Hooker, John Lee

Hooker was born near Clarksdale, Mississippi (some sources say Vance, Mississippi), to a family of sharecroppers. His father, William Hooker, was a part-time preacher. At age eleven, John Lee began to play guitar; one was given to him by blues singer Tony Hollins. When he was fourteen, his mother Minnie Ramsey remarried. His stepfather Will Moore (not to be mistaken for the Willie Moore who played guitar with Charley Patton and Son House), was a significant influence on Hooker’s...