Howlin' Wolf

Born Chester Arthur Burnett in rural Mississippi, Howlin' Wolf was one of the most powerful performers in blues history. He learned guitar from Charley Patton and harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller), who was connected to Wolf's family through Wolf's half-sister. After forming his own band in West Memphis in the late 1940s, Sam Phillips recorded him and leased the masters through both Chess and RPM/Modern before Wolf settled with Chess Records in Chicago in 1953. His partnership with songwriter Willie Dixon produced an extraordinary catalog ('Smokestack Lightnin',' 'Spoonful,' 'The Red Rooster,' 'Killing Floor,' 'Back Door Man') that became essential source material for the Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and much of the British blues movement. His voice, a seismic growl unlike anything else in recorded music, remained powerful until his death in 1976.