Who was John Lee Hooker

A.� John Lee Hooker, the veteran bluesman who died on 22 June, was one of the last remaining links with the origins of blues music. Estimates of Hooker's age vary between 80 and 85, but whatever his exact age, John Lee was a living connection with the tradition of delta blues�- deep dark tales of betrayal and loss that are the bedrock of modern American music.

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Q.� There seem to be plenty of musical legends, what's so special about John Lee Hooker

A.� John Lee pioneered a specific form of blues�- his special brand of 'boogie' characterised by the droning one-note songs he cranked out, always underpinned by the constant thump of his trade-mark snakeskin boots. His songs could go on for ages, weaving a hypnotic manta-like spell with his eerie deep moaning voice. John Lee Hooker’s influence reaches a wide audience in a variety of musical styles. His blues influence is writ large, British blues legends such as The Yardbirds and The Animals idolised him, both bands recorded Hooker's seminal hit Boom Boom. Artists as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones and Carlos Santana have all admired and / or recorded with the veteran blues legend.

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Q.� So he's a typical blues legend then

A.� Not really so typical.�While most of the famous bluesmen stayed within reach of the southern states that nurtured and inspired their music, John Lee Hooker headed for Detroit where he enjoyed a prolific recording career, working under a bewildering variety of pseudonyms.

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Q.� Why would someone well known want to work under anonymous names

A.� John Lee was as prone as anyone to the exploitation that befell many of his blues contemporaries, and he didn't let minor details�such as binding legal recording contracts get in the way of making some more money.� His willingness to spread his talent around was probably the result of the deep-seated insecurity that characterised the lives of most of the early bluesmen who grew up poor and hungry, and always took any opportunity to work and get paid.

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Thus John Lee is also 'Texas Slim' 'Delta John' 'Birmingham Sam' (John Lee's pseudonyms got around a fair bit!) 'Johnny Williams', and the less imaginative 'John Lee Booker'.

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Q.� So John Lee Hooker got famous as a result of all that electric rocker attention

A.� Not at all�- John Lee's biggest and most famous song Boogie Chillen was a hit back in 1948, and he was the headline act when an upcoming folkie hopeful called Bob Dylan played his first gig in New York. Carlos Santana, no slouch in the longevity and influence stakes himself, refereed to Hooker's influence on him as a child, being 'The first circus I wanted to run away with.'

Q.� Would I need to be a serious blues fan to know Hooker's music

A.� Not really.�If you've listened to pop music radio over the last thirty years, you will probably have heard John Lee pumping out Boom Boom, and if not, you may have caught his performance in a cameo role in the 1980s film The Blues Brothers. The song also crops up on a television commercial for Lee Jeans.

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In recording terms, the Hooker legacy lives on in the hundred plus albums he recorded in a fifty years plus recording career. At the time of his death, John Lee was planning to record yet another album. He cited his three passions in life as 'Music, food, and women, but not always in that order!'

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