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John Lee Hooker

Background information
Born August 22, 1917(1917-08-22)
Origin Coahoma County, Mississippi
Died June 21, 2001 (aged 83)
Genre(s) Electric blues
Delta blues
Country blues
Detroit blues
Occupation(s) singer-songwriter, guitarist
Years active 1948-2001
Label(s) Modern, Vee-Jay, Chess, ABC/Bluesway, Pointblank
Associated acts Canned Heat
Website johnleehooker.com,
World's Greatest Blues Singer
Notable instrument(s)
Epiphone Sheraton
Epiphone Sheraton II

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. Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Coahoma County is a County located in the Mississippi Delta region of the U Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other The electric blues is a type of Blues music distinguished by the amplification of the Guitar, the Bass guitar, and/or the Harmonica The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of Blues music. Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) refers to all This article discusses the Music of Detroit Michigan. World renowned for its Detroit Symphony Orchestra and music celebrities the area has a long and rich heritage Singer-songwriter is a term that refers to Performers who write, compose and sing their own material including Lyrics Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Vee-Jay Records was a Record label founded in the 1950s specializing in Blues, Jazz, Rhythm and blues and Rock and roll. Chess is a recreational and competitive Game played between two players. Canned Heat is a Blues-rock /boogie band that formed in Los Angeles in 1965 The Epiphone Sheraton is a thinline semi-hollow body electric guitar The Epiphone Sheraton is a thinline semi-hollow body electric guitar Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 524 - Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Post-War is the fifth studio album by M Ward. It was released on August 22 2006 by Merge Records. The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both Coahoma County is a County located in the Mississippi Delta region of the U Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States From a musical family, he was a cousin of Earl Hooker. Earl Hooker ( January 15, 1929 in Clarksdale Mississippi – April 21, 1970 in Chicago Illinois) was an American John was also influenced by his stepfather, a local blues guitarist, who learned in Shreveport, Louisiana to play a droning, one-chord blues that was strikingly different from the Delta blues of the time. Shreveport is the third-largest city and the principal city of the third largest Metropolitan area in the U The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of Blues music. [1] John developed a half-spoken style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was rhythmically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own unique genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his masterful and idiosyncratic blues guitar and singing. Boogie-woogie is a style of Piano -based Blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s but originated much earlier and was extended from piano His best known songs include "Boogie Chillen" (1948) and "Boom Boom" (1962). " Boogie Chillen' " is an Electric blues song written by John Lee Hooker. " Boom Boom " is a 1961 song written and performed by John Lee Hooker that is listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll

Contents

Biography

Early life

Hooker was born on August 22, 1917[2] in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi,[1] the youngest of the eleven children of William Hooker (1871–1923), a sharecropper and a Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (1875–?). Events 392 - Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Coahoma County is a County located in the Mississippi Delta region of the U Sharecropping is a system of agriculture or agricultural production in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land (e Baptist is a term describing individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. Preacher is a term the for someone who preaches Sermons or gives homilies Hooker and his siblings were home-schooled. Homeschooling (also called home education) home learning or homeschool  – is the education of children at home typically by parents or professional They were permitted to listen only to religious songs, with his earliest musical exposure being the spirituals sung in church. In 1921, his parents separated. The next year, his mother married William Moore, a blues singer who provided John's first introduction to the guitar (and whom John would later credit for his distinctive playing style). [3] The year after that (1923), John's natural father died; and at age 15, John ran away from home, never to see his mother and stepfather again. [4]

Throughout the 1930s, Hooker lived in Memphis where he worked on Beale Street and occasionally performed at house parties. Memphis is a City in the southwest corner of Tennessee, and the County seat of Shelby County. Beale Street is a street in downtown Memphis Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street a distance of approximately. [1] He worked in factories in various cities during World War II, drifting until he found himself in Detroit in 1948 working at Ford Motor Company. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Ford Motor Company is an American Multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on Worldwide vehicle sales, following He felt right at home near the blues venues and saloons on Hastings Street, the heart of black entertainment on Detroit's east side. In a city noted for its piano players, guitar players were scarce. Performing in Detroit clubs, his popularity grew quickly, and seeking a louder instrument than his crude acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar. An electric guitar is a type of Guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current which is made louder [5]

Career

Hooker's recording career began in 1948 when his agent placed a demo disc, made by Hooker, with the Bihari brothers, owners of the Modern Records label. The Bihari Brothers, Lester Jules Saul and Joe were American music entrepreneurs and the founders of Modern Records in Los Angeles and its subsidiaries such as Modern Records was an American Record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers — Jules, Saul The company initially released an up-tempo number, "Boogie Chillen", which became Hooker's first hit single. " Boogie Chillen' " is an Electric blues song written by John Lee Hooker. [1] Though they were not songwriters, the Biharis often purchased or claimed co-authorship of songs that appeared on their labels, thus securing songwriting royalties for themselves, in addition to their streams of income. Royalties (sometimes running royalties) are usage-based payments made by one party (the "licensee" to another (the "licensor" for ongoing use of an

Sometimes these songs were older tunes renamed (B.B.King's "Rock Me Baby"), anonymous jams ("B. B B King (born Riley B King, September 16 1925 is an American Blues Guitarist and Singer-songwriter. B. 's Boogie") or songs by employees (bandleader Vince Weaver). The Biharis used a number of pseudonyms for songwriting credits: Jules was credited as Jules Taub; Joe as Joe Josea; and Sam as Sam Ling. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) One song by John Lee Hooker, "Down Child" is solely credited to "Taub", with Hooker receiving no credit for the song whatsoever. Another, "Turn Over a New Leaf" is credited to Hooker and "Ling".

Despite being illiterate, Hooker was a prolific lyricist. traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, A lyricist is a Writer who specializes in Song Lyrics, usually paid for by a band to write a custom song(s In addition to adapting the occasionally traditional blues lyric (such as "if I was chief of police, I would run her right out of town"), he freely invented many of his songs from scratch. Recording studios in the 1950s rarely paid black musicians more than a pittance, so Hooker would spend the night wandering from studio to studio, coming up with new songs or variations on his songs for each studio. Due to his recording contract, he would record these songs under obvious pseudonyms such as "John Lee Booker", "Johnny Hooker", or "John Cooker. A pseudonym is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name (see Alias) "[6]

His early solo songs were recorded under Bernie Besman. John Lee Hooker rarely played on a standard beat, changing tempo to fit the needs of the song. 2266-Tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl or TEMPO is the Chemical compound with the formula (CH23(CMe22NO This often made it difficult to use backing musicians who were not accustomed to Hooker's musical vagaries: As a result, Besman would record Hooker, in addition to playing guitar and singing, stomping along with the music on a wooden pallet. A stomp box or stompbox is a simple Percussion instrument consisting of a small wooden box placed under the foot which is tapped or stamped on rhythmically to [7] For much of this time period he recorded and toured with Eddie Kirkland, who is still performing as of 2008. Later sessions for the VeeJay label in Chicago used studio musicians on most of his recordings, including Eddie Taylor, who could handle his musical idiosyncrasies very well. His biggest UK hit, "Boom Boom", (originally released on VeeJay) had a horn section to boot!

He appeared and sang in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd Due to Hooker's improvisatory style, his performance was filmed and sound-recorded live at the scene at Chicago's Maxwell Street Market, in contrast to the usual "playback" technique used in most film musicals. [8] Hooker was also a direct influence in the look of John Belushi's character Jake Blues, borrowing his trademark sunglasses and soul patch. John Adam Belushi ( January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American Comedian, Actor and Musician The soul patch is a small patch of Facial hair just below the lower lip and above the chin

In 1989, he joined with a number of musicians, including Keith Richards, Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt to record The Healer, for which he and Carlos Santana won a Grammy Award. Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943 is an English Guitarist, Songwriter, Singer, producer and a founding member of The Rolling For the Costa Rican football player see Carlos Santana (footballer; for the Mexican academic see Carlos Santana Morales. Bonnie Lynn Raitt (born November 8, 1949) is an American Blues Singer-songwriter who was born in Burbank, California The Healer is a Blues album by John Lee Hooker, released in 1989 The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards)—or Grammys —are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Hooker recorded several songs with Van Morrison, including "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive", "The Healing Game" and "I Cover the Waterfront". George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born 31 August 1945 is a Grammy Award -winning Northern Irish Singer, He also appeared on stage with Van Morrison several times, some of which was released on the live album A Night in San Francisco. A Night in San Francisco is a Live album by Northern Irish Singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1994 The same year he appeared as the title character on Pete Townshend's The Iron Man: A Musical. Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (born 19 May 1945 in Chiswick, London) is an English rock Guitarist, Singer,

Hooker recorded over 100 albums. He lived the last years of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area, where, in 1997, he opened a nightclub called "John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room", after one of his hits. The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the [9]

He fell ill just before a tour of Europe in 2001 and died soon afterwards at the age of 83. The last song Hooker recorded before his death, is "Ali D'Oro", a collaboration with the Italian soul singer Zucchero, in which Hooker sang the chorus "I lay down with an angel". Adelmo Fornaciari (born September 25 1955) more commonly known by his Stage name Zucchero, is an Italian rock singer He was survived by eight children, nineteen grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and a nephew.

Among his many awards, Hooker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a Sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood Los Angeles California, USA, that The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a Museum located on the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland Ohio, United States Two of his songs, "Boogie Chillen" and "Boom Boom" were named to the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. "Boogie Chillen" was included as one of the Songs of the Century. The " Songs of the Century " list is part of an education project by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA the National Endowment for the Arts He was also inducted in 1980 into the Blues Hall of Fame. The Blues Hall of Fame is a listing of people who have significantly contributed to Blues music In 2000, Hooker was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who during their lifetimes have made creative contributions of outstanding

Music

Hooker's guitar playing is closely aligned with piano Boogie Woogie. Boogie-woogie is a style of Piano -based Blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s but originated much earlier and was extended from piano He would play the walking bass pattern with his thumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with a series of trills, done by rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes of a scale (compare Mordent and Tremolo) Hammer-on is a Stringed instrument playing technique performed (especially on Guitar) by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the Fingerboard A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the Fingerboard with one of the fingers being used 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 blues standard first recorded by Big Joe Williams, and "Tupelo Blues",[10] a stunningly sad song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi in April 1936. " Baby Please Don't Go " is a Blues song first recorded by Big Joe Williams in 1935 Big Joe Williams (born Joseph Lee Williams, October 16, 1903 - December 17, 1982 Tupelo ( IPA:) is the largest city in and the County seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States.

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. The Blues is a vocal and instrumental form of Music based on the use of the Blue notes It emerged as an accessible form of self-expression Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major As he got older, he added more and more people to his band, changing his live show from simply Hooker with his guitar to a large band, with Hooker singing.

His vocal phrasing was less closely tied to specific bars than most blues singers'. 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. The electric blues is a type of Blues music distinguished by the amplification of the Guitar, the Bass guitar, and/or the Harmonica Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States.

Though Hooker lived in Detroit during most of 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". The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of Blues music. Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) refers to all Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) refers to all His use of an electric guitar tied together the Delta blues with the emerging post-war electric blues. [11]

His songs have been covered by The White Stripes, MC5, The Doors, George Thorogood, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, The Yardbirds, The Animals, R. L. Burnside, the J. Geils Band and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. The White Stripes is an American Garage rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The MC5 ( Motor City Five) was an American Hard rock band formed in Lincoln Park Michigan in 1964 and active until This article is about the band For their self-titled debut album see The Doors (album; for the Oliver Stone film see The Doors (film; for Doors in computing George Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is a Blues-rock performer from Wilmington Delaware. James Marshall Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix) (November 27 1942 – September 18 1970 was an American Guitarist, Singer and Songwriter Led Zeppelin were George Ivan Morrison OBE (generally known as Van Morrison) (born 31 August 1945 is a Grammy Award -winning Northern Irish Singer, The Yardbirds are an English rock band noted for starting the careers of three of rock's most famous Guitarists Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s known in the United States as part of the British Invasion. R L Burnside (born Robert Lee Burnside, November 23 1926 - September 1 2005) was a Blues Singer, Songwriter The J Geils Band was an American rock band who were formed in 1967 in Worcester Massachusetts, that had a successful R&B -influenced Blues Explosion (formerly The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and sometimes abbreviated JSBX) is a New York -based Punk blues trio

Awards and Recognition

Grammy Awards:

Quotes

Discography

Singles

Hooker issued a large number of singles, with almost a hundred releases by 1960. [12]
Here are some of his early classic recordings:

Albums

There are many John Lee Hooker albums out there. Below you will find the original albums with notable reissues.


THE DETROIT YEARS (recordings 1948-1955)


THE CHICAGO YEARS (recordings 1955-1964)


THE FOLK YEARS (recordings 1959-1963)


THE ABC YEARS (recordings 1965-1974)


THE ROSEBUD YEARS (recordings 1975-2001)

Selected CD Compilations

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b c d Palmer, Robert (1982). Deep Blues. United States: Penguin Books, p. 242-243. ISBN 0-14-006223-8.  
  2. ^ There is some debate as to the year of Hooker's birth. 1915, 1917, 1920, and 1923 have all been given. (Boogie Man, p. 22) 1917 is the one most commonly cited, although Hooker himself claimed, at times, 1920, which would have made him "the same age as the recorded blues" (p. 59)
  3. ^ Conversation with the Blues CD Included By Paul Oliver, p. 188
    See also: Guitar Facts By Bennett Joe, Trevor Curwen, Cliff Douse, Joe Bennett, p. 76
  4. ^ Boogie Man p. 43
  5. ^ Wogan, Terry (1984). Shoes Off the Record. New York, N. Y. : Da Capo Press, p. 116-118. ISBN 0-306-80321-6.  
  6. ^ Liner notes to Alternative Boogie: Early Studio Recordings, 1948-1952
  7. ^ Boogie Man p. 121
  8. ^ The Blues Brothers (1980) - Trivia
  9. ^ "Discovering the Blues of John Lee Hooker" Adapted from: Blues For Dummies, by Lonnie Brooks, Cub Koda, Wayne Baker Brooks, Dan Aykroyd, ISBN 0-7645-5080-2, August 1998
  10. ^ YouTube - John Lee Hooker - Tupelo (1995)
  11. ^ Rhino - John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) - Rzine #203
  12. ^ John Lee Hooker - The World´s Greatest Blues Singer - cont´d (page 1)

External links

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