National Medal of Arts Lost in the Hurricanes Is Replaced

Fats Domino receives his replacement Medal from President George W. Bush and Laura Bush. White House photo by Shealah Craighead.

For lifelong New Orleans resident and pioneering rock and roll pianist and singer Antoine "Fats" Domino, among his treasured possessions lost in the 2005 hurricanes was his National Medal of Arts awarded to him in 1998 by President Bill Clinton. On August 29, 2006, President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush visited Domino at the musician's home in the lower Ninth Ward to present him with a replacement medal, secured by the NEA.

Damage from Hurricane Katrina: chandeliers piled on a couch made from the back end of an old pink Cadillac at Fats Domino's home studio in New Orleans's Ninth Ward. Photo by Linda Nix.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
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