Passage: Fats Domino

It happened this past week ... a sad farewell to the man Elvis Presley called "The REAL King of Rock 'n' Roll." Fats Domino died Tuesday at his home near New Orleans at age 89.

A largely self-taught piano player -- "as wide as he was tall," he once joked -- Domino's debut record in 1949 was called "The Fat Man":

More hits followed, including 1955's "Ain't IT a Shame," with lyrics ever-so-slightly altered:

Not only was Domino helping to shape rock 'n' roll, he was also breaking down pop music's color barrier.

His 1956 version of "Blueberry Hill" was his biggest hit, later selected by the Library of Congress for its National Recording Registry.

All told, Fats Domino had 37 Top 40 singles, and sold some 65 million records.

One of the initial inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he won a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 1987.

Fans feared for his safety during Hurricane Katrina, when he was briefly unaccounted for.  "I'm just sorry it happened to me, and everybody else, you know?" he said.

He bounced back with a new album, called "Alive and Kickin'" … it turned out to be his last.

Ain't THAT a shame.