appearance or his music adults accepted him almost as easily as their kids.Īntoine Domino was born Februin (of course) New Orleans. Add to that 6 Pop hits that didn't make the R&B charts! (Even Elvis "only" had 38 tunes on the Pop charts in the 50s.) In a way, Fats was the Nat "King" Cole of 50s R&B he just sang, without gimmicks, and made it sound easy. Fats' total was 46 (27 of which also made the Pop charts. But, in truth, it has a single meaning: the epithet of Antoine "Fats" Domino, one of the mainstays of 1950s Rhythm And Blues music.įats was the top-selling male R&B artist of the 50s, during which Chuck Berry placed 16 songs on the R&B charts and Little Richard placed 18. "The Fat Man From New Orleans" might suggest many things: a Dashiell Hammett novel, a Hollywood comedy, a Cajun restaurant. Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks - FATS DOMINO
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