More from Fats Domino: I Wanna Walk You Home, Jambalaya, Aint That a Shame, Walkin' to New Orleans, I'm Gonna be a Wheel One Day. In 1947, Billy Diamond, a New Orleans bandleader, nicknamed him "Fats", because Domino reminded him of the renowned pianist Fats Waller and because of his large appetite. His 1956 recording of "Blueberry Hill", a 1940 song previously recorded by Gene Autry, Louis Armstrong and others, reached # 2 in the Top 40 and was # 1 on the R&B chart for 11 weeks!! It was his biggest hit, selling more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956 and 1957. Fats crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which reached the Top 10. Pat Boone's milder cover version reached #1, having received wider radio airplay in a racially segregated era.