John Lee Hooker was born in 1917 in the deep South of the United States. From the 1940s, Hooker recorded around a hundred singles and albums. John Lee Hooker moved to Detroit at a young age, where he worked to make a living but played music in the evenings. He was discovered by the owner of Sensation Records, Elmer Barbee. In 1948, his first record Boogie Chillen was released.
Inspiration
Although John Lee Hooker lived and worked in Detroit for a significant part of his career, he is not immediately associated with the Chicago style that long dominated the music scene in the major northern cities of the US. Hooker is mainly known as a powerful interpreter of several southern blues styles, better known collectively as Delta blues, with many influences from country, folk, and the so-called "front porch blues". Hooker's use of the electric guitar – often an Epiphone, sometimes a Gibson or a Gretsch – connected the Delta blues with the rapidly emerging post-war blues that was no longer solely acoustic in a way not seen before.
It did not take long for Hooker's talent and style to earn him the respect of many American and British musicians. In the 1960s, bands like the Yardbirds, the Animals, and John Mayall presented Hooker as one of the greats of the blues. In the 1970s, Hooker collaborated with Van Morrison and Canned Heat on several projects.
Healer
In the 1980s, Hooker made a memorable cameo in the film Blues Brothers. Many consider the peak of his career to be the release of his album The Healer (1989). On the album, Hooker collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, and Robert Cray. The song 'The Healer', featuring Carlos Santana and the Santana Band, reached the top 10 in the Dutch charts.
John Lee Hooker recorded more than 100 albums during his lifetime. In his later years, he spent time around the San Francisco Bay in California, where he gave a nightclub permission to use the name Boom Boom Room, after one of his hits.
Hooker's last recording took place with the Italian singer Zucchero in the spring of 2001. For his song "Ali D'Oro" (literally Golden Wings), from the album Shake, the bluesman sang the chorus: "I lay down with an angel."
Passing
Hooker became ill shortly before he was to begin a tour of Europe in 2001. He died not long after at the age of 83. Hooker left behind eight children, nineteen grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren.
Top 2000
In the 23rd edition of the Top 2000, John no longer has any entries. A pity, because he certainly deserves a place.
Sunday Morning Classic
On 27 August 2023, it was John Lee Hooker's turn to take the stage at our Sunday Morning Classic. Rightly so. The man delivered more than 100 albums during his lifetime.
I'm John Lee Hooker was released by Vee-Jay Records in 1959 and contains seven tracks originally released as singles between 1955 and 1958, along with five new tracks recorded in 1959.
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings wrote: "When Hooker's Vee-Jay sides first appeared as singles, they were encouraging signs that honest and unpretentious blues were still being made... Decades later, they are somewhat less compelling. Placing Hooker with an efficient band was presumably intended to relieve him of rhythmic chores and give him space to flex his vocal or instrumental muscles, but he gains little from it; he is always his most interesting rhythm provider."
AllMusic reviewer Lindsay Planer stated: "I'm John Lee Hooker was first issued in 1959 during his tenure at Vee Jay and is 'the Hook'. It unquestionably belongs in the collection of every blues lover."
Source: NPO and Wikipedia Photo: Jean Luc and public domain
It is impossible to list all of John Lee Hooker's albums. Therefore, we have limited ourselves to the top 5. If you are looking for a particular album, please let us know. We are happy to help you search!
