Dominic Joseph Fontana (born March 15, 1931, in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American musician best known as the drummer for Elvis Presley for 14 years. He played on over 460 RCA cuts with Elvis.

Nicknamed "D. J.", he was employed by the Louisiana Hayride to be an in-house drummer on its Saturday night radio broadcast. In October of 1954 he was hired to play drums for Presley that marked the beginning of a fifteen year relationship. He performed on the NBC television special known as the '68 Comeback Special.

Fontana, joined a band (originally assembled by Sam Phillips without a drummer) consisting of Scotty Moore (lead guitar), Bill Black (bass) and Elvis Presley (rhythm guitar), calling themselves "The Blue Moon Boys". The band became the band that would perform and record the vast majority of the Elvis Presley hits of the 50's (some also including piano and backing vocals from the Jordanaires) including "Heartbreak Hotel", "Hound Dog", "Don't Be Cruel", and "Jailhouse Rock". The band also toured extensively and performed on several television appearances through 1956 and 1957.

In 1957, the musical groups played in Canada for the first and the last time :

• April 2 : Toronto
• April 3 : Ottawa
• August 31 : Vancouver

The band officially broke up in 1958 although Fontana and Elvis still played and recorded together regularly. Moore would sometimes join them. Moore and Fontana have also performed together, including a 2002 recording of "That's All Right (Mama) with Paul McCartney. Black did not play with the band after 1958.

In 1983 he published a book in pictorial form titled "D. J. Fontana Remembers Elvis" about his years playing with Presley.

Fontana's Life and Times weekly phonecast debuted on July 3, 2007.

Fontana's pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

External links

• "We're Talkin' Elvis" - +1 (650) 523-6817
• D. J. Fontana TCB website
• Interview with D. J. Fontana
• D. J. Fontana Phonecasting Channel
• Rockabilly Hall of Fame
• http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/djfontana.txt
• http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/DJ_Fontana.html

Appearances

• January 7, 2007 - 7:00 PM - Fontana played drums in honor of Elvis Presley's birthday at the Cleveland Square Play House in Cuyahoga County in Cleveland Ohio.
• October 25, 2008 - 5:00 PM - Fontana played drums for the first time in Quebec City,Canada with Carl Brandon and the Remember Elvis Band, at the Centre Jacques Duval, in front of an audience of 400 spectators.

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