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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that belts out the greatest hits of history every

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Speaker 1: day of the week. I'm Gabeluesier, and in this episode,

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Speaker 1: we're looking at the life and work of Fats Domino,

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Speaker 1: a New Orleans original whose lively rhythms and mellow voice

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Speaker 1: helped Americans find common ground on the dance floor. The

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Speaker 1: day was February twenty sixth, nineteen twenty eight. Legendary musician

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Speaker 1: Antoine Fats Domino Junior was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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Speaker 1: After discovering his passion for music at a young age,

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Speaker 1: Domino helped define the sound of his city and became

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Speaker 1: one of the first and most popular stars of the

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Speaker 1: early rock era. His career spanned five decades, producing more

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Speaker 1: than thirty top forty hits and selling more than sixty

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Speaker 1: five million records worldwide. Fats Domino grew up in the

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Speaker 1: Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. He was the youngest

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Speaker 1: of eight children born to Antoine Domino Senior, a former

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Speaker 1: plantation worker, and Dona tiel Grow, a Creole woman from

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Speaker 1: nearby Vacherie. At the age of seven, Domino's life changed

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Speaker 1: forever when one of his sisters married a local jazz

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Speaker 1: musician named Harrison Verrett. The family already had an old,

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Speaker 1: upright piano in the house, which Domino had tinkered with

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Speaker 1: on occasion, but when Verrett joined the family, he taught

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Speaker 1: his younger brother in law how to play it properly.

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Speaker 1: He also introduced him to the vibrant New Orleans music scene,

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Speaker 1: and by age ten, Domino was already performing in local

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Speaker 1: clubs as a singer and pianist. Four years later, Domino

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Speaker 1: dropped out of high school to focus on his budding

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Speaker 1: music career. He had to work in a bed factory

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Speaker 1: and haul ice to make a living, but at night

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Speaker 1: he would take to the stage at famous spots like

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Speaker 1: The Hideaway. At the time, most of the songs he

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Speaker 1: played he had learned from jukeboxes, taking his cues from

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Speaker 1: boogie woogie piano players and singers like Mead Lux, Lewis

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Speaker 1: Clarence Pinetop Smith, and Lewis Jordan. In a two thousand

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Speaker 1: and four interview, Domino recalled his early inspirations, saying quote,

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Speaker 1: back then, I used to play everybody's records. Everybody's records,

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Speaker 1: who made records, I used to hear them, listen at

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Speaker 1: him five, six, seven, eight times, and I could play

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Speaker 1: it just like the record because I had a good

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Speaker 1: ear for catching notes. By nineteen forty six, Domino was

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Speaker 1: a regular at the Hideaway, playing piano in the band

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Speaker 1: of local bas bassist Billy Diamond. It was Diamond who

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Speaker 1: gave Domino the nickname Fats, a reference both to his

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Speaker 1: weight and to his musical talent, both of which reminded

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Speaker 1: Diamond of other stout piano players of the era, namely

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Speaker 1: Fats Waller and Fats Pishon Fats, Domino became the band's

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Speaker 1: frontman and biggest draw, amassing a sizeable following over the

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Speaker 1: next few years. Then, in nineteen forty nine, bandleader and

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Speaker 1: trumpet player Dave Bartholomew caught one of their shows at

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Speaker 1: the Hideaway and convinced music executive Lou Chud to sign

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Speaker 1: Domino to his label, Imperial Records, with Bartholomew as his

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Speaker 1: writing partner. Domino cut his first track for Imperial later

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Speaker 1: that year. It was called the Fat Man, based on

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Speaker 1: his nickname, and was a rewrite of an old piano

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Speaker 1: blue song called Junker Blues. The song was reworked to

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Speaker 1: showcase Domino's signature style raucous two handed piano playing with

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Speaker 1: a sped up beat, also known as two fisted barrel

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Speaker 1: house piano with triplets. Take a listen.

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Speaker 2: Man, coll in a Batman, Cobby nor Mobbyround.

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Speaker 1: The Fat Man climbed all the way to number two

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Speaker 1: on the R and B charts and became the first

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Speaker 1: rock and roll record to sell a million copies. It

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Speaker 1: was the first of many successes in the Domino Bartholomew partnership.

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Speaker 1: The two would go on to write a string of

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Speaker 1: hits in the early nineteen fifties, including Goin' Home and

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Speaker 1: Going to the River, both of which also sold over

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Speaker 1: a million copies. Domino's distinctive style of piano playing, coupled

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Speaker 1: with his smooth baritone voice, helped him stand out in

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Speaker 1: the air crowded field of black R and B singers.

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Speaker 1: Not only that, his embrace of the emerging rock and

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Speaker 1: roll genre also helped him break through to the mainstream,

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Speaker 1: largely white market. His first success in that regard was

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Speaker 1: his nineteen fifty five top ten hit Ain't It a Shame.

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Speaker 1: The song was quickly covered by Pat Boone as Ain't

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Speaker 1: That a Shame and went to number one on the

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Speaker 1: Pop charts. The increased visibility prompted Domino to re record

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Speaker 1: his song under Boone's title, and it's that version that

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Speaker 1: remains the most popular today. Here's a clip. You made

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Speaker 1: me cried when you see it? Goodbye, A shame, my

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Speaker 1: Dear Milly Rage, shame.

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Speaker 2: You do one.

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Speaker 1: Rope my heart when you see it.

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Speaker 3: My Weal Part.

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Speaker 1: Nineteen fifty six proved to be an even bigger year

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Speaker 1: for Fats Domino. He racked up five top forty hits,

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Speaker 1: including I'm in Love Again, my Blue Heaven, and a

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Speaker 1: cover version of Glenn Miller's Blueberry Hill, which reached number

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Speaker 1: two on the pop charts. The rest of Domino's banner

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Speaker 1: year included appearances in two Hollywood movies, The Girl Can't

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Speaker 1: Help It and Shake, Rattle and Rock, as well as

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Speaker 1: performances on major TV variety shows such as Ed Sullivan.

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Speaker 1: The following year was even busier, with Domino and his

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Speaker 1: band embarking on a grueling thirteen thousand mile tour across

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Speaker 1: the country. They played more than three hundred and fifty

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Speaker 1: shows in front of sold out crowds of both black

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Speaker 1: and white fans. Yet, despite Domino's crossover success, he and

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Speaker 1: his band still encountered racist policies wherever they went. They

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Speaker 1: were routinely denied access to hotels and restaurants, and were

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Speaker 1: forced to use segregated bathrooms at some of the very

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Speaker 1: venues they were playing. In spite of those indignities, Domino

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Speaker 1: remained one of the top acts in rock and roll

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Speaker 1: for the rest of the decade, cranking out more hit

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Speaker 1: songs like Whole Lot of Loving I'm Ready in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty nine's I Want to Walk You Home.

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Speaker 3: Take a listen, A wa to walk you, lit be

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Speaker 3: walked you, I walk to walk you. P we lit

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Speaker 3: me walk you.

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Speaker 1: You look so good to me.

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Speaker 2: Oh I wish I was you could walk.

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Speaker 1: You right on Rodi Movie Fats. Domino's last big hit

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Speaker 1: came in nineteen sixty with Walkin to New Orleans. From

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Speaker 1: that point on, his music became less and less commercially popular,

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Speaker 1: a process which was greatly hastened by the British invasion

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Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty four. Ironically, Domino's music had inspired many

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Speaker 1: of the artists who took his place. For instance, Ain't

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Speaker 1: That a Shame was the first song John Lennon learned

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Speaker 1: to play on guitar, and he later said very plainly

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Speaker 1: that quote, there wouldn't have been a Beatles without Fats Domino.

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Speaker 1: Paul McCartney was a big fan as well, and even

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Speaker 1: wrote the piano heavy Beatles song Lady Madonna as a

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Speaker 1: kind of tribute. Domino would later return the gesture by

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Speaker 1: covering the song himself in nineteen sixty eight, Lady Madonna,

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Speaker 1: I know.

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Speaker 2: To the music.

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Speaker 3: Many.

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Speaker 1: His chart topping days may have been behind him by then,

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Speaker 1: but Domino would continue recording and performing for the next

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Speaker 1: forty years. By the mid nineteen nineties, he had started

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Speaker 1: to limit his public appearances, preferring to stay close to

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Speaker 1: his lifelong home in New Orleans, where he lived comfortably

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Speaker 1: with his wife, Rosemary and their eight children. Domino rarely

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Speaker 1: left his native city in his later years, but he

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Speaker 1: would occasionally play local concerts, such as the famous New

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Speaker 1: Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The musician's private nature even

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Speaker 1: kept him from attending events held in his honor. For example,

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Speaker 1: he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of

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Speaker 1: Fame in nineteen eighty six, received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy

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Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven, and was awarded the National Medal

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Speaker 1: of arts from President Bill Clinton in nineteen ninety eight,

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Speaker 1: but in all of those cases, the musician declined to

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Speaker 1: appear in person. Domino's hesitance to leave his beloved New

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Speaker 1: Orleans got him into a tight spot in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five, when Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the city.

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Speaker 1: He refused to evacuate ahead of the storm, as his

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Speaker 1: wife was in poor health at the time and unable

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Speaker 1: to travel. When the hurricane hit, Domino's home in the

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Speaker 1: Lower Ninth Ward was badly flooded, and like many other residents,

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Speaker 1: he lost nearly everything he owned. Because none of Domino's

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Speaker 1: friends could get a hold of him, rumors began to

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Speaker 1: swirl that the musician had died in the hurricane, but

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Speaker 1: thankfully that turned out not to be the case, and

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Speaker 1: the Coastguard was able to rescue Domino and his family

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Speaker 1: on September first, One year later, he dispelled the rumors

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Speaker 1: of his death by releasing what would be his final

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Speaker 1: studio album, fittingly titled A Live and Kicking. A portion

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Speaker 1: of the proceeds from its sale went to helping local

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Speaker 1: musicians who had also been impacted by Katrina. Back on

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Speaker 1: his feet, but still avoiding the spotlight as best he could.

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Speaker 1: Fats Domino went on to live for another eleven years.

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Speaker 1: The rock and roll legend died of natural causes on

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Speaker 1: October twenty fourth, twenty seventeen, at the age of eighty nine.

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Speaker 1: Fats Domino is remembered today as a rock and roll

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Speaker 1: pioneer who helped break down color barriers in American music.

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Speaker 1: The broad, enduring appeal of his music is a legacy

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Speaker 1: he would have been proud of, because, as Domino told

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Speaker 1: the La Times in nineteen eighty five, quote, I was

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Speaker 1: lucky enough to write songs that carry a good beat

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Speaker 1: and tell a real story that people could feel was

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Speaker 1: their story too, something that old people or the kids

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Speaker 1: could both enjoy. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now

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Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and

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Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, you can always

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Speaker 1: send them my way by writing to this day at

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Speaker 1: iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for

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Speaker 1: producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another day in

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Speaker 1: history class,