Howlin’ Wolf, born Chester Arthur Burnett, *10 June 1910 between West Point and Aberdeen (Mississippi), †10 January 1976 Chicago or Hines (Illinois), American singer, harmonica player, guitarist, composer, and blues songwriter. He learned to sing and play the guitar from bluesman Ch. Patton. From 1923, he performed on plantations and in African-American homes. He made his debut in 1928 and began performing professionally in 1929, collaborating, among others, with R. Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson II. In the 1940s, he toured with various bands from Memphis, and from 1948 to 1952 he worked as a presenter at a local radio station. In 1948, he formed his own band, with which he recorded his first album, Saddle My Pony. Subsequent recording sessions were an opportunity for Howlin’ to invite the most talented African-American musicians, including J. Cotton and Little Junior Parker, Ike Turner and O. Spann, and Willie Dixon. Howlin’ sang with a throaty, raspy, nasal voice characteristic of African-American singers from the Mississippi Delta, which is the origin of his nickname. Recording in Chicago from 1952, then in Los Angeles, he popularized several blues standards: How Many More Tears, Moanin’ at Midnight, Sittin’ on the Top of the World, Smokestack Lightnin’, Wang Dang Doodle, Little Red Rooster, Spoonful, Rockin’ Daddy, Worried about My Baby, I Ain’t Superstitious, Back Door Man, Built for Comfort, Poor Bey, Who’s Been Talking?, Killing Floor. They entered the repertoire of many English and American bands (The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Cream, The Grateful Dead, Electric Flag, Led Zeppelin). Mick Jagger most faithfully adopted Howlin’s style and vocal manner. Howlin’ enjoyed the recognition of rock musicians until the end of his life: his 1972 LP London Session, recorded with E. Clapton, Stevie Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and others, is a proof of the excellent artistic cooperation between two generations, two philosophies, and two worlds of rock. In 1964, Howlin’ came to Poland to perform at the Jazz Jamboree with the band Big City Blues.
