Fats Domino Facts: Rock Legend Behind ‘Blueberry Hill’ Dead At 89

Fats Domino, who pioneered the rock 'n' roll sound of the 1950s and 60s, and the voice behind enduring hits like “Ain’t That a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill,” died Wednesday at the age of 89 years at his daughter’s New Orleans home, according to Mark Bone, chief investigator with the Jefferson Parish Medical Examiner’s office in Louisiana, who confirmed the news to the Associated Press.

Domino, who for a while was mistakenly thought to have been dead when Hurricane Katrina whipped through his New Orleans neighborhood in 2005, passed away due to natural causes, Bone said.

Domino, a contemporary to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis was reportedly only second in position to Presley in record sales as he had a series of 11 top 10 hits between 1955 and 1960.

Domino was said to have sold at least 65 million singles in those years with 23 gold records which made him second only to Presley as a commercial force. Presley had acknowledged Domino as his predecessor and said "A lot of people seem to think I started this business," Presley said during an interview to a magazine in 1957, the New York Times reported. "But rock ’n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that music like colored people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing it like Fats Domino can. I know that."

Some of Domino's hits in those years included "I'm Walkin'," "Blue Monday," and "Walking to New Orleans" which sounded like nothing that came earlier.

Born on Feb. 26, 1928, in New Orleans, Anthony "Fats" Domino was the youngest of eight siblings. He spent all his teenage years performing odd jobs such as working on an ice truck and at the Crescent Bed Factory.

But from an early age, he had a fascination for playing the piano, and he eventually went on to develop an utterly unique style of playing it and vocals that would draw millions of fans from around the world.

He began his music career in 1949 and teamed up with trumpet player Dave Bartholomew who produced and co-wrote Domino's first record "The Fat Man," which released that same year.

It was the first ever rock and roll record to sell over a million copies at that time and achieved a No. 2 ranking on the R & B charts.

He got his nickname "Fats" as a teenager when he started playing the piano. He had been a regular in Bill Diamond's band and was nicknamed "Fats" for his 220lbs frame. His nickname also honored keyboardists like Fats Waller. He was 5'5" and joked about it that he was as wide as tall. As his song "The Fat Man" went: "They call me the Fat Man/ 'Cause I weigh 200 pounds."

He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and also received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in the same year. He was one of the first artists to achieve the honor of being inducted into the Hall of Fame by Billy Joel, according to the Rolling Stone magazine.

Former President Bill Clinton presented Domino with the National Medal of Arts at a ceremony at the White House on Nov. 5, 1998.

Domino appeared in the public several times to aid relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, despite having lost all of his possessions in the storm.

Former President George W. Bush visited him later in that year and replaced the National Medal of Arts that was lost in the floods caused by the hurricane. Domino's gold records were also replaced, Forbes reported.