A SUPERB DOUBLE-SIDER FROM FATS DOMINO ON AN ORIGINAL US IMPERIAL LABEL 78

YOU CAN PACK YOUR SUITCASE

b/w I LIVED MY LIFE

Fats was the top-selling us male R&B artist of the 50s, during which Chuck Berry placed 16 songs on the R&B charts and Little Richard placed 18. Fats' total was 46 (27 of which also made the Pop charts. Add to that 6 Pop hits that didn't make the R&B charts! (Even Elvis “only” had 38 tunes on the Pop charts in the 50s.) In a way, Fats was the Nat “King” Cole of 50s R&B; he just sang, without gimmicks, and made it sound easy. There was nothing threatening about his appearance or his music; adults accepted him almost as easily as their kids.

Antoine Domino was born February 28, 1928 in (of course) New Orleans. When he was six, the family (there were eight other children) inherited an old upright piano, and he took to it eagerly, influenced by his brother-in-law Harrison Verret (a banjo and guitar player). It took only two years before he was performing for pennies in some of the wilder local clubs. He must have gathered a lot of pennies, because by the time he was 17 or so, Billy Diamond, in whose band he was playing, had already started calling him “Fats.” (A photo from around 1945, however, shows “Slim” Domino.)

Fats' early influences were Louis Jordan, Roy Milton, Amos Milburn, Joe Turner, Camille Howard, Count Basie, Little Willie Littlefield, and Charles Brown (not a bad bunch to have influence you). Of course, there were also the boogie-woogie and stride giants: Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, Champion Jack Dupree, and Roy “Professor Longhair” Byrd.

However, Fats' career almost ended before it started. Working for pennies was all well and good, but he also had a “real” job, working in a bedspring factory. One day a pile of springs fell on his hands and doctors told him he'd never play the piano again. But Fats fooled them all: within two years he was back playing with a small combo in a local roadhouse called the Hideaway Club. In 1948, he married Rose Mary Hall, his childhood sweetheart

Enter trumpeter Dave Bartholomew, who was the leader of a popular local dance band that had already recorded on the DeLuxe label. One day in 1949, Lew Chudd, owner of Imperial Records came to New Orleans. He'd made a prior appointment to look up Bartholomew and scout out talent for his California-based label. Bartholomew had heard of Fats Domino, and the two of them went to the Hideaway Club to see his act. It only took a few songs for Chudd to decide to sign Fats. Dave was also hired by Chudd, as a New Orleans talent scout.

It was Bartholomew who would do the arrangements for Fats' songs over the years (and author or co-author most of them), and his band was always there to do backup. Others in the band were Herb Hardesty (the tenor saxman heard on most of Fats' recordings), Clarence Hall (tenor sax), Alvin “Red” Tyler (tenor sax), Earl Palmer (drums), Ernest McLean (guitar), Salvador Doucette (piano), and Joe Harris (alto sax).

Fats held his first recording session a few days later on December 10, 1949, in the legendary J&M Studios of Cosimo Matassa. The first two tunes he recorded (DETROIT CITY BLUES and THE FAT MAN) became his first Imperial release, issued in January 1950. It didn't take the record-buying public long to find out what the roadhouse crowd knew: THE FAT MAN entered the R&B charts in February, climbing to #2 before it finished its 9-week run. With his New Orleans-based musical background and vocalizations, Fats captivated R&B audiences. Fats was on his way.

Not only was THE FAT MAN Fats' first hit, it was also Imperial's first big hit. Thus began an association that would last for a dozen years. (THE FAT MAN is actually the only song I've heard on which he doesn't sound much like Fats Domino!)

Chudd immediately booked Fats on a tour of the Southwest and California. The tour boosted the sales of THE FAT MAN and Fats' confidence at the same time.

After this auspicious beginning, the next three issues: BOOGIE WOOGIE BABY/LITTLE BEE, SHE'S MY BABY/HIDE AWAY BLUES, and HEY! LA BAS BOOGIE/BRAND NEW BABY (issued in March, May and July 1950 respectively) failed to chart.

In September, Imperial issued KOREA BLUES/EVERY NIGHT ABOUT THIS TIME. While EVERY NIGHT ABOUT THIS TIME shot up the charts (peaking at #5), I've never come to grips with KOREA BLUES, which has Dave Bartholomew blowing army trumpet calls so loudly that it's amazing that anyone else could concentrate on the song.

In February 1951, Imperial released TIRED OF CRYING/ WHAT'S THE MATTER BABY, both of which failed to chart. So did DON'T LIE TO ME/SOMETIMES I WONDER, which were issued in May. RIGHT FROM WRONG/NO NO BABY were issued in July, also to no great success. Then, in September, Imperial released ROCKIN' CHAIR, which became Fats' first chart hit in a long time, rising to #9, but only remaining for a single week; its flip was W.C. Handy's 1921 composition, CARELESS LOVE.

January 1952 saw the issue of YOU KNOW I MISS YOU/I'LL BE GONE. When these also went nowhere, it seemed as if Fats' career, so promising at the start, had just been a Flash in the pan.

But Imperial kept at it, and released GOIN' HOME/REELING AND ROCKING in March of 1952. And then the magic began to happen all over again. GOIN' HOME hit the R&B charts in April, and by the time it had ended its 20-week run, it had become Fats' first #1 hit. GOIN' HOME only stayed at #1 for a single week, being bumped by Lloyd Price's LAWDY MISS CLAWDY. Ironically, Fats can be heard playing piano on Lloyd's hit.

In August 1952, Imperial released POOR, POOR ME, which reached #10; it was coupled with TRUST IN ME. HOW LONG/DREAMING were paired for a November 1952 release, and HOW LONG made the charts (#9) for a single week in December.

January 1953 saw the release of NOBODY LOVES ME/CHEATIN', which were also non-charters. But March gave us GOIN' TO THE RIVER/MARDI GRAS IN NEW ORLEANS. GOIN' TO THE RIVER was an instant hit, leveling off at #2, in its 14-week stay on the charts. The competing version by Chuck Willis leveled off at #4.

This was followed, in June, by PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME/THE GIRL I LOVE. The top side was also on the charts for 14 weeks, riding as high as #3.

On August 22, Fats, Joe Turner and the Moonglows headlined Alan Freed's “Big Rhythm & Blues Show” at the Cleveland Arena.

In September, Imperial issued ROSE MARY/YOU SAID YOU LOVE ME, with. ROSE MARY making it to #10 in a single week's appearance on the charts..

Sometime during the fall of 1953, Lew Chudd renewed Fats' contract. Fats had been doing the company so much good up till now that Chudd offered him an amazing nine-year renewal, which would keep him on the label until 1962.

The next release, SOMETHING'S WRONG (backed with DON'T LEAVE ME THIS WAY), issued in November, hit the charts the next month, and spent 11 weeks there, climbing to #6 in the US charts.

Next, in March 1954, came YOU DONE ME WRONG (with its flip LITTLE SCHOOL GIRL), which was a #10 hit. This was followed by a trio of misses: WHERE DID YOU STAY/BABY PLEASE (in May), YOU CAN PACK YOUR SUITCASE/I LIVED MY LIFE (August), and LOVE ME/DON'T YOU HEAR ME CALLING YOU (October).

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