Hooker, John Lee 1917–2001

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John Lee Hooker 1917–2001

Blues guitarist

John Lee Hooker has been credited, along with Muddy Waters, with being the co-founder of modern electric blues. Hooker has influenced and inspired several generations of musicians, including Dr. Ross, the Animals, Van Morrison, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. His death on June 21, 2001, was a sad day for music enthusiasts around the world.

Hooker, the son of sharecroppers Minnie and William, was born on August 22, 1917, near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Raised in the birthplace of the blues, he developed an interest in music at an early age and even built a one-stringed instrument as a boy. His mother’s second husband, Will Moore, was a popular local musician, and Hooker learned how to play guitar from his stepfather. Eventually Moore even gave Hooker one of his own instruments as a present. Hooker’s stepfather played with a hypnotic one-chord style which Hooker absorbed. This style later became an integral part of Hooker’s recordings. “Whatever I’m doin’ is his style,” Hooker told Billboard. “My style is his style.”

Hooker, barely in his teens, left home in the early 1930s. “Where I came from in Mississippi was hell,” he told the New York Times. “I wanted to be a star. I knew I couldn’t make it in Mississippi, so I was working my way up north.” Memphis was the first stop on his trip north, and Hooker found his way to Beale Street, the nucleus of the blues universe. Still too young to play at bars or nightclubs, Hooker found gigs at local house parties. Next, Hooker moved to Cincinnati. There he sang in gospel groups, gaining valuable experience performing in front of an audience. However, Hooker was still drawn to the blues. “When I started singing blues the church didn’t like it,” he told the New York Times, “but I was determined to be a musician and be a blues star, and I didn’t care much what they thought.”

Hooker arrived in Detroit in the 1940s. By day he worked as a janitor and by night he played the blues in such hot spots as the Apex Bar and the Town Bar. “The town was booming, and I was playing three and four, sometimes five nights a week in small clubs,” he told the New York Times. “I got to be hot stuff, the hottest musician in Detroit.”

Hooker’s first big break came after World War II came to an end. Detroit record store owner Elmer Barbee saw one of Hooker’s shows and invited the singer to his downtown store. Hooker brought his guitar and played

At a Glance…

Born on August 22, 1917, in Clarksdale, MS; died on June 21, 2001, in Los Altos, CA; son of Minnie and William Hooker; divorced; children: eight.

Career: Played house parties in Memphis and performed in various gospel groups in Cincinnati, 1930s; played clubs in Detroit, 1940s; recorded first single, “Boogie Children,” 1948; recorded under various pseudonyms; recorded for Vee-Jay Records, 1955-64; recorded for Riverside Records, 1959-60; worked coffeehouse circuit as folk performer; played Newport Folk Festival for first time, 1960; toured Europe with American Folk Blues Festival, 1962; collaborated on two albums with Canned Heat, late 1960s; recorded Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive with Van Morrison, 1972; made comeback with The Healer, 1989.

Awards: National Endowment for the Arts, National Heritage Fellowship, 1983; W.C. Handy Award, Top Traditional Blues Artist, 1983-88; W.C. Handy Award, Contemporary Blues Artist, Male Blues Vocalist, Contemporary Blues Album, for The Healer, 1989; Grammy Award, Best Traditional Blues Recording, for “I’m In The Mood,” 1990; Inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 1991; W. C. Handy Award Traditional Blues Artist of the Year, 1993; charter inductee Blues Hall of Fame; W.C. Handy Award Traditional Blues Album of the Year, for Chill Out, 1995; Grammy, Best Traditional Blues Recording, for Chill Out, 1996; Grammy, Best Traditional Blues Album, for Don’t Look Back; Grammy, Best Pop Collaboration, “Don’t Look Back,” (with Van Morrison); Blues Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, 1996.

for most of the night as Barbee recorded the tunes. One of the songs produced that night was “Boogie Chillen,” which was based on a song Hooker had once heard his stepfather play. Barbee, convinced the song would be a number-one hit, helped Hooker contact Bernard Bessman of Sensation Records and Hooker recorded the song for Sensation. “The thing caught fire,” Hooker said in Robert Palmer’s Deep Blues. “It was ringin’ all around the country. When it come out every jukebox you went to, every place you went to, every drugstore, everywhere you went, department stores, they were playin’ it in there… And I was workin in Detroit in a factory there for a while. Then I quit my job. I said, ’No, I ain’t workin’ no more!’”

Hooker signed a contract with Modern Records in Los Angeles a year later, getting a $1000 advance. Between 1949 and 1951, Hooker produced three hits for Modern: “Hobo Blues,” “In The Mood,” and “Crawling Kingsnake.” But after Modern failed to pay the royalties he was due Hooker began recording for other labels under a variety of pseudonyms, including: Johnny Williams, Texas Slim, Delta John, Johnny Lee, Birmingham Sam & His Magic Guitar, the Boogie Man, John Lee Booker, Sir John Lee Hooker, and John Lee Cooker. He signed with Vee-Jay Records in Chicago in 1955. While at Vee-Jay, he abandoned his solo guitar accompaniment and recorded with a full band. “Vee-Jay wanted the big sound,” he told Billboard. “It was a good sound, a real good sound, a big fat sound.” That fat sound led to another string of hits, including “Dimples” and “Boom Boom,” which reached number 16 on the R&B charts and number sixty on the pop charts in 1962.

In an attempt to avoid being pigeonholed during an era when musical tastes were undergoing major changes, Hooker set out on the folk circuit, releasing solo acoustic records for Riverside that complemented his electric blues for Vee-Jay. He started playing at coffeehouses and appeared, beginning in 1960, at the Newport Folk Festival. In 1962 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival.

Hooker’s influence had already reached England by the time he embarked on his European tour. The Animals and the Yardbirds, deeply steeped in American blues, had their own hits covering “Boom Boom.” Other British groups had incorporated Hooker songs into their repertoires, as well. “I had no thought that British singers would start singing my songs,” Hooker told the New York Times. “I had no idea what would come with that. People got more civilized.” During the 1960s Hooker worked more and more with young rock musicians. In England he played with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and Eric Clapton. In the United States, he teamed up with his boogie disciples, Canned Heat, with whom he recorded two albums, Hooker ’N Heat and Live At The Fox Venice Theater. These collaborations introduced Hooker’s music to a new, younger generation. In 1972 he recorded Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive with another fan, Van Morrison. During the rest of the 1970s and for most of the 1980s, Hooker’s performing and recording tapered off, which wasn’t surprising since he was nearly sixty and had worked at a frantic pace for twenty years.

In 1989, when Hooker was seventy-two, he recorded the album that ushered in the most successful and productive period of his career. The Healer, conceived by his agent Mike Kappus, featured a star-studded line-up of guest artists, including Carlos Santana, Robert Cray, Los Lobos, and Bonnie Raitt. It won Hooker his first Grammy award. Other equally successful albums followed, including 1991’s Mr. Lucky, 1992’s Boom Boom, and Grammy winners Chill Out (1995) and Don’t Look Back (1997). In the 1990s Hooker enjoyed unprecedented worldwide popularity, performing regularly at festivals and on television. In 1990 an all-star tribute was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and in January of 1991 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He was also a charter inductee to the Blues Hall of Fame. In 1997 Hooker opened his own blues club in San Francisco, christened it the Boom Boom Room.

Hooker died in his sleep on June 21, 2001 at age 83. “When I’m gone, I won’t be gone,” Hooker said in a 1996 interview quoted in Guitar Player. “I won’t be here in person, but I’ll forever be in the hearts and minds of people. That’s the way I look at it.” Upon his death, Carlos Santana affirmed Hooker’s belief, telling PR Newswire, “There are no superlatives to describe the profound impact John Lee left in our hearts. For musicians and common people—all of us feel enormous gratitude, respect, admiration, and love for his spirit.”