If any musician other than blues singer/guitarist John Lee Hooker, has had a longer career based almost exclusively on a ‘B’ chord, I sure-to-the-world don’t know who it might be. Hooker took ‘B’ and ran with it. It happened in 1948.
At that time, Hooker, who was born on August 22, 1917, was one of many Black Americans who had migrated from the South for northern factory jobs during World War II. In ’48, Hooker was working as a janitor in a Detroit steel mill and taking every opportunity to play and sing in the blues joints around Hastings Street. A local record store owner offered to record Hooker—but not with a band. He just wanted John Lee’s electric guitar, his voice and his stomping foot.
The first song he recorded is a model of simplicity and groove. It had almost no lyrics and the accompaniment was just Hooker vamping on a ‘B’ chord. The result, after three takes, was "Boogie Chillen.'" It became an immediate hit, topping the Billboard charts and becoming a best-selling record that year. It was also an important precursor to rock and roll.
Musician and music writer, Cub Koda, called it "the riff that launched a thousand songs," including Canned Heat’s "On The Road Again" and ZZ Top’s "La Grange." And Hooker rode that riff all the way to the grave. One of the ways he did it by recording with the generation of rock and blues musicians who came after him.
In 1970, he did an album with the rock scene’s ultimate boogie band, Canned Heat. He also recorded collaborations with Steve Miller, Van Morrison, Elvin Bishop and others. He appeared as a street musician in the 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.
But it was his 1989 album, The Healer, that brought him front and center in rock culture. It was produced by San Francisco Bay Area slide guitarist Roy Rogers, and Hooker’s manager and record producer, Mike Kappus. Their idea was to make an album that paired Hooker with a broad spectrum of great contemporary blues and rock players. And, boy, did it ever work.
They matched him up with Carlos Santana and his band, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Canned Heat (again), George Thorogood, Charlie Musselwhite and Los Lobos. It sold like crazy and set the template for future "all-star" Hooker albums.
Hooker was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. He died peacefully in his sleep, at age 83, at his home in Los Altos, California, in 2001.
Here are three of John Lee Hooker’s most famous songs:
- The original 1948 recording of "Boogie Chillen'"
- "Dimples" featuring Hooker with Los Lobos
- "Boom Boom" with The Fabulous Thunderbird’s original guitarist, Jimmie Vaughn
