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Ellis Hooks (born 1974) is an American
soul blues
Soul blues is a style of blues music developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s that combines elements of soul music and urban contemporary music.
Origin
African American singers and musicians who grew up listening to the electric blues by ar ...
and
electric blues
Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930 ...
singer and songwriter, who has released six albums to date.
The
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
, Thom Jurek, noted that Hooks " touches upon
Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter.
A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...
,
Sam Cooke, and
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
, but feels like one of the gritty New York streets Hooks has busked upon."
Biography
Hooks was born in
Bay Minette, Alabama, United States,
to a
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
mother and an African American father, who was a
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
raised
sharecropper. He was the thirteenth of sixteen children. By the age of fourteen, Hooks had heard secular music on the radio and left his strict upbringing. Subsequently
hitchhiking across the United States, Hooks also travelled around Europe, residing in Paris and
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, before relocating to New York in his mid-twenties. After
busking on the streets of the city, by accident he met the record producer,
Jon Tiven
Jon Tiven (born January 3, 1955) is an American composer, guitarist, record producer, and music journalist. He has produced albums by Wilson Pickett, Frank Black and Don Covay as well as a series of tribute albums paying tribute to the songwriti ...
, who produced Hooks debut album, ''Undeniable''. Hooks secured headline status at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's World Music Festival in 2003, and opened for
Terence Trent D'Arby
Sananda Francesco Maitreya (born Terence Trent Howard; March 15, 1962), who started his career with the stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer and songwriter who came to fame with his debut studio album, '' Introducing the Hardl ...
. Hooks also performed with
Carla Thomas
Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. Thomas is best known for her 1960s recordings for Atlantic and Stax including the hits "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" (1 ...
at the
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...
. His 2003 album, ''Up Your Mind'', was nominated for a
Blues Music Award.
''Uncomplicated'' (2004) was noted by one reviewer as "somehow both connects with the past while pointing ahead to the future".
''The Hand of God'' (2005) was recorded in New York City and
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...
, and had five of its tracks mixed by
Dan Penn
Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, November 16, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s, including " The Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" w ...
.
His next recording, ''Godson of Soul'', was also produced by Jon Tiven, and included contributions from
Steve Cropper and
Wayne Jackson.
Hooks' next release was ''Another Saturday Morning'', issued in July 2007.
Festival work
In May 2004, Hooks performed at
Memphis in May
Memphis in May International Festival is a month-long festival held in Memphis, Tennessee. The festival, which is saluting Ghana in 2022, honors a specific foreign country every year and features many events. The ''Beale Street Music Festival'' ...
.
Hooks appeared at the Kitchener Blues Festival in August 2014.
Other recordings
In 2003, Hooks recorded his
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of "
Bulbs" for the
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
As a teenager in t ...
tribute album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...
, ''
Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison''. In addition, Hooks recorded as a backing vocalist on
Frank Black
Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies, with whom he performs under the stage name Black Francis. F ...
's 2005 album, ''
Honeycomb
A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.
Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey ...
.'' He performed similar duties in helping
Little Milton
James Milton Campbell Jr. (September 7, 1934 – August 4, 2005), better known as Little Milton, was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single " We're Gonna Make It". His other hits include " Baby, I Love ...
record his album ''Think of Me'' in 2005.
In 2006, Hooks backing vocals were part of Frank Black's release, ''
Fast Man Raider Man
''Fast Man Raider Man'' is the eleventh studio album and a double-album by Frank Black released in 2006.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Frank Black, except where noted.
Disc one
Disc two
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's ...
''.
Hooks' co-composed song "40 Days" was recorded by
Howard Tate
Howard Tate (August 13, 1939 – December 2, 2011) was an American soul singer and songwriter.
His greatest success came with a string of hit singles in the late 1960s, including "Ain't Nobody Home" and "Get It While You Can," the latter of wh ...
on his 2008 album, ''Blue Day'';
whilst
Deborah Coleman
Deborah Coleman (October 3, 1956 – April 12, 2018) was an American blues musician. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Blues Guitarist, Female" in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Music Award nine times.
Biography ...
had earlier recorded Hooks' co-penned song, "Undeniable", for her ''What About Love?'' (2004) release.
Discography
Studio albums
See also
*
List of electric blues musicians
*
List of soul-blues musicians
The following is a list of soul blues musicians.
*Johnny Adams
* Peggy Scott-Adams
* Kip Anderson
* James Armstrong
* Reneé Austin
* L.V. Banks
*Jo Jo Benson
* Buster Benton
*Bobby Bland
*Blues Boy Willie
*Ronnie Baker Brooks
*Michael Burks
* ...
References
External links
Zane Records : Ellis Hooks discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooks, Ellis
1974 births
Living people
American soul singers
American blues singers
People from Bay Minette, Alabama
Electric blues musicians
Soul-blues musicians
Songwriters from Alabama
21st-century American singers
21st-century American male singers
American male songwriters