15 MARCH 1931 – 13 JUNE 2018
Last week the news broke that Dominic Joseph (widely known as just D.J.) Fontana had passed. With that, the final living musician from Elvis Presley’s original and best known band – The Blue Moon Boys – has left us.
D.J. was in fact the person who served longest as a musician with Presley throughout his career, as his drummer for nearly 15 years. He was hired by Sam Phillips on 8 August 1955 to join ‘a band without a drummer.’ The band had been formed in 1964, and included Scotty Moore (guitar), Bill Black (bass) and Elvis Presley (rhythm guitar and vocals).
The first single Fontana appeared on was Heartbreak Hotel, released in January 1956.
The Blue Moon Boys transitioned into becoming Elvis’ backing band once his meteoric rise in popularity happened. They would perform and record the vast majority of material that Presley did in the 1950s, including Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes, Jailhouse Rock, Don’t Be Cruel and countless others.
“I heard Scotty and Bill and Elvis one night and knew that I couldn’t mess up that sound,” DJ said in recalling his introduction to Presley’s music. “The simple approach comes from my hearing so much big-band music. I mixed it with rockabilly.”
The band toured extensively and had several TV appearences throughout 1956 and 1957. This included a huge, well-known appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in September 1956 – still very much a band performance, with all musicians – including the drums – in plain sight.
That version of band broke up in 1958. Moore and Black wanted to negotiate their payment. Fontana didn’t. The result was that Fontana would continue to play and record with Presley regularly throughout the 1960s. Scotty Moore would also take part from time to time, proving that there were no hard feelings.
Bill Black started a new band that carried his name, but was ill the last few years of his life and passed way before his time in 1965 due to a brain tumor. He was only 39.
Presley was criticised for not attending the funeral, but he wanted to avoid it turning into a media frenzy. He decided instead to visit the family privately after the service to express his condolences. According to Bill’s wife Louis, Presley said, “If there’s anything that y’all need, you just let me know and it’s yours.” He continued to look after his old band mates and their families for as long as he lived.
Fontana and Moore were part of the 1968 NBC television special, often referred to as the «Elvis Comeback Special.» This marked the final time that these musicians would play with Presley.
The times were simply changing. Elvis was beginning to use increasingly bigger ensembles for his records, and we know the size of the showbands he used for his Las Vegas shows. Fontana no longer felt he belonged, and they parted ways amicably.
Fontana worked steadily after that as a session drummer in Nashville. He recorded with Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Steve Earle and several others.
He would reunite with Scotty Moore on several occasions, and the public never tired of seeing them together. In 1998 the two received a Nashville Music Award for the song Going Back To Memphis from their album All the King’s Men.
They also backed Paul McCartney on the Presley hit That’s All Right in 2001. This track was used on the Various Artists-album Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records.
Fontana and Moore would often tour over the decades, playing faithful renditions of that material to enthusiastic fans. In the 2000, they toured worldwide (including the Norselands) with a live show where they played live music to video recordings of Elvis singing.
In an interview for the website Elvis Information Network in 2010, Fontana remembered Presley as “a nice guy” who “always treated people like he wanted to be treated.”
“You know, we worked hard,” he added. “We just tried to cut good records, but we knew that if it wasn’t for Elvis, we wouldn’t have done anything.”
In 2009, Fontana was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the sideman category (Moore had been inducted in 2000) as well as the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
They both retired in 2014 when Moore had to give up guitar playing due to arthritis. Moore passed a few years later on 28 June 2016, 84 years old. Fontana followed him two years later on 13 June 2018 at 87. The last of the Blue Moon Boys was gone.
Elvis Presley will never be forgotten. As someone who had a large part to play in his music, Fontana will live on as well.
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