John Lee Hooker BiographyClaus Röhnisch
Born in Mississippi, raised up in Tennessee: Born August 22, 1917 on a share-cropper farm south of Clarksdale, Miss. (Hooker himself has given other dates of birth, - often 1920 and other files say anything between 1917 and 1923, but 1917 is accurate; after his death - in his home in Los Altos, California on June 21, 2001 - the Hooker family confirmed his birth date as August 22, 1917). John Lee´s mother was Minnie Ramsey, married to his father (share-cropper and spare-time preacher) William Hooker (only religious music was allowed). John had six brothers and four sisters - of which not all survived. The family moved to a new farm (the Fewell plantation) at Vance, Miss (again not far from Clarksdale) in cirka 1920 (where John met Snooky Pryor and Jimmy Lane - later known as Jimmy Rogers. The parents separated in cirka 1928 and Johnnie, who was the only child leaving with his mother, got a stepfather - William Moore (from Shreveport, Louisiana, no recordings, but a local Clarksdale blues musician). From Moore Johnnie learned tunes like "Pea Vine special", "Rather drink muddy water", "My starter won´t start", "Don´t turn me from your door" and "When my first wife quit me"). Hooker claimed Blind Lemon Jefferson came to visit Moore, and he also remembers Blind Blake and Charlie Patton. Around 1930 Hooker started playing the guitar, which he said was given to him by Tony Hollins, who had courted his sister - and later he got his second from William Moore. Hooker also was influenced by Tommy McClennan and much of Hooker´s greatness may be due to his natural youth mix of gospel and blues. Hobo Blues - Drifting from door to door: Hooker left Mississippi the first time around 1931 and moved to Memphis in cirka 1932 - as a teenager - staying at an aunt´s and working at the cinema "New Daisy" (and possibly also the W.C. Handy Theater) on Beale Street. Johnnie claimed that he during his Memphis stay worked with Robert Nighthawk, Eddie Love (brother of pianist Willie) and the pianist Joe Willard. He soon "hoboed" again - this time he spent a period in Knoxville and arrived in Cincinnati in cirka 1935 (singing the blues and working with gospel groups like the Big Six, the Delta Big Four, and the Fairfield Four in the evenings - and in factories, theatres/cinemas and warehouses during daytime. The years between 1939 and 1943 are unaccounted for (except for a short spell in the army - stationed near Detroit; Hooker may have traveled in the South too). Starting out - Boogie Chillen´: Hooker started his developing as the world´s leading "traditional blues" singer via his arrival in Detroit in cirka 1943, first working at a Receiving Hospital and later at Dodge and Comco Steel. He first married Alma Hope, but soon parted and then he courted Sarah Jones for a couple of years until he married Maude Mathis (two sons and four daughters). In the evenings he got small jobs at the clubs around Hastings Street. Legend has it: T-Bone Walker handed Johnny Lee the first electric guitar, as John became T-Bones "kid" when T-Bone was working in Detroit during 1946-48. "Johnny Lee" (as most of his friends called him) invented his own "unique" style (non-rhyming, sometimes out-of-rhythm) and was introduced to Bernie Besman (of Sensation Records at Woodward Avenue; and together with co-owner John Caplan, the Pan American Record Co.) in 1948 by Elmer Barbee, Hooker´s original "manager", who "discovered" Hooker playing with his trio at the "Apex" bar on Monroe Street (although "legend" says Besman "discovered" Hooker at Lee Sensation´s bar "Russell & Orange"). Barbee continued to promote Johnnie, after the Besman introduction, for other record labels, most of them recorded in Barbee´s record shop at 609 Lafayette Street, but most of Hooker´s early recordings up into 1952 were recorded by Bernie Besman at United Sound Studios Inc. at 5840 2nd Blvd. Besman leased several tracks to the Bihari brothers (Modern - of Hollywood) and issued others on Sensation (a Detroit label). Almost a hundred alternates and variations were "kept in the can" and later issued on album compilations. First recordings - When my first wife left me: Detroit, June 12, 1948 "Rocks" (unissued) and unissued demo recordings for manager Elmer Barbee in cirka July/August, 1948: "Leavin´ Chicago" (aka "Highway Blues"), "Wednesday Evening Blues" and "When My Wife Quit Me" (aka "When My First Wife Left Me", and issued as "Drifting From Door To Door" on Modern in 1949). First recordings for Bernie Besman - Henry´s Swing Club: Hooker´s debuting record was cut at United Sound Studios with Joe Siracuse, engineer in September, 1948. It was "Boogie Chillen´" c/w "Sally May" - released November 3, 1948 on the West Coast label Bihari-owned Modern label, # 20-627 - with "Sally May" titled "Sally Mae" on later issues (just as the second take of that song). On that session a further two originally unissued titles were recorded: "Highway Blues" (aka "Highway 51") and "Wednesday Evening Blues". Hooker also made two alternate boogies that day, later titled "Johnny Lee´s Original Boogie" (better suited title would have been "Detroit Boogie") and "Henry´s Swing Club". At least four 78´s by Hooker, recording under different pseudonyms were issued before Hooker´s follow-up to "Boogie Chillen´", "Hobo Blues" c/w "Hoogie Boogie" (on King, Regent, Savoy, Danceland and possibly also Acorn). Poor Slim´s Battle - Stomp Boogie: After Hooker´s "Boogie Chillen´" local success Hooker started to "moonlight" under several pseudonymes for other Detroit producers, especially for Joe Von Battle in Joe´s Record Shop at 3530 Hastings Street; most of them as "Texas Slim" (originally intended to be issued as "Po´ Slim"). The first five pirate issues were: ""Black Man Blues" c/w "Stomp Boogie" on King (as Texas Slim), "Goin´ Mad Blues" c/w "Helpless Blues" on Regent (as Delta John), "Low Down Midnite Boogie" c/w "Landing Blues" on Savoy (as Birmingham Sam), "Do The Boogie" c/w "Morning Blues" on Acorn (as The Boogie Man) - all recorded by Battle plus a Barbee recording: "Wayne County Ramblin Blues" c/w "Grievin´ Blues" on Danceland (as Little Pork Chops with an unknown lead singer on the flip). Later several records were made as "John Lee Booker" (for Battle and Henry Stone) - and a bunchful of wonderful recordings were made for Idessa Malone as "Johnny Williams" - even Gotham in Philadelphia recorded Hooker as "Johnny Williams" and as "John Lee". Eddie Burns, hca; John T. Smith, gtr; Andrew Durnham, gtr; and James Watkins,pno sporadically worked with Hooker during the early years. Detroit - Chicago; and from Coast to Coast - Boom Boom; It serves me right to suffer: From mid 1952, when Bernie Besman moved to Los Angeles (after several Joe Von Battle productions of around April, 1951 direct for Chess in Detroit (a.o. "Ground Hog Blues" coupled with "Louise" - which were issued on both Chess and Modern) - Joe Bihari took over as producer in Detroit (still with United Sounds´ Joe Siracuse as engineer) and Hooker toured with "second" guitarist Eddie Kirkland, with whom he worked several times thruout the years. JLH worked with his own band from 1953 - the Boogie Ramblers in Detroit (including Bob Thurman and later Vernon "Boogie Woogie Red" Harrison, pno; Tom Whitehead, dms; Jimmy Miller, tpt; and Johnny Hooks and later Otis Finch, sax). Hooker´s contract with Modern was terminated by the end of 1954 (or more probably early 1955) and John signed a contract with Vee-Jay Records and switched recording locations to Chicago (Universal Studios) during 1955 - 1964 (with Jimmy Bracken, Ewart Abner and Calvin Carter producing - later also Al Smith). From 1965 Hooker regularly recorded in New York, due to his new-signed contract with ABC Records after Vee-Jay´s bankruptcy. Hooker moved to Oakland, California in 1970 (something he had longed for - and regularly recorded in Los Angeles during the early ´70s). His accompanying The Coast To Coast Blues Band of Frisco/L.A. area (with several famous white rock musicians) backed him in the ´70s (and variations including his son Robert Hooker and later Deacon Jones on keyboard toured with him during the ´80s and ´90s). Hooker settled in the San Francisco Bay suburbans during the ´90s. The Blue Rose organization from 1988: manager Mike Kappus, producer Roy Rogers, artist John Lee Hooker. John Lee Hooker on Records - I´m in the mood: Hooker made records for Modern and Sensation as John Lee Hooker 48-52; plus under pseudonymes for a.o. Savoy, King, Chess, DeLuxe, and Fortune 48-54. Then came Modern 52-55, Specialty 1954, VeeJay 55-64, Riverside 59-60, Chess 1966, ABC/Bluesway 65-74, Tomato 1977, Chameleon (Silvertone in Europe) 1989, Pointblank/Virgin 1990 plus. Among his most well-known recordings are: "Boogie Chillen´", "Hobo Blues", "Crawling King Snake", "House Rent Boogie", "I´m In The Mood", "Dimples", "No Shoes", "Whiskey And Wimmen", "Boom Boom", "It Serves Me Right To Suffer", "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", "I´ll Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive" and "The Healer".
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