John Lee Hooker - Biography, Music

Musician, born in Clarksdale, Missouri, USA. A blues singer and guitarist, he began his career in Detroit in 1948 with the release of ‘Boogie Chillun’, the biggest of his several hit records and a staple of both the blues and rock repertoires. He toured continually, and among ‘deep blues’ artists enjoyed an unusually successful career, appearing in concerts and on recordings with many of the leading figures in rock. He also appeared in the films The Blues Brothers (1980) and The Color Purple (1985). He was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an influential American post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Musically, Hooker was influenced by the guitar style of his stepfather, a local blues guitarist, who learned to play in Shreveport, Louisiana and played a droning, one-chord type of blues very different from the delta blues of the time.

Biography

John Lee Hooker was born on 22 August 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the youngest of the eleven children of William Hooker (1871–1923), a sharecropper and a Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (1875-?).

Hooker's recording career began in 1948 when a demo tape made by Hooker was placed by his agent with the Bihari brothers on their Modern Records label. Due to his recording contract, he would record these songs under obvious pseudonyms such as "John Lee Booker", "Johnny Hooker", or "John Cooker." Hooker was also a direct influence in the look of John Belushi's character Jake Blues, borrowing his trademark sunglasses and soul patch. Hooker recorded several songs with Van Morrison, including "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive", "The Healing Game" and "I Cover the Waterfront".

Among his many awards, John Lee Hooker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Music

John Lee Hooker's guitar playing is closely aligned with piano Boogie Woogie. The songs that most epitomize his early sound are "Boogie Chillen", about being 17 and wanting to go out to dance at the Boogie clubs, "Baby Please Don't Go", a more typical blues song, summed up by its title, and "Tupelo", a stunningly sad song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi.

He maintained a solo career, popular with blues and folk music fans of the early 1960s and crossed over to white audiences, giving an early opportunity to the young Bob Dylan. This casual, rambling style had been gradually diminishing with the onset of electric blues bands from Chicago but, even when not playing solo, Hooker retained it in his sound.

Though Hooker lived in Detroit during most his career, he is not associated with the Chicago-style blues prevalent in large northern cities, as much as he is with the southern rural blues styles, known as delta blues, country blues, folk blues, or "front porch blues". His use of an electric guitar tied together the Delta blues with the emerging post-war electric blues.

Albums

1948-1954 - Original Folk Blues (released on United) 1959 - How Long Blues (released on United) 1959 - I'm John Lee Hooker (Vee Jay Records) 1959 - The Folk Blues of John Lee Hooker (Riverside) 1959 - Burning Hell (Riverside) 1960 - Travelin' (Vee Jay Records) 1960 - That's My Story (Riverside) 1960 - House Of The Blues 1960 - Blues Man 1960 - I'm John Lee Hooker 1961 - John Lee Hooker Sings The Blues 1961 - Plays And Sings The Blues 1961 - The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker 1962 - Burnin' 1962 - Drifting the Blues 1962 - The Blues 1962 - Tupelo Blues 1963 - Don't Turn Me from Your Door: John Lee Hooker Sings His Blues 1964 - Burning Hell 1964 - Great Blues Sounds 1964 - I Want to Shout the Blues 1964 - The Big Soul of John Lee Hooker 1964 - The Great John Lee Hooker (Japan only) 1965 - Hooker & The Hogs 1966 - It Serves You Right to Suffer 1966 - The Real Folk Blues 1967 - Live at Cafè Au Go-Go 1968 - Hooked on Blues 1969 - Get Back Home 1969 - If You Miss'Im I Got'Im 1969 - Simply The Truth 1969 - That's Where It's At! 1969 - Get Back Home (First Issue) 1970 - If You Miss 'Im...I Got 'Im 1970 - John Lee Hooker on the Waterfront 1970 - Moanin' and Stompin' Blues 1971 - Endless Boogie 1971 - Goin' Down Highway 51 1971 - Half A Stranger 1971 - Hooker 'N' Heat/Infinite boogie 1971 - I Feel Good 1971 - Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive 1972 - Detroit Special 1972 - Live At Soledad Prison 1973 - Born In Mississippi, Raised Up In Tennessee 1974 - Free Beer And Chicken 1974 - Mad Man Blues 1976 - Alone 1976 - In Person 1977 - Black Snake 1977 - Dusty Road 1978 - The Cream 1979 - Sad And Lonesome 1980 - Everybody Rockin' 1980 - Sittin' Here Thinkin' 1981 - Hooker 'n' Heat (Recorded Live at the Fox Venice Theatre) 1987 - Jealous 1988 - Trouble Blues 1989 - Highway Of Blues 1989 - John Lee Hooker's 40th Anniversary Album 1989 - The Detroit Lion 1989 - The Healer 1990 - The Hot Spot (Featuring Miles Davis) 1990 - Don't You Remember Me 1991 - More Real Folk Blues: The Missing Album 1991 - Mr. Lucky 1992 - Boom Boom 1992 - This Is Hip 1992 - Urban Blues 1993 - Nothing But The Blues 1994 - King of the Boogie 1994 - Original Folk Blues...Plus 1994 - Dimples (Classic Blues) 1995 - Alternative Boogie: Early Studio Recordings, 1948-1952 1995 - Chill Out 1995 - Whiskey & Wimmen 1995 - Blues for Big Town 1996 - Moanin' the Blues (Eclipse) 1996 - Alone: The First Concert 1997 - Don't Look Back 1997 - Alone: The Second Concert 1998 - Black Man Blues 2000 - On Campus 2001 - Concert at Newport 2001 - The Cream (Re-issue) 2001 - The Real Blues: Live in Houston 1979 2002 - Live At Newport 2003 - Face to Face 2003 - Burning Hell (Our World) 2003 - Rock With Me 2004 - Jack O' Diamonds: The 1949 Recordings

Compilations

1974 - Mad Man Blues (Chess 1951-1966) 1987 - Don't Look Back 1989 - The Hook: 20 Years of Hits 1991 - Hobo Blues 1991 - The Chess Masters 1991 - The Complete Chess Folk Blues Sessions (The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues) 1991 - The Ultimate Collection 1948-1990 1992 - Best Of: 1965-1974 1992 - The Ultimate Collection (Universal) 1992 - The Vee-Jay Years, 1955 - 1964 1993 - Boom Boom (UK only) 1993 - Boogie Man 1993 - The Legendary Modern Recordings 1948-1954 1994 - Blues Collection (Boogie Man) 1994 - John Lee Hooker (LaserLight) 1994 - The Early Years 1994 - Wandering Blues 1995 - Red Blooded Blues 1995 - The Very Best Of 1996 - Blues Legend 1996 - Live at Cafe au Go-Go (and Soledad Prison) 1997 - His Best Chess Sides 1997 - Live In Concert 1997 - The Essential Collection 1998 - The Best of Friends 1998 - The Complete 50's Chess Recordings 1999 - Best of John Lee Hooker: 20th Century Masters 1999 - This Is Hip [The Best Of] 2000 - The Definitive Collection 2001 - Born With The Blues 2001 - Gold Collection 2001 - Legendary Blues Recordings: John Lee Hooker 2002 - Blues Before Sunrise 2002 - The Complete - Vol. Soul] 2002 - The Complete - Vol. Soul] 2002 - The Complete - Vol. Soul] 2002 - The Complete - Vol. Soul] 2002 - The Classic Early Years 1948-51 (UK, London's JSP Records,4CD's) 2002 - The Real Folk Blues/More Real Folk Blues 2002 - Timeless Collection 2003 - Blues Kingpins 2003 - Final Recordings, Vol. 1: Face to Face 2003 - The Collection 1948-52 2004 - Don't Look Back: Complete Blues 2004 - The Complete - Vol. Soul] 2005 - The Complete - Vol. Soul] 2005 - The Early Years - Vol.