32 Facts About Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett, better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist.

Howlin' Wolf is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time.

Howlin' Wolf helped bridge the gap between Delta blues and Chicago blues.

Howlin' Wolf then ran away to his father's house where he finally found a happy family, and in the early 1930s became a protege of legendary Delta blues guitarist and singer, Charley Patton.

Howlin' Wolf started a solo career in the Deep South, playing with other notable blues musicians of the era, and at the end of a decade had made a name for himself in the Mississippi Delta.

Howlin' Wolf started his recording career in 1951 after being heard singing by then 19-year-old Ike Turner, and then formed his own band in Chicago.

Howlin' Wolf was named for Chester A Arthur, the 21st President of the United States.

Howlin' Wolf then moved in with his great-uncle Will Young, who had a large household and treated him badly.

Howlin' Wolf then ran away and claimed to have walked 85 miles barefoot to join his father, where he finally found a happy home with his father's large family.

Howlin' Wolf would listen to Patton play nightly from outside a nearby juke joint.

Howlin' Wolf learned about showmanship from Patton: "When he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forwards, and throw it around over his shoulders, between his legs, throw it up in the sky".

Howlin' Wolf played with Patton often in small Delta communities.

Howlin' Wolf's harmonica playing was modeled after that of Sonny Boy Williamson II, who taught him how to play when Burnett moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933.

Howlin' Wolf was assigned to the 9th Cavalry Regiment, which was famous for being one of the unit's dubbed "Buffalo Soldiers".

Howlin' Wolf returned to his family, which had recently moved near West Memphis, Arkansas, and helped with the farming while performing, as he had done in the 1930s, with Floyd Jones and others.

In Chicago, Howlin' Wolf assembled a new band and recruited the Chicagoan Jody Williams from Memphis Slim's band as his first guitarist.

The lineup of the Howlin' Wolf band changed often over the years.

Howlin' Wolf had a series of hits with songs written by Willie Dixon, who had been hired by the Chess brothers in 1950 as a songwriter, and during that period the competition between Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf was intense.

Howlin' Wolf toured Europe in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, produced by the German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau.

Howlin' Wolf is among the most influential blues musicians of the postwar years.

Howlin' Wolf was at the forefront of transforming the rural acoustic blues of the South, to the electric, more urban blues of Chicago.

When Howlin' Wolf first formed his band in West Memphis, Arkansas, his sound was much more aggressive, with guitarist Willie Johnson's raucous, distorted guitar playing being the signature sound of his early recordings.

When Howlin' Wolf switched guitarists and added Hubert Sumlin to his lineup, his sound became less aggressive with Sumlin adding "angular riffing" and "wild soloing".

Howlin' Wolf adopted the backbeat that Chicago blues was mainly known for.

Howlin' Wolf played a 1965 Epiphone Casino on his musical tour in Europe, a Fender Coronado, a Gibson Firebird V in the "Down in the Bottom" video recorded in 1966, a white Fender Stratocaster, a Teisco Tre-100, and he played a Kay K-161 ThinTwin in his earlier years.

Howlin' Wolf suffered his first heart attack in 1969 as he and Hubert Sumlin were traveling to a show at University of Chicago.

Howlin' Wolf fell against the dashboard of the car he was riding in, and Sumlin, who was driving, pulled over and grabbed a two-by-four piece of wood that was lying in the road.

Howlin' Wolf began suffering from high blood pressure as well.

Howlin' Wolf died from a combination of the tumor, heart failure, and kidney disease on January 10,1976, at the age of 65.

Howlin' Wolf was buried in Oakridge Cemetery, outside Chicago, in a plot in Section 18, on the east side of the road.

Howlin' Wolf's gravestone has an image of a guitar and harmonica etched into it.

In 1972, Howlin' Wolf was awarded an honorary doctor of arts degree from Columbia College in Chicago.