Elegantly Dressed Wednesday: John Lee Hooker
Hooker’s first instrument was an inner tube nailed to a barn door.
Better still:
The septuagenarian Hooker, suave in a homburg, three-piece suit and sunglasses, became a familiar figure in advertisements, employed to endorse everything from jeans to heart pills. The commercial success of The Healer allowed him to record a series of albums in the 1990s, among them Mr Lucky and Boom, Boom, all of which sold well. In 1991, at 74, he became the oldest person to have a top five album in the British charts.
His new wealth allowed him to retire to San Francisco, where he would spend his afternoons crooning down the telephone to the young waitresses whose numbers he had picked up at breakfast.
An inspiration to us all.
Published on 11th June, 2008
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