Description
As a child, budding blues legend Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett, 1910-1976) idolized country yodeler Jimmie Rogers, and tried to emulate his hero. But “I couldn’t do no yodelin’,” he later recollected, “So I turned to howlin’. And it’s done me just fine.”
The Mississippi-born Burnett actually got the name from his granddaddy, and learned blues from the previous generation of pioneers, such as Charlie Patton, Ma Rainey, and Tampa Red. In the 1950s, living in Chicago, he developed an influential style of electric blues, with a thunderous voice that could shake the foundation of juke joints.
Recording for the Chess label, Wolf fired off a string of hits (many written by sideman Willie Dixon) that became standards: “Back Door Man,” “Spoonful,” Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Little Red Rooster,” and countless others. They were listening in the UK, where Wolf unknowingly sparked a blues craze among white British musicians, including the young Rolling Stones. Though born poor, Wolf managed his money well, avoided the pitfalls of hard liquor, and married once and stayed married. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame made room for Howlin’ Wolf in 1991.