• Brand - Fitbit Alta
• Spot - Get Moving
• Music Title - I'm Walkin'
• Artist - Fats Domino
• Master Rights - Universal
• Composer - Domino, Bartholomew
• Publisher - Sony/ATV
• Ad Agency - Argonaut
• Air Date - 5/4/16

We’re great fans of old school rock’n’roll here at Adbreakanthems. And especially those legendary Afro American artists like Little Richard, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry who blazed at least as many trails as their white counterparts Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly during the mid to late 1950s.

But, whenever the greatest hits lists are drawn up, we think the name of Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino is all too often forgotten. So we’d like to doff our hats immediately to fitness wristband specialist FitBit Alta for including his 1957 smash I’m Walkin' in its recent Get Moving commercial.

I’m Walkin’ was one of over 90 singles Domino released during a recording career which lasted for four decades.

Most were issued on the now defunct Imperial label and included massive million sellers like Ain’t That A Shame, Blueberry Hill, Blue Monday, Walking To New Orleans, Let The Four Winds Blow, I Want To Walk You Home and Be My Guest.

Later, after moving to ABC, Mercury and then Reprise, he saw out the Sixties covering Beatles’ titles Lady Madonna, Lovely Rita and Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey.

With each of them, Domino and his syncopated ‘second line’ piano rhythms helped define the distinctively joyous sound of the Crescent City.

Of course, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Domino’s native New Orleans boasted a music scene which was as vibrant and innovative as Memphis, Chicago or Detroit.

Not only did it spawn hugely successful singers such as Lloyd Price, Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry, Joe Tex and Lee Dorsey but – in the shape of Mac ‘Dr John’ Rebennack and Alan Toussaint – it nurtured some of the era’s most talented musicians and songwriters too.

But at the end of the day, few could compete with the team of superlative sidemen who gathered at Cosimo Mattassa’s French Quarter studio under the watchful eye of band leader and co-writer Dave Bartholomew whenever The Fat Man was booked to record.

Among his horn players were soon-to-be legendary names like Herb Hardesty, Alvin Taylor and Lee Allen while the drumming stool was invariably taken by the same Earl Palmer who eventually moved to Hollywood and, alongside Hal Blaine, became a staple sticksman in that group of superstar sessionmen known as The Wrecking Crew.

Which meant he can be heard on scores of truly great rock and pop recordings by such as The Righteous Brothers, Ike & Tina Turner, Jan & Dean, Sonny & Cher, The Mamas & The Papas and The Monkees.

But we think nothing beats the sheer simplicity of the groove he lays down on all Fats Domino’s cuts. And I’m Walkin’ in particular.