Dave Bartholomew: The Man Behind Every Hit You Think Fats Domino Made Alone

The Man Behind Every Hit You Think Fats Domino Made Alone

Dave Bartholomew was born on Christmas Eve, 1918, in Edgard, Louisiana, a small town on the River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. His father played tuba, and young Dave learned that first before switching to trumpet under the instruction of Peter Davis — the same teacher who had taught Louis Armstrong decades earlier. Around 1933, the family moved to New Orleans, and the city gained the man who would quietly architect its entire rhythm and blues sound.

Bartholomew played in Papa Celestin's ensemble and on Mississippi riverboats before World War II interrupted everything. After the war, he formed Dave Bartholomew and the Dew Droppers, a band that became what historians call "the bedrock of R&B in the city." But his real genius wasn't performing — it was building.

The Fats Domino Partnership

When Imperial Records paired Bartholomew with a young piano player named Antoine "Fats" Domino, something alchemical happened. Together they co-wrote more than forty hits: "Ain't That a Shame," "Blue Monday," "I'm Walkin'," "Walking to New Orleans," and dozens more. Bartholomew arranged, produced, and often played trumpet on these sessions. He was the architect; Domino was the voice. Neither would have become what they became without the other.

But Bartholomew's reach extended far beyond Domino. He wrote "I Hear You Knocking," "One Night," "My Ding-a-Ling," and "Let the Good Times Roll" — songs that were later recorded by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Pat Boone, and Ricky Nelson. He didn't just write New Orleans music. He wrote the songs that taught the rest of America what rock and roll could be.

A Hundred Years of Music

Bartholomew was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame for good measure. He founded Broadmoor Records in 1967, released jazz albums, and kept playing well into old age. He was Catholic, a Gentilly man, and he lived to be one hundred years old — dying on June 23, 2019, at East Jefferson General Hospital.

A century of life. Forty-plus hits with Fats Domino. Songs covered by Elvis and Chuck Berry. The man who built the New Orleans sound from the ground up, and who outlived almost everyone who tried to take credit for it.