EARL HOOKER

Earl Zebedee Hooker was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1930. By 1940 his family had moved to Chicago, where he would meet his mentor, slide guitar genius Robert Nighthawk.
Earl got his start in Ike Turner's band in 1949, and in 1952 he made his first recordings for Rockin Records.
Earl immediately established a reputation as one of the hottest pickers on the scene.
Other blues musicians such as Louis Myers and B.B. King raved about his brilliant playing, despite the fact that Hooker had "light fingers" in the other sense of the word: He would steal anything he could, even tubes out of another player's amplifier!
One time, after a show, he loaded up the club's P.A. into his station wagon, landing the whole band in jail!
Earl's mastery of the Robert Nighthawk standard-tuning slide guitar style and his legendary musicianship quickly established him as a superstar of the Chicago club scene.
Earl was constantly expanding his horizons as a musician. He was usually the first guitarist in Chicago to be seen with the newest "gadgets"...Otis Rush said Earl Hooker was the first person he had ever seen playing a Stratocaster into a tweed Bassman amplifier, a combination that would soon be imitated by young up-and-comers Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, and Otis himself.
When spring reverb, tape echo, wah-wah pedals, and double-neck guitars first appeared on the market, Earl immediately added them to his rig, usually without having to lay down hard cold cash for 'em, if you catch my drift...
His remarkable early 60's recordings with Big Moose Walker often relied on a proven formula: Earl would take an R&B hit and cover it as an instrumental, playing the vocal melody with his slide.
Hooker's instrumentals "Blue Guitar", "Blues in D Natural", "Off The Hook", "How Long Can This Go On", and pretty much all his recorded output are among the best examples of modern blues guitar.
Earl Hooker's health spiraled downwards in the late 60's assisted by heavy drug consumption. He died of tuberculosis in 1970.

Jimi Hendrix can STAY dead...bring back Earl Hooker!

Listen to Earl Hooker's singing slide guitar on "How Long Can This Go On"