Fats Rescued From Flood
September 2, 2005
Legendary singer-pianist and rock'n'roll precursor Fats Domino was rescued by boat from his flooded home, his daughter told CNN after identifying her father in a photograph.
The picture, taken late on Monday after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, showed the author of the 1950s hits Ain't That a Shame and Blueberry Hill being helped off a boat near his home, in one of the worst flooded sections of the city.
His daughter Karen Domino White, who lives in the state of New Jersey, said she recognised her father in a picture taken by a photographer with the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.
"I didn't have any information. I was just praying," she said, adding that she had not heard from her father since August 23, four days before the hurricane struck.
Fats Domino's agent Al Embry had also expressed concern on Monday in New York City over the 77-year-old musician's whereabouts, saying he and his wife, Rosemary, had refused to leave their home in the centre of New Orleans.
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Friends of Fats Domino said they did not know where he went after his rescue, nor did they have any information about his wife, CNN said.
Domino was born Antoine Dominique Domino in New Orleans in 1928.
He earned the nickname "Fats" in part from a song he wrote, The Fat Man, and from one of his main musical influences, 1930s stride pianist Fats Waller.
He rocketed to rock-and-roll fame in 1955 with the hit Ain't That A Shame, underpinned by his characteristic New Orleans-style piano.
Together with Blue Monday and Blueberry Hill, Domino put out more than 30 hit records in a row, becoming one of the 1950s' top selling musicians, according to biographers.
He later became one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.