A Short Blurb about African American Blues and Rock n’ Roll Artists: John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry For Black History Month
Running away from home from a family of sharecroppers must be a pretty traumatizing thing. Well, it was the choice John Lee Hooker made to make his claim to fame as one of the most legendary blues guitarists of all time. With classic hits such as “Boogie Chillen” and “Boom Boom”, John Lee Hooker was active during the times of the 1920s (His exact date of birth is subject to debate) up to his timely death in 2001 when he died in his sleep.
Sadly, this was a pretty typical lifes for many blues artists of african american descent. Many black blues artists lived very tough lives. And were heavily discriminated against throughout most of their careers.
Life wasn’t too much better to the “Father of the Chicago Blues Scene. McKinley Morganfield better known by his business handle: Muddy Waters. Born 1913, he grew up on a plantation near Clarksdale Mississippi. He would learn guitar and later become one of the founding and most influential blues artists of all time with the help of Phil and Leonard Chess of Chess Records. He would record all sorts of blues classics written by blues songwriter Willie Dixon. Such as “Forty Days and Forty Nights”, “Mannish Boy”, and “Rollin’ Stone” just to name some. He would also die in his sleep due to heart failure on 1983.
While on the topic of Chess Records, they would also record the “Father of Rock n’ Roll”: Chuck Berry. He would write and pave the way for classic rock n’ roll songs such as “Johnny B. Good”, “Roll Over Beethoven” and other songs such as “School Days.” Chuck Berry was active between the years of 1926 to 2017.
All of these artists would become Rock N’ Roll Hall of Famers and receive many awards for these contributions to modern day music and have inspired my art.
Austin John Jones has been an aspiring artist ever since he was 5 years old, drawing all the time in the classroom. Very early on he went under the mentorship of French painter Sophie Plassard, where he learned under her tutoring for 12 years doing mostly drawing and painting. Because of this, Austin has a great amount of experience in oil painting. After graduating high school, Austin went to Art Center College of Design where he graduated with a degree in illustration and a minor in entertainment art. Austin loves cartoons, movies, video games, and almost everything entertainment. He has been a dedicated artist all his life, and has been teaching what he has learned to people of all ages ever since he graduated college. Austin graduated from the Teaching Artist Institute and has shown his work locally in San Diego County for the last five years.
Website: http://www.austinjohnjones.com
