Farewell to the King of Boogie
John Lee Hooker
(1917 - 2001)
Photo Courtesy Stevie Styles
Story by Tony Bonyata
Blues legend John Lee Hooker died in his sleep of natural causes last week leaving not only a wealth of boogie-infused blues music behind him, but also a tangible sense of the blues in general.
Hooker was one of the last living links to the blues of the deep South. With the passing of each elder statesman of the blues, the real, yet mysterious sounds that permeated from the Delta work fields and juke joints are fast blurring into modern mythology. From Robert Johnson's fabled crossroads barter with the devil, where it is said that he exchanged his soul for fame, to Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Hooker, unwittingly, helping to jump start the rock 'n' roll revolution of the early '60s, the blues as an art form runs much deeper than just 12-bars and tales of broken spirits, cheating women and murderous hearts.Although John Lee Hooker was born and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi - his rise to fame wouldn't happen in Chicago - where so many other bluesmen from the South had migrated and found success - but rather in Detroit. After learning the guitar from his stepfather and playing local Mississippi dances and fish fries in his youth, Hooker had brief stints in Memphis and Cincinnati before finally settling in the Motor City in 1943. It was there that he would hone his musical craft to perfection - playing house parties and clubs in the black neighborhoods. His first recording, the stark and stirring "Boogie Chillen'," released in 1948 on the Modern record label, became an instant hit - rocketing to the number 1 spot on the R&B charts early the following year.
Although most of the record companies of the late '40s and early '50s demanded exclusivity to their artists, Hooker found a way around this legality as he released many recordings through the next few years under different pseudonyms such as Delta John, Texas Slim, John Lee Booker, The Boogie Man, Birmingham Sam, among others.
He gained even more popularity in the early '60s when the folk movement blossomed and rock artists such as Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, The Animals and Bob Dylan cited his sexually charged, bone-chilling voice and mesmerizing, one-chord guitar licks as a major influence on their music.
He made appearances in movies, such as his 1980 role as a street musician performing on Chicago's Maxwell Street in "The Blues Brothers", had his music used in soundtracks, posed for hard liquor ads and even appeared in a Pepsi commercial.
Hooker garnered his first Grammy award in 1990 for his song "I'm In The Mood," a duet with Bonnie Riatt from his hugely popular album "The Healer," which also featured performances from Robert Cray and Carlos Santana.
He spent a good portion of his golden years living in the San Francisco area, where, unfortunately for the rest of the world, he continued to perform for benefits as well as unannounced gigs in small clubs.
Like Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House and Muddy Waters before him, John Lee Hooker has, already in death, transcended from a real blues legend you could actually touch to a mythological blues god. And rightfully so.