What is Howlin Wolf's real name? - AnswersHowlin

Howlin' Wolf was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player.After moving to Chicago in adulthood, he formed a rivalry with Muddy Waters.He is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists with a booming voice and imposing physical presence.

No one could match Howlin' Wolf's ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.SamPhillips said that when he heard Howlin' Wolf, he said, "This is for me."The soul of man never dies here.Several of his songs, including "Smokestack Lightnin'" and "Killing Floor", have become blues and blues rock standards.He was ranked number 54 in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.[4]

Chester Arthur Burnett was born in White Station, Mississippi, on June 10, 1910.He later said that his father was "Ethiopian", while Jones had Choctaw ancestry on her father's side.Chester A. Arthur was the 21st President of the United States.He was nicknamed "Big Foot Chester" and "Bull Cow" because of his height and weight as a young man.[6][7]

The name "Howlin' Wolf" was given to the young man by his maternal grandfather, who warned him that wolves would come and get him, and then called him "the Wolf".The blues historian Paul Oliver wrote that he once claimed to have been given a nickname by his hero.[8]

When he was a year old, his parents separated.While Jones and Burnett were in Monroe County, Dock, who had worked as a farm labor in the Mississippi Delta, moved there permanently.Jones and Burnett would sing together in the choir of the Life Board Baptist Church in Mississippi, and Jones would later claim that he got his musical talent from her.One winter when he was a child, Jones kicked him out of the house.He moved in with his great-uncle Will Young, who treated him badly.He didn't get an education at the school house because he worked all day in the Young household.Young whipped him while chasing him on a mule after he killed one of his hogs in a rage.He ran away, barefoot, to join his father, who found a happy home with his large family.He changed his name to "John D." so that his family would know him for the rest of his life.At the peak of his success, he returned from Chicago to see his mother in Mississippi, but she refused to take money offered by him, saying it was from his playing the "devil's music".

The most popular bluesman in the Mississippi Delta at the time was Charley Patton.He would listen to the music from the juke joint.He remembered that Patton played "Pony Blues", "High Water Everywhere" and "A Spoonful Blues".The two got to know each other, and soon he was learning to play the guitar."Patton's "Pony Blues" was the first piece I ever played in my life," he said.He learned that when he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forward and throw it up in the sky.He would perform guitar tricks for the rest of his life.In small Delta communities, he played with Patton.[16]

Other popular blues performers of the time included the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, and Tommy Johnson.Two of the first songs he mastered were Jefferson's "Match Box Blues" and "How Long, How Long Blues".The country singer was an influence.I couldn't do no yodel, so I turned to howlin'.It has done me well.His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Sonny Boy Williamson II, who taught him how to play when he moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933.[18][6]

During the 1930s, Burnett performed in the South as a solo performer and with many blues musicians, including Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines and Willie Brown.He had a harmonica and an electric guitar by the end of the decade.

He joined the U.S. Army on April 9, 1941, and was stationed at several bases around the country.He was discharged from the military at the end of his hitch in 1943.He returned to his family, which had recently moved near West Memphis, Arkansas, and helped with the farming while also performing, as he had done in the 1930s, with Floyd Jones and others.He formed a band in 1948 that included guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt "Guitar" Murphy, harmonica player Junior Parker and drummer Willie Steele.He occasionally sat in with his friend on KFFA in Arkansas when he was on the radio.

Howlin' Wolf was heard in West Memphis by a talent scout in 1951.Turner brought him to record several songs for SamPhillips at Memphis Recording Service and the Bihari brothers at Modern Records."What it would be worth on film to see the fervour in that man's face when he sang," saidPhillips.His eyes would light up, you would see the veins on his neck, and he had nothing to think about.He was singing with his soul.Howlin' Wolf became a local celebrity and began working with a band that included Willie Johnson and Pat Hare.Chess Records licensed his recording because Sun Records had not yet been formed."Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" were released by two different record companies in 1951.In December 1951, Leonard Chess was able to secure Howlin' Wolf's contract and at the urging of Chess, he relocated to Chicago.[22][26]

Jody Williams from Memphis Slim's band was recruited by Howlin' Wolf to be his first guitarist.Within a year, he persuaded the guitarist to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago, and he did just that.The Howlin' Wolf band's lineup has changed a lot over the years.Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. are just a few of the guitarists he employed.McGhee, Otis "BigSmoke" Smothers, his brother LittleSmoke, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie Robinson, and Buddy Guy, among others.He was able to attract some of the best musicians because of his policy of paying his musicians well and on time, even including unemployment insurance and Social Security contributions.With the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late 1950s, Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Howlin' Wolf's career.

The competition between Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf was intense during the 1950's, and the Chess brothers hired WillieDixon to write songs for them.Wolf would mention the fact that he wrote a song for Muddy.How come you won't write me something like that?He wouldn't like it if you wrote for him.In order to induce Wolf to accept the songs written for Muddy,Dixon decided to use reverse psychology on him.

Howlin' Wolf had five songs on the national R&B charts in the 1950s.Moanin' in the Moonlight was his first album.It was a collection of previously released singles.

In the early 1960s, Howlin' Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous, despite not having a radio play.British and American rock groups popularized several of them.Howlin' Wolf's second album, "the rocking chair album", was released in 1962.

During the blues revival in the 1950s and 1960s, black blues musicians found a new audience among white youths, and Howlin' Wolf was among the first to exploit it.He toured Europe in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival.In 1965, he appeared on Shindig!The Rolling Stones' recording of "Little Red Rooster" reached the number one spot in the UK in 1964.In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howlin' Wolf recorded albums with others, including The Super Super Blues Band, with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters.

Muddy Waters's Electric Mud was designed to appeal to the hippie audience.Large black letters on a white background proclaim "This is Howlin' Wolf's new album" on the album cover.He doesn't like it.He didn't like his guitar at first.The poor sales may have been caused by the album cover.Chess co- founder Leonard Chess admitted that the cover was a bad idea.Who wants to hear that a musician doesn't like his own music?

Muddy Waters's London album was more successful in Britain than it was in the US.

The Back Door Wolf was Wolf's last album.It was recorded with musicians who supported him on stage, including Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon, Lafayette "Shorty" Gilbert, and Detroit Junior.As a result of his declining health, the album is a little more than 35 minutes long.

His disciplined approach to his finances was noted.Having already achieved a measure of success in Memphis, he described himself as the "onliest one to drive himself up from the Delta" to Chicago, a rare distinction for a black bluesman.After being functionally uneducated into his forties, Burnett returned to school to earn a General Educational Development (GED) diploma and later to study accounting and other business courses to help manage his career.

He met his future wife when she attended one of his shows.She and her family were not involved in the world of blues musicians.He was attracted to her as soon as he saw her.He immediately won her over.The couple remained in love until his death, according to those who knew them.They raised two daughters from an earlier relationship, Betty and Barbara.Skeme was born 14 years after his uncle's death.There is a citation needed.

After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, he was so financially successful that he could offer band members a decent salary and benefits such as health insurance, which enabled him to hire his pick of available musicians and keep his band one of the best around.He drove a station wagon rather than a flashy car, according to his stepdaughters.[29]

In the late 1960s, Burnett's health began to decline.He was injured in a car accident and had several heart attacks.Eddie Shaw limited him to performing 21 songs per concert because he was concerned for his health.

In January 1976, Burnett went to the Veterans Administration Hospital for surgery.He died from the procedure on January 10, 1976, at the age of 65.He was buried in Oakridge Cemetery, outside Chicago, in Section 18 on the east side of the road.There is an image of a guitar and harmonica on his gravestone.30

On September 17, 1994, the U.S. became a country.A postage stamp depicting Howlin' Wolf was issued by the Postal Service.

The New York Times Magazine listed Howlin' Wolf as one of hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the Universal fire.[31]

Bettye Kelly established the Howlin' Wolf Foundation under the US tax code to preserve and extend the legacy.The preservation of the blues music genre, scholarships to enable students to participate in music programs, and support for blues musicians and blues programs are what the foundation's mission and goals are.[32]