About the artist
John Lee Hooker (1917–2001) was one of the most influential American blues musicians of the 20th century. Born in Mississippi and raised in the Delta blues tradition, he moved north and eventually settled in Detroit, where in the late 1940s he developed a raw, electrified guitar style that transformed rural acoustic blues into a hypnotic, driving electric sound built on his own idiosyncratic, foot-stomping rhythms rather than strict 12-bar form.
Hooker's early Detroit recordings, including «Boogie Chillun» and «Crawlin' King Snake», established him as a singular voice known for talking-blues vocals, loose, almost improvised song structures, and a deep, droning guitar boogie that later musicians would call the «Hooker groove» or, in Chicago, a South Side shuffle. His biggest crossover hit, «Boom Boom», became a blues and rock standard, covered by countless artists and cementing his influence on the British blues boom of the 1960s.
Over a career spanning more than five decades, Hooker released dozens of studio albums and collaborated widely, remaining a vital, respected elder statesman of the blues into the 1990s. His raw, hypnotic style left a lasting mark on rock, R&B, and blues-rock guitarists who followed, and he is remembered as one of the genre's most distinctive and imitated voices.
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Discography
I’m Going Home
2014
Anthology
2012
Hooker
2006
Early Years: The Classic Savoy Sessions
2004
Face to Face
2003
I’m Ready
2002
High Profile
2000
The Complete 1964 Recordings
2000
The Unknown John Lee Hooker - 1949 Recordings
2000
Walking the Blues
1997
Don’t Look Back
1997
Hooker & The Hogs
1996
Chill Out
1995
King of the Boogie
1994
For Sale
1994
Whiskey & Wimmen
1994
Boogie Chillen
1993
The Legendary Modern Recordings 1948-1954
1993
Everybody’s Blues
1993
The Ultimate Collection (1948-1990)
1991
The Complete Chess Folk Blues Sessions
1991
More Real Folks Blues: The Missing Album
1991
Introducing...
1991
Mr. Lucky
1991
Hobo Blues Vol 2
1990
The Healer
1989
The Boogie Chillen Man
1989
40th Anniversary Album
1989
Let’s Make It
1989
Jealous
1986
Everybody Rockin’
1981
Sittin’ Here Thinkin’
1979
In Person
1974
Free Beer and Chicken
1974
John Lee Hooker’s Detroit: Vintage Recordings 1948-1952
1973
Never Get Out of These Blues Alive
1972
Hooker ’N Heat
1971
Endless Boogie
1971
Any Where - Any Time - Any Place
1971
Get Back Home in the U.S.A.
1970
If You Miss ’Im… I Got ’Im
1970
The Waterfront
1970
I Feel Good
1970
Goin’ Down Highway 51
Simply the Truth
1969
No Friend Around
1969
That’s Where It’s At!
1969
I’m in the Mood
1968
Urban Blues
1967
Alone
1967
The Real Folk Blues
1966
It Serve You Right to Suffer
1966
…And Seven Nights
1965
Is He the World’s Greatest Blues Singer?
1964
Burning Hell
1964
On Campus
1963
The Big Soul of John Lee Hooker
1963
Don’t Turn Me from Your Door
1963
The Great John Lee Hooker
1963
Burnin’
1962
Folk Blues
1962
The Folk Lore of John Lee Hooker
1961
Plays and Sings the Blues
1961
Travelin’
1960
That’s My Story
1960
Sings Blues
1960
I’m John Lee Hooker
1959
The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker
1959
House of the Blues
1959