NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Cosimo Matassa, the recording producer whose New Orleans studio was where Fats Domino recorded his first album "The Fat Man" in 1949, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Matassa was honored over the weekend in Cleveland for his contributions to the evolution of rock and roll.
Other 2012 Hall of Fame inductees included the Beastie Boys, Guns 'n' Roses, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chicago blues guitarist Freddie King.
Besides Domino, Matassa recorded hits with Little Richard, Bobby Charles, Professor Longhair, Ray Charles, Smiley Lewis and Lee Dorsey among others.
Matassa was the owner of J&M Recording Studios in the French Quarter and he had a hand in many of the classic R&B recordings made in New Orleans.