John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker (Clarksdale, Mississippi, August 22, 1912 - Los Altos, California, June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer and guitarist.

Biography

Childhood and youth

She was born on a farm near Clarksdale, Mississippi, to William Hooker and Minnie Ramsey. His father was a sharecropper and pastor of the Baptist church. She had six brothers and four sisters.

As a child, his family moved to another farm on a nearby banana plantation, where he met bluesmen Snooky Pryor and Jimmy Rogers. In 1928 his parents separated and John was the only brother left in the care of his mother.

His mother remarried, this time to local bluesman William Moore, who taught John the guitar when he was thirteen. Hooker later recounted that thanks to him he met, as a child, legends like Blind Lemon Jefferson or Charlie Patton, who came to visit his house.

In 1931 he decided to emigrate to the industrial north, like many other blacks from the south did at that time. He first landed in Memphis, where he lived with an aunt, worked in local movie theaters, and played with Robert Lockwood. In 1935 he moved to Cincinnati, where he alternated jobs as a shoe shine or usher in theaters with performances in gospel groups. After a period in the army, he settled in Detroit during World War II, in 1943, where he got a job in the automobile industry, whose salary he managed to supplement by singing in suburban bars. There he was married twice. With his second wife, Maude Mathis, he had six children.

Music career

Hooker's musical career began in 1948 when he achieved success with the hit single 'Boogie Chillen,' sung in a half-spoken style that would become characteristic. Rhythmically, his music was very free, a characteristic that has been common among early acoustic Delta bluesmen. His phrasing was not as tied to the standards of most blues singers. This informal, incoherent style faded with the rise of Chicago electric blues bands, but even when he wasn't playing solo, Hooker kept his own sound.

In 1955 he ended his contract with Modern Records and was hired by the Chicago-based Vee Jay company, which released the classics Dimples and Boom Boom.

He did, however, maintain a solo career, always being popular with early 1960s blues and folk fans, which earned him reaching out to white audiences as well.

Records like Black Snake (1959), Wednesday Evening Blues (1960) or Birmingham Blues (1963) affirmed their prestige on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1970 he stepped back into the mainstream by recording the album Hooker 'n' Heat with the band Canned Heat.

In 1977 John Lee did a guest concert with Foghat and Paul Butterfield.

In 1980, he appeared in the film Blues Brothers, performing the song Boom Boom in a suburb.

Another success, among many in his career, came in 1989 when, together with several guest stars, including Carlos Santana and his band, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, among others, he recorded The Healer, which won a Grammy Award.

Hooker recorded more than 100 albums and lived the last years of his life in San Francisco, California, where he had a club called the "Boom Boom Room," after one of his hit songs.

Curiosities

• On several occasions he changed his date of birth, placing it between 1917 and 1923. Upon his death, his family had to confirm the authentic date is 2001

Discography

Albums

• 1959 - Folk Blues
• 1959 - House Of The Blues
• 1959 - The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker
• 1960 - Blues Man
• 1960 - I'm John Lee Hooker
• 1960 - That's My Story
• 1960 - Traveling'
• 1961 - John Lee Hooker Sing 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 - Blues tube
• 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 (Black & Blue, 1999)
• 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
• 1970 - Hooker 'n' Heat (Recorded Live at the Fox Venice Theatre)
• 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'
• 1987 - Jealous
• 1988 - Trouble Blues
• 1989 - Highway Of Blues
• 1989 - John Lee Hooker's 40th Anniversary Album
• 1989 - The Detroit Lion
• 1989 - The Healer with Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt...
• 1990 - Don't You Remember Me
• 1991 - More Real Folk Blues: The Missing Album
• 1991 - Mr. Lucky. with Ry Cooder, Johnnie Johnson, Keith Richards...
• 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
• 2003 - Blues is my soul
• 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 SessionsThe 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 50s 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
• 2001 - John Lee Hooker presents his House Rent Boogie (Ace)
• 2002 - Blues Before Sunrise
• 2002 - The Complete - Vol. 1 [Body & Soul]
• 2002 - The Complete - Vol. 2 [Body & Soul]
• 2002 - The Complete - Vol. 3 [Body & Soul]
• 2002 - The Complete - Vol. 4 [Body & Soul]
• 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. 5: [Body & Soul]
• 2005 - The Complete - Vol. 6: [Body & Soul]
• 2006 - John Lee Hooker (Specialty Profiles)
• 2006 - Too much boogie (Blue label)