John Lee Hooker
(August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001)
was an American
blues singer,
songwriter,
and guitarist.
The son of a sharecropper,
he rose to prominence
performing an electric
guitar-style adaptation of
Delta blues that he
developed in Detroit.
Hooker often incorporated
other elements,
including talking blues
and early North
Mississippi hill
country blues.
He developed his own
driving-rhythm boogie style,
distinct from the
1930s–1940s
piano-derived
boogie-woogie.
Hooker was ranked 35
in Rolling Stone's
2015 list of
100 greatest guitarists,
and has been cited as
one of the greatest
male blues vocalists
of all time
.Some of his best
known songs include
"Boogie Chillen'"
(1948),
"Crawling King Snake"
(1949),
"Dimples"
(1956),
"Boom Boom"
(1962),
and
"One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"
(1966).
Several of his later albums,
including
The Healer
(1989),
Mr. Lucky
(1991),
Chill Out
(1995),
and
Don't Look Back
(1997),
were album chart successes
in the U.S.
and UK.
The Healer
(for the song
"I'm in the Mood")
and
Chill Out
(for the album)
both earned him
Grammy wins,
as well as
Don't Look Back,
which went on to earn him
a double-Grammy win
for Best Traditional
Blues Recording
and
Best Pop Collaboration
with Vocals
(with Van Morrison)
