Fats Domino

Fats Domino, born Antoine Domino Jr. (1928–2017) in New Orleans, was one of the founding figures of rock and roll, blending traditional rhythm and blues with a rolling, boogie-woogie piano style rooted in his native city's Creole musical heritage. From the early 1950s he became one of the best-selling and most influential Black American artists of the era, helping bring R&B sounds to a mass, integrated audience years before rock and roll became a defined genre.

His catalog is filled with songs that became standards of American popular music, including «The Fat Man», «Ain't That a Shame», «I'm Walkin'», «Blue Monday», and his signature hit «Blueberry Hill», a version of an older pop standard that he transformed with his warm baritone and instantly recognizable piano triplets. Backed for much of his career by a New Orleans band featuring saxophones alongside piano and drums, his recordings defined a distinctly Southern, danceable sound.

Domino's steady chart success and enormous record sales through the 1950s made him a direct influence on later rock and roll and rock artists, and his relaxed, unshowy stage presence contrasted with flashier contemporaries while still drawing huge crowds. He remained active as a performer for decades and is remembered as a central architect of the sound that became rock and roll.