''The Healer'' is a blues album by John Lee Hooker, released in 1989 by Chameleon Music Group Chameleon. The album features collaborations with Bonnie Raitt,

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American electric blues harmonica player and bandleader, one of the white bluesmen who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal f ...

, Los Lobos and Carlos Santana, among others.

Background

''The Healer'' peaked at number 62 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and "I'm in the Mood" won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Performance. The album was produced by

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebra ...

of the Delta Rhythm Kings, and executive produced by

Mike Kappus Mike Kappus (born May 24, 1950) is an American music manager and record producer. Kappus was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2014. The Blues Foundation described Kappus as "the kind of manager and booking agent any musician would want" an ...

(who conceived the idea for the project) and Stephen Powers, founder and president of Chameleon Records. Powers and Kappus knew each other from the music business in Wisconsin — Rosebud Agency was originally based in Milwaukee, and Powers' label, Mountain Railroad Records, was headquartered in Madison. Chameleon had recently acquired

Vee-Jay Records Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...

and reissued Hooker's numerous albums for Vee-Jay, plus a "Best of" compilation of Hooker's early work titled "The Hook." The video for "The Healer" featuring Carlos Santana and John Lee Hooker was filmed in the Chameleon warehouse in Hawthorne, CA amidst stacks of Hooker's old vinyl LPs, and live on stage at "The Palace," a Hollwood nightclub across from Capitol Records on Vine St. John Lee Hooker was 73 years old when the album was released. It was his first Grammy win. The album had such success that it "permitted John Lee Hooker to live out the end of his life in comfort".According to Walter de Paduwa speaking (in French at minute 14'45")
on the ''Dr Boogie Radio Show'', January 31, 2014. Powers recounts with joy sending a large royalty check to Hooker, and the deep gratitude he felt for the opportunity to help him to finally achieve the recognition he deserved. It was voted number 424 in the third edition of

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British writer and entrepreneur. He founded, and was the editor-in-chief of, the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'', described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". Along wit ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by th ...

'' (2000).

Track listing

Personnel

* John Lee Hooker – vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, steel guitar * Carlos Santana – guitar * Jose Areas –

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...

* Armando Peraza – congas * Ndugu Chancler – drums * Chester D Thompson – keyboards * Bonnie Raitt – vocals, slide guitar *

– guitar, slide guitar * Scott Mathews – drums *

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was statione ...

– guitar * Richard Cousins – bass *

Henry Vestine Henry Charles Vestine (December 25, 1944 – October 20, 1997) a.k.a. "The Sunflower", was an American guitar player primarily known as a member of the band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start in 1966 to July 1969. In later years ...

– guitar *

Larry Taylor Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee L ...

– bass *

Adolfo de la Parra Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bo ...

– drums *

– harmonica * Cesar Rosas – guitar *

David Hidalgo David Kent Hidalgo (born October 6, 1954, in Los Angeles.) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his work with the band Los Lobos. Hidalgo frequently plays musical instruments such as accordion, violin, 6-string banjo, cello, requ ...

– guitar, accordion *

Louie Pérez Louis Frausto Pérez, Jr. (born January 29, 1953) is an American songwriter, percussionist and guitarist for Los Lobos and Latin Playboys. Pérez started with Los Lobos playing primarily jarana (a small Mexican guitar) and singing. He is one ...

– drums *

Conrad Lozano Conrad R. Lozano (born March 21, 1951, in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and the bass player for Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is in ...

– bass *

Steve Berlin Steven M. Berlin (born September 14, 1955, Philadelphia) is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, the Blasters, and the Fles ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* George Thorogood – guitar * Steve Ehrmann – bass * Mike Kappus - executive producer * Stephen Powers - A&R, executive producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

''The Healer''
(

Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...

) at

Radio3Net Radio 3 net is the former ''Radio România Tineret'' (or Radio 3). More than 20,000 albums are stored on Radio 3 net. A few of the prominent features available on the website are "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Mus ...

(streamed copy where licensed) {{DEFAULTSORT:Healer, The John Lee Hooker albums 1989 albums Albums produced by Roy Rogers (guitarist) Chameleon (label) albums Collaborative albums