Earl Hooker - Early Life

Early Life

Earl Zebedee Hooker was born in 1929 in rural Quitman County, Mississippi, outside of Clarksdale. In 1930, when he was one year old, his parents moved to Chicago. His family was musically inclined (John Lee Hooker was a cousin) and Earl was exposed to music at home at a very early age. About age ten, he started playing guitar. Hooker was self-taught and picked up what he could from those around him. Although Hooker was gaining proficiency on guitar, he did not show an interest in singing. This has been explained by a speech impediment, i.e., pronounced stuttering, which afflicted him all his life. Hooker also contracted tuberculosis when he was young. Although his condition did not become critical until the mid-1950s, it required periodic hospital visits beginning at an early age.

By 1942, Hooker was performing on Chicago street corners with childhood friends including Bo Diddley. From the beginning, the blues were Hooker's favorites, but this was when the more country-influenced blues was giving way to swing-influenced and jump-blues styles, which often featured the electric guitar. T-Bone Walker was popular and in 1942 began a three-month club stint at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago. He had a considerable impact on Hooker, with both his playing and showmanship. Walker's swing-influenced blues guitar, including "the jazzy way he would sometimes run the blues scales" and intricate chord work, appealed to Hooker. Walker's stage dynamics, which included playing the guitar behind his neck and with his teeth, influenced Hooker's own later stage act.

Also around this time, he developed a friendship with Robert Nighthawk, one of the first guitarists in Chicago to switch to electric guitar. Nighthawk taught Hooker slide-guitar techniques, including various tunings and his highly articulated approach; Nighthawk had a lasting influence on Hooker's playing. Junior Wells, another important figure in Hooker's career, entered his life at this time. The two were frequent street performers and sometimes to avoid foul weather (or truancy officers), they played in streetcars, riding one line to another across Chicago.