A Tribute To A Great BLues Singer (John Lee Hooker in general)

Name: andy_uk

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	John Lee Hooker in general
Date:	17.10.01 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The King of Blues, Great Singing Voice, An all-round performer.

Disadvantages: Has now, sadly passed away...

As many of you may know, The one and only John Lee Hooker died recently, on 21st June, and i dedidcate this op to the great Musician.

He was born on 22nd August 1917, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Later he became the stepson of William Moore, a guitarist. At the age of 14, he started singing with spiritual groups. Hooker learned his style of guitar playing from his stepfather. He also learned to play from his colleagues, James Smith and Coot Harris. His style of guitar playing is known as two-finger picking.(Stratyner 112) His two-finger picking style is known as Deltalick

Hooker introduced a style to which every white blues band since 1962 must trace at least half their roots. His guitar talks in snaky lines, in sitar quivers, in sudden shocks, and in hilly phrases. His songs are a monologue that retells a story of emotional pain that requires a unique verbal pattern. Hooker was the first great recorded practioner of the electric blues-rock-funk and stream of consciousness boogie. Hooker likes to keep things simple. He rarely strays from a couple of cords and delivers his autobiographical blues with growing menace and much vibrato. He's a completely closed-in performer who accents the rhythmic drive of his performance, according to Quallette, by "chopping off the ends of his rhythmic lines."

When Hooker cut his first single, a stomping guitar boogie called, "Boogie
Chillen" in 1948, the Mississippi native was working as a janitor in a Detroit steel mill.
The song became a hit, and Hooker quit his job to play full-time the hypnotic one chord
country blues--sung in his preternatural growl--that he had learned from his stepfather.

In 1962, Hooker brought out another smashing hit, entitled Boom Boom, which is, according to Puterbaugh, "a rough uncut Hooker." Hooker also has as an album on the market entitled Boom Boom. Hooker released this album in 1993.

In the late 70's
, Hooker appeared in the hit movie Blues Brothers. In the movie Hooker sang the smashing hit Boom Boom. Hooker has made many appearances in big places. In 1960, he performed at the Newport Folk Festival. In 1973, he was in a concert at the Lincoln Center. Hooker played in many average clubs, and has had the chance to work with numerous well-known people. To name a few, he's worked with Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Peg Leg Sam, Ginger Baker, and Chris Wood. He's worked with a few rock groups such as the Rolling Stones and Animals.

At the end of his life, his voice had deepened into a "throaty, lubricious vehicle for conveying pain, trouble desire, and wicked irony " His guitar playing was "tangled and gnarly, the
sound of a man groping for an honest expression of deep, disturbing feelings." He used to grab the mike to perform when he's just at the club having a night out. His poor health towards the end of his life, stopped him making public appearances.

Nobody sounds like John Lee Hooker. Mississippi's John Lee Hooker is different. He is the king of the blues.

Summary: