"People say I'm a genius but I don't know about that." John Lee Hooker
Passed away today at the age of 83..June 21, 2001
Born in 1917, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, he was the son of a sharecropper and Baptist minister. He learned to play the guitar from his stepfather and by the age of 13, he was pickin' at local fish fries and dances. At 14, he hit the road playing in small bars in Memphis, and Cincinnati and by 1943 was playing in Detroit. Here, Hooker was discovered and recorded his first hit, "Boogie Chillen."
He recorded more than 100 albums in his seven decades in the business, while winning a Grammy for a version of "I'm In The Mood". In 1961, the young and unknown Rolling Stones opened for him in Europe, and in New York that same year , he played a club with Bob Dylan. In 1980, Hooker played a street musician in the film, "The Blues Brothers," and in 1985 his songs were used for the sound track in "The Color Purple." In 1991, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at last year's Grammys.
900 different John Lee Hooker recordings are listed with title and year at http://w1.860.telia.com/~u86009467/