Blues singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lee Hooker, “the King of the Boogie,” was born on August 22, 1917, near Clarksdale, Mississippi. He sang with Baptist church groups well into his teens and learned guitar from his stepfather, a popular local bluesman named Will Moore. Hooker left Mississippi in the 1930s, living in Memphis and Cincinnati before settling in Detroit in 1943. He worked full time during the day and played at parties and clubs at night. A record store owner heard him at a house party in 1948, and Hooker soon found himself in a recording studio. “Boogie Chillen’,” Hooker’s first single, was a million-copy seller and one of the first blues records to feature a guitar playing boogie-woogie. (It also featured a percussion accompaniment of Coca-Cola bottle tops, which were attached to Hooker’s shoes.) Hooker’s distinctive gutsy sound made him stand out from the crowd of standard “blues shouters.”
Hits such as “Crawlin’ King Snake” (1949), and “I’m in the Mood” (1951) quickly followed, and his recording success led to tours across the U.S. Hooker disliked recording contracts and preferred to receive payment upfront. He also recorded prolifically under many pseudonyms for a variety of labels. It is estimated that between 1949 and 1953, he cut 70 singles on 24 labels, under names such as Texas Slim, Delta John, The Boogie Man, and John Lee Booker.
In 1955 Hooker began a long association with Veejay Records of Chicago, cutting over 100 singles with them during the 1950s and 1960s. Hooker had always recorded solo until then but for Veejay he was joined by a small, tight band—usually featuring guitar, piano, and various combinations of horns. During this time he produced a string of hits, including “Dimples” (1956) and “Boom Boom” (1956), leading to further extensive performance tours.
The folk and blues boom of the early 1960s brought a whole new audience of mainly young, white listeners to the African-American Hooker’s music. Record producers encouraged him to revisit his earlier repertoire, resulting in albums such as The Folk Blues of John Lee Hooker (1959) and Original Folk Blues (1964). He played at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 and toured with the ROLLING STONES in 1965. Numerous white rock groups of the time, such as the Doors and the Animals, performed his songs. In 1971 he released the hit double album Hooker ‘n’ Heat with the rock group Canned Heat, following it with a very successful joint tour.
Hooker was uncharacteristically quiet on the music scene for much of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1989, however, he emerged as fresh as ever with a phenomenal comeback album, The Healer, which also featured lifelong devotees such as Carlos SANTANA and Bonnie Raitt. The album won him a Grammy Award and has become one of the biggest selling blues albums of all time. The follow-up album, Mr Lucky (1991), included contributions from a host of Hooker fans including Johnny Winter, Ry COODER, and Van MORRISON. Hooker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
Hooker’s singing style was laid-back but dramatic; his deep baritone could moan with despair, growl with menace, or crow with humour. He strips down blues guitar to its bare essentials in some numbers and makes lively use of raucous boogie-inspired rhythms in others. His playing was hypnotic as he repeated notes or phrases, the music building in waves and the lyrics carrying a chanting quality. Although his live performances were infrequent in the late 1990s, he has continued to record, and in 1997 released the album Don’t Look Back.
Stan Hieronymus
SEE ALSO:
BLUES; GOSPEL; ROCK FESTIVALS; ROCK MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues (New York: Penguin Books, 1981).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Best of John Lee Hooker; The Healer; John Lee Hooker Plays and Sings the Blues; Mr. Lucky; The Ultimate Collection: 1948–90.