Music

Fats Domino: Rock 'n' Roll Piano Man

Fats Domino was a New Orleans native whose dynamic performance style and warm vocals drew crowds for five decades.

Fats Domino tips his hat to the crowd during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

Fats Domino, the piano-playing prodigy with lightning-fast fingers, died early Tuesday morning, Oct. 24, in New Orleans.

Above: Fats Domino waves to the crowd during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2006.

— Lee Celano / Reuters

In his 20s, Domino gained fame with the 1955 hit "Ain't That a Shame" and his 1956 rock 'n' roll version of "Blueberry Hill."

Above: Domino poses at a piano in 1956.

— AP

Fats Domino performs with his band in 1957.

— Everett/REX/Shutterstock / AP

The Fats Domino single "I Want You to Know" was released in 1957.

— Michael Ochs Archives

Fats Domino poses at a piano in 1967.

— Clive Limpkin / Getty Images

Fats Domino performs circa 1970.

One of his show-stopping stunts was playing the piano while standing, throwing his body against it with the beat of the music and bumping the grand piano across the stage.

— David Redfern / Redferns

Fats Domino performs in 1973.

— ullstein bild via Getty Images

Fats Domino poses with Jerry Lee Lewis and James Brown at a reception where they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York on Jan. 23, 1986.

— G. Paul Burnett / AP

Fats Domino performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2001.

— Clayton Call / Redferns

Image: FILE PHOTO - US President Bush meets with musician Fats Domino in New Orleans

Fats Domino wears a replacement National Medal of Arts given to him by President George W. Bush in New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2006. His original medal, awarded by President Bill Clinton, was lost in the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina.

— Jim Young / Reuters

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