John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was born to a sharecropper and became well-known for performing a unique style of electric guitar-based Delta blues he created in Detroit. Hooker often included other musical styles, such as talking blues and early North Mississippi hill country blues. He developed his own distinct boogie style, which differed from the piano-based boogie-woogie of the 1930s and 1940s. Hooker was ranked 35th in Rolling Stone’s 2015 list of the 100 greatest guitarists and is considered one of the greatest male blues vocalists of all time.

Some of his most famous songs include "Boogie Chillen’" (1948), "Crawling King Snake" (1949), "Dimples" (1956), "Boom Boom" (1962), and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" (1966). Later albums such as The Healer (1989), Mr. Lucky (1991), Chill Out (1995), and Don’t Look Back (1997) were successful in the United States and the United Kingdom. The Healer (for the song "I’m in the Mood") and Chill Out (for the album) both won Grammy Awards. Don’t Look Back earned Hooker two Grammy Awards: Best Traditional Blues Recording and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (with Van Morrison).

Early life

John Lee Hooker's birth year is not certain. Some people believe he was born in 1912, 1915, 1917, 1920, or 1923. Most official records say 1917, but Hooker sometimes said he was born in 1920. Census records from 1920 and 1930 suggest he was born in 1912. In 2017, events were held to mark what was thought to be 100 years since his birth. The 1920 census lists John Hooker as seven years old, living with his parents, William and Minnie Hooker, in Tutwiler, Mississippi.

It is likely he was born in Tutwiler, Tallahatchie County, though some sources say he was born near Clarksdale, Coahoma County. He was the youngest of 11 children of William Hooker (born 1871, died after 1923), a sharecropper and Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (born around 1880, date of death unknown). The 1920 census lists William and Minnie as 48 and 39 years old, which supports Minnie being born around 1880. This record adds credibility to the idea that Hooker was born in 1912.

The Hooker children were homeschooled. They were allowed to listen only to religious songs, and church spirituals were their first exposure to music. In 1921, their parents separated. The next year, their mother married William Moore, a blues singer, who taught John Lee to play the guitar. Moore influenced Hooker’s early style of music.

Moore was a local blues guitarist who learned to play a type of blues with a single, repeating chord in Shreveport, Louisiana. Another influence was Tony Hollins, who dated Hooker’s sister Alice, taught him to play, and gave him his first guitar. Hooker always credited Hollins for shaping his musical style and career. Songs Hollins taught Hooker included "Crawlin' King Snake" and "Catfish Blues."

At 14, Hooker ran away from home and reportedly never saw his mother or stepfather again. In the mid-1930s, he lived in Memphis, Tennessee, where he performed on Beale Street, at the New Daisy Theatre, and at house parties.

During World War II, Hooker worked in factories in several cities. In 1943, he got a job with Ford Motor Company in Detroit. He visited blues clubs and bars on Hastings Street, the center of Detroit’s Black entertainment district. In a city known for pianists, guitar players were rare, so Hooker gained popularity quickly. To be heard better, he bought his first electric guitar.

Earlier career

In 1948, Hooker was working as a janitor in a steel mill in Detroit when his music career began. He recorded a demo for Bernie Besman in Detroit, and Modern Records, based in Los Angeles, released it as a single. The song, "Boogie Chillen'," became a hit and was the best-selling race record of 1949. Even though he could not read or write, Hooker wrote many songs. He adapted traditional blues lyrics and also created original songs. In the 1950s, like many Black musicians, Hooker earned little money from record sales. To make more money, he often recorded different versions of his songs for various studios. To avoid breaking his recording contract, he used many different names, such as John Lee Booker, Johnny Lee, John Lee Cooker, Texas Slim, Delta John, Birmingham Sam and his Magic Guitar, Johnny Williams, and the Boogie Man.

His early solo songs were recorded by Bernie Besman. Hooker rarely used a standard beat. Instead, he changed the tempo to match the song’s needs. This made it hard to work with backing musicians, who were not used to his unusual style. As a result, Besman recorded Hooker playing guitar, singing, and stomping on a wooden board in time with the music.

For much of this time, Hooker recorded and toured with Eddie Kirkland. In his later recordings for Vee-Jay Records in Chicago, studio musicians played with him on most songs, including Eddie Taylor, who could adapt to Hooker’s unique musical style. Two popular songs by Hooker, "Boom Boom" and "Dimples," were first released by Vee-Jay Records in 1962.

Later career

Starting in 1962, Hooker became more well-known when he traveled to Europe as part of the annual American Folk Blues Festival. His song "Dimples" became a successful single on the UK Singles Charts in 1964, eight years after it was first released in the United States. Hooker began performing and recording with rock musicians. One of his earliest partnerships was with the British blues rock band the Groundhogs. In 1970, he made an album called Hooker 'n Heat with the American blues and boogie rock group Canned Heat, which included songs based on Hooker’s music. This album was the first of Hooker’s to appear on the Billboard charts, reaching number 78 on the Billboard 200. Other albums with collaborations followed, such as Endless Boogie (1971) and Never Get Out of These Blues Alive (1972), which featured musicians like Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, and Van Morrison.

Hooker appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers as a street musician playing "Boom Boom." In 1989, he recorded the album The Healer with Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, and others. During the 1990s, Hooker released more collaboration albums, including Mr. Lucky (1991), Chill Out (1995), and Don’t Look Back (1997), which included musicians like Morrison, Santana, Los Lobos, and others. His re-recording of "Boom Boom" (the title track of his 1992 album) with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan became Hooker’s highest-charting single in the UK, reaching number 16. A 2004 DVD called Come See About Me includes performances recorded between 1960 and 1994, along with interviews with several musicians.

In his later years, Hooker owned five homes in California, including ones in Los Altos, Redwood City, and Long Beach. On June 21, 2001, Hooker passed away in his sleep at his home in Los Altos.

Awards and recognition

Hooker was honored with many awards throughout his life. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. In 1983, he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the highest honor in the United States for folk and traditional arts. He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was also inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.

Two of his songs, "Boogie Chillen'" and "Boom Boom," are listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s collection of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. "Boogie Chillen'" is also listed in the Recording Industry Association of America’s "Songs of the Century."

• Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1990, for I'm in the Mood, with Bonnie Raitt
• Best Traditional Blues Album, 1995, for Chill Out
• Best Traditional Blues Recording, 1998, for Don't Look Back
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, 1998, "Don't Look Back," with Van Morrison
• Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000
• National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, 2021–2022

Discography

• The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker (1959)
• Travelin' (1960)
• That's My Story (1960)
• The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker (1961)
• Burnin' (1962)
• The Big Soul of John Lee Hooker (1963)
• John Lee Hooker on Campus (1964)
• …And Seven Nights (1965)
• It Serve You Right to Suffer (1966)
• The Real Folk Blues (1966)
• Urban Blues (1967)
• Simply the Truth (1969)
• If You Miss 'Im…I Got 'Im (1969)
• Get Back Home (1969)
• I Feel Good! (1971)
• Hooker 'n Heat (1971)
• Endless Boogie (1971)
• Never Get Out of These Blues Alive (1972)
• Born in Mississippi, Raised Up in Tennessee (1973)
• Free Beer and Chicken (1974)
• Jealous (1987)
• The Healer (1989)
• Mr. Lucky (1991)
• Boom Boom (1992)
• Chill Out (1995)
• Don't Look Back (1997)

Film

• The Blues Brothers on Maxwell Street in Chicago, outside Aretha Franklin's restaurant (1980)
• John Lee Hooker & Furry Lewis [DVD] (1995)
• John Lee Hooker: That's My Story [DVD] (2001)
• John Lee Hooker Rare Performances from 1960 to 1984 [DVD] (2002)
• Come See About Me [DVD] (2004)
• John Lee Hooker: Bits and Pieces About … [DVD and CD] (2006)