Fats Domino, the legendary rock 'n' roll musician from New Orleans, has died at 89.
The musician and singer, whose real name is Antoine Domino Jr., died Tuesday afternoon from natural causes, Mark Bone of the Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office told the New York Daily News.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, Domino outsold every 1950s rock 'n 'roll veteran, bar Elvis Presley, with over 65 million record sales to his name.
Nobody at the time could have foreseen just how much of an impact Domino would have on subsequent generations of music.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Domino grew up in a musical family, learning to play the piano at age 9.
He first entered the music scene in the early 1940s, playing alongside a band before breaking out on his own and producing songs such as "The Fat Man," which would go on to sell 1 million copies by 1953 and earn him national attention, The Daily News noted.
Domino defined rock 'n' roll with his rolling piano style, enjoying over three decades as an international star.
He finally went into semi-retirement in the 1980s, The History Channel noted, but still captured the public's attention whenever he emerged from his double-shotgun mansion in his bright-pink Cadillac.
American R&B and soul singer Aaron Neville said Domino was "a big influence for many people," and a "pioneer of rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, and American music," according to Where Y'At magazine.
New Orleans funk and R&B musician Jon Cleary said he first saw Domino in a black-and-white film on the TV when he was about 6 or 7 years old.
"The lesson I learned from Fats that moment is that if you're having fun on stage, doing it right, the audience is taken care of. And it doesn't have to be fancy to get you there," Cleary said, according to Where Y'At.
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