car. Will have a play on the way home for him today. Performing at 83 .. ya gotta love it and his philosophy on living...read to the end to see.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)

"Legendary blues guitarist John Lee Hooker, whose spare hypnotic style born in the heart of the Mississippi Delta influenced generations of rock and folk stars,
died Thursday in his home near San Francisco. He was 83.

"John Lee Hooker passed away peacefully in his sleep this morning,'' The Rosebud Agency, Hooker's San Francisco booking agent, said in a statement.

Hooker, an influence on many of the world's most prominent musicians and a 1991 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had been in good health and frequently performed despite his advanced age, manager Rick Bates said.

``This was totally unexpected. He had the audience on their feet three or four times on Saturday night,'' Bates said. ``He enjoyed performing and he found joy in sharing his music with people.''

Bates said Hooker was not known to have been suffering from any particular illness and attributed the death to natural causes.

In an interview with the Arizona Republic last February, Hooker said his health was ``pretty good ... I'm still kicking -- anybody I can find.''

Hooker, who was born in a shack near Clarksdale, Miss., on Aug. 22, 1917, was one of the giants of U.S. blues music and continued to win both popular and critical praise well into his 80s.

He outlived most of the other greats -- such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins -- who learned their craft in the Mississippi Delta and other parts of the rural south.

A HUGE LOSS FOR THE BLUES

But unlike B.B. King and other blues elder statesmen, the man known as ``the Hook'' made no concessions to popular taste, his music was always unique and uncompromising, with a
distinctive staccato guitar and gravelly voice.

Beginning with his signature hit ``Boogie Chillen,'' recorded in 1948, Hooker laid down a trail of pop smashes including songs like ``I'm In the Mood,'' ``Boom Boom,'' and ``Dimples'', establishing a gruff, growling, foot-stomping presence on the music scene and presiding over periodic revivals of blues popularity.

Over the course of his career, Hooker's persistent, chugging rhythms were picked up and amplified by rock stars ranging from the Rolling Stones to Van Morrison, and he was featured in a cameo role in the 1980 Dan Aykroyd/John Belushi movie
`The Blues Brothers''

In 1989, he was ``rediscovered'' yet again and producer Roy Rogers recorded Hooker
playing with such performers as Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray and George
horogood, producing the Grammy Award-winning album ``The Healer.'' In 1992, ''Boom
Boom'' was re-released and became an even bigger hit in Britain than it had been in the 1960s.

Frank Alkyer, editorial director for Downbeat Magazine, a leading jazz and blues journal,
said Hooker's death was a huge loss for the blues.

While it had been decades since Hooker had written a new song, it seemed like every
decade younger musicians were recording his music, he said.

`He was definitely the last of the really huge popular blues guys. Besides B.B. King, who
else has that kind of stature? In the pantheon of the blues I would put him in the top 3, at a minimum top 5 of jazz and blues artists.''

GAVE UP HARD LIVING

Hooker, who suffered from arthritis and other maladies, gave up his hard living ways years
go. `I don't drink hard liquor, I quit smoking. A little beer once in a while is about it,'' he told Reuters in a 1995 interview. ``I smoked like a chimney stack, I used to drink like a whiskey still.''

But he still loved to be surrounded by young beautiful women. ``They run over each other getting to me, yeah they do ... I like young women. When a woman's older than me, that ain't fun.''

He was philosophical about his mortality. "I live while I'm living. When I'm gone, I'm gone,'' he said, adding that he wanted to be remembered simply ``as a great musician.''

At a performance last weekend in Santa Rosa, California, Hooker once again proved his
point, tearing through his vast catalogue of hits.

``He was playing the boogie and he had quite a few fans and friends up on stage,'' Bates
said. ``He had a big smile on his face as he's always had his entire life.''

Bates said Hooker left behind ``a large extended family'' in the San Francisco Bay area,
and had always put his music and his fans first.

When asked about his personal life in the interview with the Arizona Republic last
February, Hooker said, ``I'm single. But I still get lucky once in a while.''

 

Also saw Carol O'Conner past away too, a shame.

 

Also, Carroll O'Connor (aka: Archie Bunker) died. :-(

 

43 seconds behind me.

 

John Lee Hooker was a great blues man and he will be missed. I hope I go out peacefully in my sleep.

It's all John Lee Hooker CD's all day for me today.

 

At least B.B. King ain't dead yet.

 

then you will mourn the death..."
What total ignorance!

 

Dopes, geez all they have to do is report the AP feed.

 

Yes, but *I* got the correct spelling. Haste makes waste, young man! :-P

 

There's the fault. You presume they can read.