b. 22 August 1917, Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA, d. 21 June 2001, Los Altos, California, USA. Dates vary between 1917 to 1920, but owing to the age of Hooker's mother when he was born, 1917 is the most likely. He was born into a large family, of between 10 and 12 siblings, who all worked on the fields of a large tenanted agricultural farm. Hooker's first musical experiences, like those of so many other blues singers, were in church. A contrivance made from an inner tube attached to a barn door represented his first makeshift attempts at playing an instrument, but he subsequently learned some guitar from his stepfather William Moore, and they played together at local dances. At the age of 14, he ran away to Memphis, Tennessee, where he met and played with Robert Lockwood. Two years later he moved to Cincinnati, where he stayed for about 10 years and sang with a number of gospel quartets. In 1943, he moved to Detroit, which was to be his home for many years, and while working during the day as a janitor began playing at night in the blues clubs and bars around Hastings Street, at the heart of that city's black section. Over the years he had developed the unique guitar style that was to make his music so distinctive and compelling.

Listen to John Lee Hooker/Canned Heat at Finetune.

• (1971)  The Best of Hooker 'N Heat

• Boogie Chillen No. 2
• Whiskey and Wimmen'
• I Got My Eyes On You
• Burning Hell
• You Talk Too Much

• John Lee Hooker
• B.B. King
• Eric Clapton
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Canned Heat
• Rolling Stones
• Albert King
• ZZ Top
• Led Zeppelin
• George Thorogood & The Destroyers
• The Allman Brothers Band
• THE BLACK KEYS
• Jonny Lang
• The Doors
• R.L. Burnside
• The Yardbirds
• Blues Traveler
• The Animals
• Ry Cooder
• The Black Crowes

• johndrossjr
• Blusior
• guenig
• seductress