Blues superstar John Lee Hooker, whose deep growl and ragged guitar-picking style inspired fans and musicians for generations, died Thursday June 21. He was 83.

LA Times report

He played his last show (in Santa Rosa, California) only a few days before he died.

"He was a unique individual, one of the last of the original Mississippi Delta bluesmen, and he impacted rock and roll more than most people will ever know," his agent and manager Mike Kappus said in a statement. "He loved his fans and wanted to keep playing until the end, and he did exactly that."

NME news story

John Lee Hooker was a giant of the blues and the father of the boogie. Beginning in 1948 with his first single, "Boogie Chillen," he introduced the world to the persistent, chugging rhythm of boogie music, a form of country blues Hooker learned back home in Mississippi. His foot-stomping boogie was adapted and amplified in the Sixties and Seventies by a great number of rock and roll artists, including the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, Canned Heat, John Mayall, Ten Years After, Foghat, ZZ Top and George Thorogood.

Interest in the blues waned through the 70s and 80s, and it wasn't until 1989 that Hooker enjoyed a commercial and critical rebirth with 'The Healer'. The album, with a host of collaborations, won him a Grammy. The title track featured Carlos Santana and helped the album become one of the biggest selling blues records of all time.

He recorded through the 90s but ill health forced him to bow out of large scale touring in 1995.

Beyond his ability to lock into a hypnotic boogie groove, Hooker was renowned for the gruff emotionality of his voice and the stark intensity of his guitar playing...

continues at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

see also:

John Lee Hooker dies - Yahoo

Bluesman John Lee Hooker Dies at 80 (June 21)

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