Featured In
ALBUMBurnin' (Expanded Edition)John Lee Hooker
Albums by John Lee Hooker
ALBUMBurnin' (Expanded Edition)John Lee Hooker
ALBUMFace to FaceJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMJack O' DiamondsJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMDon't Look BackJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMChill OutJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMMr. LuckyJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMThe HealerJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMJealousJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMSings John Lee HookerJohn Lee Hooker
ALBUMSittin' Here Thinkin'John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker's Popular Music Videos
Boom Boom (Lyric Video)
John Lee Hooker
I'm In the Mood
John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt
Mr. Lucky (feat. Robert Cray)
John Lee Hooker
Dimples
John Lee Hooker
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
John Lee Hooker
Chill Out (feat. Carlos Santana)
John Lee Hooker
This Is Hip (feat. Ry Cooder)
John Lee Hooker
Artist Playlists
John Lee Hooker Essentials
His electric Delta blues looms over 20th-century music.
Inspired by John Lee Hooker
Hear how the Crawlin' King Snake's boogie blues slithered into rock.
John Lee Hooker: Deep Cuts
Delta-blues rarities capturing the icon's wildly elastic swing.
Artist Biography
Blues superstar singer and guitarist John Lee Hooker’s very first six-string was nothing more than a series of rubber strips tacked to the side of a barn.
∙ His 1948 debut, the No. 1 hit “Boogie Chillen,” was so influential on rock ’n’ roll that it was named one of the Recording Industry Association of America’s Songs of the Century.
∙ His signature use of lean riffs influenced such artists as Carlos Santana and Van Morrison, and his legendary playing earned him a spot on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists.
∙ Now known as the King of the Boogie, Hooker used many pseudonyms early in his career—including Texas Slim and Little Pork Chops—so that he could record for a variety of labels.
∙ The 1962 R&B smash “Boom Boom,” which he performed during a cameo in the cult classic film The Blues Brothers, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016.
∙ Blues rockers Canned Heat, longtime fans of Hooker’s, collaborated with him on the 1972 double LP Hooker ’N Heat, which became his first Billboard-charting album.
∙ Bonnie Raitt duetted on an updated version of “I’m In The Mood”—a No. 1 hit back in 1951—for his 1989 album, The Healer, which earned Hooker his first of four Grammy Awards.
∙ In addition to being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, he was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
∙ In 1983, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship, one of the highest arts and culture honors given by the US government.
Hometown
Tutwiler, MS, United States
Genre
Blues