John Lee Hooker rolled several successful blues careers into one lifetime and went out on top, the reigning “King of the Boogie” and earthy elder of rock ‘n’ roll. His “Boogie Chillen,” featuring only Hooker and his guitar, created a sensation in 1949 as the most low-down blues stomp ever to hit the No. 1 spot on the race/rhythm & blues charts. His continuing success with raw blues, including slow, ruminating numbers like “I’m in the Mood” (another No. 1, in 1951) inspired a spate of down-home blues recording as companies scrambled to find another bluesman who could match Hooker’s feats. But in terms of chart success, none ever did – nor did any ever equal the deep, resonant quality of Hooker’s voice or his ability to personalize any type of song into a moody, meditative blues. Later, recording with a band, Hooker enjoyed renewed popularity on the R&B circuit and crossed over to rock ‘n’ roll as well with hits such as “Boom Boom,” simultaneously adapting to the folk boom by playing alone and acoustic when the coffeehouses called. His (and producer Bernie Besman’s) habit of recording prolifically and marketing songs to as many labels as possible, under pseudonyms if necessary, eventually resulted in a market overload, and Hooker’s recording career hit a lull. He still enjoyed top-level blues stature as a live performer, though, and in 1989 and the ’90s he hit new peaks of popularity through a series of collaborations with rock stars who were only too honored to record with their idol. Hooker savored the adulation and lived to a ripe old age – probably a more advanced age than any of his confusing biographies gave. He claimed Aug. 22, 1917, and 1920 as his birth dates at various times, but census data from Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, indicates he may have been born in 1912 or 1913.
His rise to fame began in Detroit, his home for more than 20 years until he moved to California in the 1960s. During his final years “The Hook” extended his endless boogie invitation to the public by opening a nightclub, the Boom Boom Room, in San Francisco. On June 21, 2001, Hooker died in his sleep at his home in Los Altos, California.
Jim O’Neal
www.stackhouse-bluesoterica.blogspot.com