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Earl Hooker

B. B. King said “to me, Earl
Hooker is the best of modern

guitarists. Period. With the
slide he was the best. It was
nobody else like him. He was

just one of a kind”. When the
King of the blues says that
about someone, you know he

must be pretty special.

In Chicago Earl Hooker was the
“blues guitarist’s guitarist”, the

most respected 6 string player
in Chicago blues during the
1950s and 1960s.

Earl Zebedee Hooker was born
in the heart of the Mississippi

Delta, at Clarksdale, on January
15th 1929 (although his Social
Security application states
January 2nd 1930!), and was a

cousin of John Lee Hooker. His
parents, Earl Snr. and Mary
Hooker migrated to Chicago in

1930, in search of work. He
was not a child who liked
school, and often played truant, frequently making his way back to Mississippi for
extended stays. At the age of 10 he picked up the guitar, and as something of a musical

prodigy, never looked back. He was mainly self taught, picking up skills by watching
and learning from other players around him. In fact, the whole family, including his
sister Earlene, were musically skilled, so it was hardly surprising that Earl junior would

follow in their footsteps.

Although he was gaining significant proficiency on guitar, he never showed an interest
in singing, which might be explained by the fact that he suffered from a significant

stutter, which afflicted him all his life. It was a pity that there was no one to point out
to him the number of those in a similar position who found the stutter disappeared
completely when singing!

In addition to his speech impediment he also contracted tuberculosis at a young age,
which necessitated regular hospital visits.