<back - HOWLIN' WOLF aka CHESTER ARTHUR BURNETT - Chester Burnett was born June 10, 1910 in West Point, Mississippi and named after the 21st President of the United States. His father was a farmer and Wolf took to it as well until his 18th birthday, when a chance meeting with Delta Blues legend Charley Patton changed his life forever. He first started playing in the early '30s as a strict Patton imitator, while others recall him at the decade's end rocking the juke joints and parties with neck-rack harmonica and one of the very first electric guitars anyone had ever seen.

After a 4 year stretch in the Army, he settled down as a farmer and a weekend player in West Memphis, Arkansas, performing at juke joints, dances and house parties. By 1948, he had established himself within the community as a radio personality. Howlin' Wolf had a radio show on KWEM in West Memphis, and when listeners tuned in, the sound was electric Blues. Howlin' Wolf finally started recording in 1951.He caught the ear of Sam Phillips/Sun Records, who first heard him on his morning radio show. The music Howlin' Wolf made in the Memphis Recording Service studio was full of passion and zest and Phillips simultaneously leased the results to the Bihari Brothers in Los Angeles and Leonard Chess in Chicago. Howlin' Wolf had 2 hits at the same time and both record companies claiming exclusively under contract. Chess Records finally won him over in 1953 and as Wolf would relate years later, "I had a $4,000 car and $3,900 in my pocket. I'm the onliest one who drove out of the South like a gentleman". By 1956, the Wolf was racking up hits with Evil and Smokestack Lightnin'.  By 1960, Wolf was teamed up with Chess staff writer Willie Dixon and for the next 5 years, he would record almost nothing but songs written by Dixon. Some of Howlin' Wolf's greatest tracks would have to include I Ain't Superstitious, Shake for Me, Back Door Man, Spoonful, and Wang Dang Doodle, all written by Willie Dixon. Smokestack Lightnin' became a hit in England mid-60s, 8 years after its US release. At the height of the 'British Invasion', the Rolling Stones came to America in 1965 for an appearance on the music show, 'Shindig'. Their main stipulation for appearing on the program was that Howlin' Wolf would be their special guest. By 1964, Wolf was back doing his own songs. One of the classics to emerge was Killing Floor. By the end of the decade, Howlin' Wolf's material was being recorded by artists that included The Doors,  Electric Flag, and Jeff Beck. As the '70s moved on, Wolf was a very sick man; he had survived numerous heart attacks and suffered kidney damage.  He passed away on January 10 1976. Howlin' Wolf was inducted into Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame 1991.   MP3-  WANG DANG DOODLE |