Fats Domino: Rock and roll legend dies aged 89

[Gerald]

Fats Domino, one of the most influential rock and roll performers of the 1950s and 60s, has died aged 89.
The American rock and roll artist was best known for his songs Ain't That A Shame and Blueberry Hill.
The New Orleans singer sold more than 65 million records, outselling every 1950s rock and roll act except Elvis Presley.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41753839

Good stuff over the years. RIP

[Onkel Neal]

Oh wow, a real legend. Rip Fats

[Mr Quatro]

Great mood singer ... "Blueberry Hill" is a popular song published in 1940 best remembered for its 1950s rock n' roll version by Fats Domino. The music was written by Vincent Rose, ... Released‎: ‎1956

[Commander Wallace]

I'm deeply saddened to hear of Fats Domino's passing. Fats has long been a favorite " oldies " performer of mine. I always look through the entertainment channels when I have time for performers like Fats. Fats was such a great talent being a great piano player and his instantly identifiable mellow baritone voice.

Fats domino never received the credit like other performers for helping to usher in Rock and Roll being and R&B artist. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite Fats domino song but......









Rest in peace and thanks for stopping by and leaving some great music.

[Reece]

R.I.P. He was one of the greats in the music revolution.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I'm deeply saddened to hear of Fats Domino's passing. Fats has long been a favorite " oldies " performer of mine. I always look through the entertainment channels when I have time for performers like Fats. Fats was such a great talent being a great piano player and his instantly identifiable mellow baritone voice.

Fats domino never received the credit like other performers for helping to usher in Rock and Roll being and R&B artist. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite Fats domino song but......

...

Rest in peace and thanks for stopping by and leaving some great music.

Actually, Fats was in the very first group of inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986; there wasn't even a question of if he would be included. Among the other inductees:

Chuck Berry
James Brown
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke
The Everly Brothers
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Elvis Presley
Little Richard
Robert Johnson
Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmy Yancey
John Hammond
Alan Freed
Sam Phillips

That's some pretty impressive company. While, perhaps, the general public may have forgotten Fats, his peers in the music world, and by world, I do mean the whole world, had and have the utmost respect for his art and legacy, as do those who may not be musicians, but have a good understanding of his gifts. I saw Fats perform many, many years ago and, although I am a bit fuzzy on the where of the occasion, I do remember watching his hands glide across the keys and the sound of his voice and the joy he radiated towards the audience. Along with Jerry Lee Lewis, he wrote the book for piano and keyboard players who followed in all genres of popular music...

Fats was so revered,when he lost everything in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, some tried to restore some of his memorabilia, including, notably:

President George W. Bush made a personal visit and replaced the National Medal of Arts that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Domino. The gold records were replaced by the RIAA and Capitol Records, which owned the Imperial Records catalogue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fats_Domino


He was really a very humble sort of man who loved his home in Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. Maybe if he had touted his talents, toured widely, and had a stronger sense of self-promotion, he wouldn't have been so overlooked in recent years; but that wasn't his style; he let his music do the talking, not a PR machine. His music was like him: human, warm, and joyful. Somewhere, Fats is looking down at his hometown and, with his trademark warm, happy smile, he's playing one more time...





Rest In Peace, Fats, and thank you for the gifts you gave the world...







<O>

[Jimbuna]

RIP Fats

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by vienna

Actually, Fats was in the very first group of inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986; there wasn't even a question of if he would be included. Among the other inductees:

Chuck Berry
James Brown
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke
The Everly Brothers
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Elvis Presley
Little Richard
Robert Johnson
Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmy Yancey
John Hammond
Alan Freed
Sam Phillips

That's some pretty impressive company ...

<O>

You know what's odd about that list? All men ...

Linda Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) started singing in 1967 and didn't get in till 2014

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by vienna

Actually, Fats was in the very first group of inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1986; there wasn't even a question of if he would be included. Among the other inductees:

Chuck Berry
James Brown
Ray Charles
Sam Cooke
The Everly Brothers
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Elvis Presley
Little Richard
Robert Johnson
Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmy Yancey
John Hammond
Alan Freed
Sam Phillips

That's some pretty impressive company. While, perhaps, the general public may have forgotten Fats, his peers in the music world, and by world, I do mean the whole world, had and have the utmost respect for his art and legacy, as do those who may not be musicians, but have a good understanding of his gifts. I saw Fats perform many, many years ago and, although I am a bit fuzzy on the where of the occasion, I do remember watching his hands glide across the keys and the sound of his voice and the joy he radiated towards the audience. Along with Jerry Lee Lewis, he wrote the book for piano and keyboard players who followed in all genres of popular music...


<O>

That's quite a write up and send off for Fats Domino. I should have expounded on what I said of Fats Domino not receiving the accolades of his musical career. While it's true Fats was in the original class of inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame it's also true many musical artists have a great disdain for the Hall of Fame. This is because a number of enshrinees are not rock artists but rather hip hop and rap artists who really don't belong there. A hip hop / rap hall of fame should have been created if so desired to enshrine those in that genre.

Another artist, rock a billy pioneer Carl Perkins was inducted in 1987. Rock a billy, Boogie Woogie, R&B and the blues and it's artists made Rock Music what it once was. Little Richard once claimed to have invented Rock Music.

Many believe, myself included, that artists like Fats Domino, Carl Perkins and many others helped create and usher in Rock Music as we know it. To be fair, this may well be more opinion than fact. All of those inducted with Fats Domino were most deserving as well.

One thing is certain. Fats Domino was an irreplaceable talent and artist. Of that, we can all agree.

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Mr Quatro

You know what's odd about that list? All men ...

Linda Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) started singing in 1967 and didn't get in till 2014

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt

There is a rule in the HOF bylaws that an inductee can not be eligible until 25 years after the release of their first recording; Linda wasn't eligible until 1992. The main reason for the 25 year rule is to avoid someone being inducted as a sort of 'flavor of the month' artist, inducted more based on popularity than actual contributory or influential talent, a situation you see in awards like the Grammys where some artist is awarded and then never heard from again. When the R&R HOF was first established, R&R was a little over 30 years old and there was a very large pool of candidates for induction; the situation was akin the dilemma faced by the Baseball HOF in there first inductions: who do you include in the first batch and who do you set aside for later induction?; it's not an easy choice, but if you look at the R&R HOF first class, the choices were pretty obvious...

Regarding Linda, she was basically just a singer: she was not an instrumentalist and only a very marginal songwriter; IIRC, she has only two songwriting credits in her career and those were collaborations; this puts her in a very large pool of similar artists, who, while popular, aren't really innovators or major influences. I like Linda, but the truth is she was one of many singers of her time and not really in the same creative league as, say, Leslie Gore, Joanie Mitchell, Loretta Lynn, Laura Nyro, or Dolly Parton, etc. If you really want to put a fine point on the issue, and I am probably going to offend some people saying this, Elvis was really just a singer and performer: he only has about 9 or 10 songwriting credits, of which only 2 or 3 were hits; he was a passable guitar player, but is hardly an influence in the field (his sideman, Scottie Moore, was way, way more influential); compared to Chuck Berry or Jimmie Rodgers, Elvis was a mediocre talent, but he did establish the visual style and attitude for early popular R&R; it just doesn't make him a great, influential musician...

I will now await the torch-bearing onslaught of Elvis disciples...

Bottom line, though, Fats Domino was well deserving of being in the freshman class of the R&R HOF and, if it seems he was forgotten by the popular music world, he was and is revered by those who know what real talent was and is; again, he made his decision to keep a low key life and, even flying below the radar, he made a huge impact on what is now Rock & roll; if those who play R&R are, as Bob Seeger put it, "all Chuck's children", then Fats Domino was our kindly uncle with a warm smile and the ability to spread joy to his nephews and nieces...





<O>