Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll

Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll by Coleman, Rick. Hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780306814914.

Rock n roll defined the last half of the twentieth century, and while many think of Elvis Presley as the genres driving force, the truth is that Fats Domino, whose records have sold more than 100 million copies, was the first to put it on the map with such hits as "Aint That a Shame" and "Blueberry Hill." In Blue Monday, acclaimed R&B scholar Rick Coleman draws on a multitude of new interviews with Fats Domino and many other early musical legends (among them Lloyd Price, the Clovers, Charles Brown, and members of Buddy Hollys group, the Crickets) to create a definitive biography of not just an extraordinary man but also a unique time and place: New Orleans at the birth of rock n roll. Colemans groundbreaking research makes for an immense cultural biography, the first to thoroughly explore the black roots of rock n roll and its impact on civil rights inAmerica. A true music lovers biography, Blue Monday, includes new revelations about the politics behind the music labels of the 1930s and 1940s, and provides a searing indictment of the great white myths of rock n roll. Coleman also brings the African-American culture of New Orleans to life, and his narrative is passionate, compassionate, and authoritative. Blue Monday is the first biography to convey the full scope of Fats Dominos impact on the popular music of the twentieth century.