Fats Domino - I'm Walking

Happy eighty-second birthday to Mr. Antoine Domino, professionally known as Fats. He was the least likely of 1950s teen idols, being a chubby man closer to forty than fifteen. So why was he at one point one of the best-selling musicians in the USA? The answer lies in this clip, even though it's from twenty years later. Fats may not have been as riveting as Little Richard, but he was definitely a star of the TV era -- something just comes through in his performance when you watch. It's been said that he is one of those rare people in show biz, in that who he is onstage is pretty much the same as offstage. Besides his musical ability, his personality is somehow simultaneously understated but compelling. Of course it doesn't hurt that he swings like a...words fail me.

It's worth noting that no matter how famous he became, Fats never left his home, staying close to his roots in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. Until, of course, Hurricane Katrina.