Entertainment > Fats Domino safe after boat rescue from flood

Domino, 77, beloved for his boogie-woogie piano style and such hits as "Ain't That a Shame" and "Blueberry Hill," ended up as one of thousands of New Orleans residents stranded by flooding after he rebuffed pleas from friends to evacuate as the storm bore down on the city, agent Al Embry told Reuters.

The rotund musician, his wife, Rosemary, and at least one daughter were picked up by rescue boat on Tuesday following frantic efforts by Embry to alert authorities that Domino and his family were believed trapped in their home, Embry said.

"We heard he was on the balcony with his family and waving to people," Embry said.

He said Domino and his family initially were taken to the New Orleans Superdome with thousands of other evacuees and have since been moved to an unspecified location "because of all the media attention."

"He is doing well, he's just stressed out a little bit," Embry said in a phone interview from Nashville, Tennessee. "But praise God, he got out of the thing."

Embry said he last spoke with Domino by telephone on Sunday night, hours before Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast, and the musician's fate had remained a mystery until Thursday evening, when news reports first surfaced that he had been found.

A daughter, Karen Domino White, who lives in New Jersey, told news agencies she had identified her father from a photograph published by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, showing a man being helped out of a rescue boat. Embry said he confirmed details of Domino's rescue in calls to a son of the musician and the governor's office.

"He should be making an appearance before too long to talk to everybody," said Embry, who has known the entertainer for about four decades.

Domino, whose first single, "The Fat Man" (1949), is cited as one of rock 'n' roll's earliest recordings, quit active touring in recent years and had largely retired to his home in New Orleans' 9th Ward.

Reuters/VNU

2005-09-03