Antoine "Fats" Domino was born in New Orleans in 1928. He quit school at age 14 and went to work as a musician playing at local bars and nightclubs. In the 1940s he joined trumpeter Dave Bartholomew’s band. Their partnership was magical. With Bartholomew as co-writer and producer, Fats scored his first big hit with “The Fat Man” (1949), which is also considered the first million-selling Rock 'n Roll record. Through the early 1950s, they created some of the definitive records of early rock & roll. The duo had 37 top 40 records 1950-1963, including “I’m in Love Again,” “Blue Monday,” “I’m Walkin,” and “Whole Lotta Lovin.’”
Fats Domino died in October 2017. He will be remembered as one of rock's earliest and most enduring stars. Four of his songs are in the Grammy Hall of Fame for their significance in music history: “Blueberry Hill” in 1987, “Ain’t It A Shame” in 2002, “Walking to New Orleans" in 2011 and “The Fat Man” in 2016. Fats was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. The next year, he was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1998, Fats was presented the National Medal of Arts.
To learn more about this Louisiana music legend, click the following links:
Blue Monday by
Rock 'n' roll defined the last half of the twentieth century, and while many think of Elvis Presley as the genre's driving force, the truth is that Fats Domino, whose records have sold more than 100 million copies, was the first to put it on the map with such hits as Ain't That a Shame" and "Blueberry Hill." InBlue Monday, acclaimed R&B scholar Rick Coleman draws on a multitude of new interviews with Fats Domino and many other early musical legends (among them Lloyd Price, the Clovers, Charles Brown, and members of Buddy Holly's group, the Crickets) to create a definitive biography of not just an extraordinary man but also a unique time and place: New Orleans at the birth of rock 'n' roll. Coleman's groundbreaking research makes for an immense cultural biography, the first to thoroughly explore the black roots of rock 'n' roll and its impact on civil rights inAmerica. A true music lovers' biography,Blue Monday, includes new revelations about the politics behind the music labels of the 1930s and 1940s, and provides a searing indictment of the great white myths of rock 'n' roll. Coleman also brings the African-American culture of New Orleans to life, and his narrative is passionate, compassionate, and authoritative.Blue Monday is the first biography to convey the full scope of Fats Domino's impact on the popular music of the twentieth century. "
Talking New Orleans Music by
In New Orleans, music screams. It honks. It blats. It wails. It purrs. It messes with time. It messes with pitch. It messes with your feet. It messes with your head. One musician leads to another; traditions overlap, intertwine, nourish each other; and everyone seems to know everyone else. From traditional jazz through rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll to sissy bounce, in second-line parades, from the streets to clubs and festivals, the music seems unending. In Talking New Orleans Music, author Burt Feintuch has pursued a decades-long fascination with the music of this singular city. Thinking about the devastation--not only material but also cultural--caused by the levees breaking in 2005, he began a series of conversations with master New Orleans musicians, talking about their lives, the cultural contexts of their music, their experiences during and after Katrina, and their city. Photographer Gary Samson joined him, adding a compelling visual dimension to the book. Here you will find intimate and revealing interviews with eleven of the city's most celebrated musicians and culture-bearers--Soul Queen Irma Thomas, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Charmaine Neville, John Boutt#65533;, Dr. Michael White, Deacon John Moore, Cajun bandleader Bruce Daigrepont, Zion Harmonizer Brazella Briscoe, producer Scott Billington, as well as Christie Jourdain and Janine Waters of the Original Pinettes, New Orleans's only all-woman brass band. Feintuch's interviews and Samson's sixty-five color photographs create a powerful portrait of an American place like no other and its worlds of music.
Icons of R&B and Soul by
Drawn from a mosaic of influences, including folk, gospel, and blues, R&B represents both everything that came before and nothing that was heard before. This is the music that bridged the gap between audiences and helped, at the very height of racism in America, to dismantle racial barriers. So much of today's music is derived directly from the highly influential and critically important sounds of R&B that without it we would have never known the classic soul of the late '50s and '60s, the glory days of the genre. Similarly, rock n' roll as seen through the eyes of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley would have never evolved without the foundation laid by their R&B predecessors. Through substantial entries on the chief architects and innovators, Icons of R&B and Soul offers a vibrant overview of the music's impact in American culture and how it reflected contemporary society's politics, trends, and social issues.Numerous sidebars highlight Motown, prominent record labels, hit songs, related singers and songwriters, key events, and significant aspects of the music industry. Also included is a list of important print and Web resources, as well as a list of selected recordings. An essential reference for high school and public libraries, this encyclopedia will help students explore the historical and cultural framework of R&B and soul music through the musicians who have come to define the genre. Among the featured: -Ray Charles -Little Richard -Fats Domino & New Orleans R&B -Ruth Brown -Sam Cooke -Etta James -James Brown -Aretha Franklin -The Supremes -Otis Redding -Ike & Tina Turner -Curtis Mayfield -Berry Gordy -Stevie Wonder -Marvin Gaye -Smokey Robinson -The Temptations -Prince
New Orleans, Music in Exile
DVD is available in 2nd floor Media Room
The Legends of New Orleans: The Music of Fats Domino
DVD is available in 2nd floor Media Room