John Lee Hooker
USA, 1948–2001
Detroit blues singer and guitarist whose one-chord boogie, built on a repeated rhythmic figure rather than a chord progression, was taken up by the Animals, the Rolling Stones and British blues rock generally.
MusicRoots documents 1 artist who influenced John Lee Hooker and 7 artists John Lee Hooker influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.
Who influenced John Lee Hooker?
- Will Moore — Hooker credited his stepfather Will Moore for his entire boogie style — 'that's Will Moore's beat I play'.
Which artists did John Lee Hooker influence?
- Creedence Clearwater Revival — John Lee Hooker is the source of the hypnotic rhythmic boogie groove at the heart of CCR.
- MC5 — Hooker was a Detroit neighbour — his boogie was literally in the water MC5 drank.
- The Animals — John Lee Hooker was Burdon's named primary influence in Rolling Stone.
- Bo Diddley — Hooker's one-chord hypnotic drive is the documented ancestor of the Bo Diddley beat's trance repetition.
- Bonnie Raitt — John Lee Hooker was a friend and influence — his hypnotic blues part of Raitt's foundation.
- Buddy Guy — John Lee Hooker's raw blues was among the Mississippi-rooted influences on Guy's playing.
- Ali Farka Toure — Hearing Hooker in Bamako in the late 1960s, Toure took him at first for a Malian musician, then understood that the music had come from Africa and gone back changed - the discovery his whole career works from.