Hubert Sumlin

{{Short description|American blues guitarist and singer (1931–2011)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Hubert Sumlin

| background = solo_singer

| birth_name = Hubert Charles Sumlin

| image = HubertSumlin2003.jpg

| caption = Sumlin performing at the 2003 Long Beach Blues Festival

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|11|16|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2011|12|4|1931|11|16}}

| death_place = Wayne, New Jersey

| genre = Chicago blues, electric blues

| instrument = Guitar, vocals

| occupation = Musician

| years_active = 1953–2011

| website = {{URL|www.hubertsumlinblues.com}}

}}

Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer,{{cite book| first= Paul| last= Du Noyer| year= 2003| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing | location= Fulham, London| isbn= 1-904041-96-5| page= 181}} best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band.Kitts, Jeff; Tolinski, Brad (2002). Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Hal Leonard. p. 37. He was ranked number 43 in Rolling Stone{{'}}s "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".{{cite web| title = 43: Hubert Sumlin| work = The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time| date = 18 December 2015| publisher = Rolling Stone| url = https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/hubert-sumlin-2-150263/| access-date = December 18, 2015}}

Biography

Sumlin was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised in Hughes, Arkansas.{{cite book | year = 2005 | editor1-last = Komara | editor1-first = Edward | title= Encyclopedia of the Blues | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-w-uGwm_LhcC&pg=PP1 | publisher = Psychology Press | page = 938| isbn = 9780415926997}} He got his first guitar when he was eight years old.{{cite web | url=http://www.furious.com/perfect/wolf/sumlin.html | title=Hubert Sumlin | publisher=Furious.com | access-date=2008-06-12 | last = Gross |first = Jason}} As a boy, he met Howlin' Wolf by sneaking into a performance.

Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, but his longtime guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. In Chicago, Wolf hired the guitarist Jody Williams, but in 1954 he invited Sumlin to move to Chicago to play second guitar in his band.{{cite book|title=The Guinness Who's Who of Blues|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1995|edition=Second|isbn=0-85112-673-1|page=337}} Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters around 1956) for the remainder of Wolf's career. According to Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf sent him to a classical guitar instructor at the Chicago Conservatory of Music to learn keyboards and scales.{{cite book |title= Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf |last= Segrest|first= James |author2=Mark Hoffman |year= 2004|publisher= Thunder's Mouth Press |location= New York |isbn= 1-56025-683-4 |pages= 111–112}} Sumlin played on the album Howlin' Wolf (called the "rocking chair album", with reference to its cover illustration), which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/hendrix-heads-list-of-100-guitar-greats-with-are-you-experienced-96996.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408014725/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/hendrix-heads-list-of-100-guitar-greats-with-are-you-experienced-96996.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 8, 2018 |title=Hendrix heads list of 100 guitar greats with 'Are You Experienced' |last1=Barnes |first1=Anthony |date=21 July 2003 |newspaper=The Independent |access-date=20 February 2010 |location=London}}{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8939083/Hubert-Sumlin.html | location=London | newspaper=The Daily Telegraph | title=Hubert Sumlin | date=December 6, 2011}}

File:Hubert Sumlin.jpg

Upon Wolf's death in 1976, Sumlin continued playing with several other members of Wolf's band, as the Wolf Gang, until about 1980. He also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session from a tour of Europe with Wolf in 1964. His last solo album was About Them Shoes, released in 2004 by Tone-Cool Records. He underwent lung removal surgery the same year, but he continued performing until just before his death. His final recording, just days before his death, was tracks for an album by Stephen Dale Petit, Cracking The Code (333 Records).

File:Hubert Sumlin 1970 AABF JT.jpg

Sumlin was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2008.{{cite web|url= http://www.bluesart.at/NeueSeiten/BLUES%20MUSIC%20AWARDS%202008.html|title= Blues Music Awards 2008|author= Hill, Dorothy L.|access-date= January 21, 2010|archive-date= December 24, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171224102050/http://www.bluesart.at/NeueSeiten/BLUES|url-status= dead}} He was nominated for four Grammy Awards: in 1999 for the album Tribute to Howlin' Wolf, with Henry Gray, Calvin Jones, Sam Lay, and Colin Linden; in 2000 for Legends, with Pinetop Perkins; in 2006, for his solo project About Them Shoes (which features performances by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, David Johansen and James Cotton) and in 2010 for his contribution to Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Live! in Chicago. He won multiple Blues Music Awards. He was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards, given to support the careers of independent artists.{{cite web|url=http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/pastjudges.asp |title=Independent Music Awards |publisher=Independent Music Awards |access-date=2015-10-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713024722/http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/pastjudges.asp |archive-date=2011-07-13 }}

Sumlin lived in Totowa, New Jersey for 10 years before his death.Shapiro, T. Rees. Washington Post News Service. [http://www.northjersey.com/obituaries/totowa-s-hubert-sumlin-influential-guitarist-at-80-1.858491 "Totowa's Hubert Sumlin, influential blues guitarist, dies at 80"], The Record (Bergen County), December 7, 2011. Accessed January 28, 2015. "Born in Greenwood, Miss., Mr. Sumlin lived in Milwaukee for most of his life before moving to Totowa 10 years ago." He died of heart failure on December 4, 2011, at the age of 80, in a hospital in Wayne, New Jersey.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/hubert-sumlin-legendary-blues-guitarist-for-howlin-wolf-who-influenced-eric-clapton-and-jimi-hendrix-has-died/2011/12/05/gIQAgh2dXO_story.html|title=Hubert Sumlin, legendary blues guitarist for Howlin' Wolf, who influenced Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, has died|newspaper=Washington Post|date=December 5, 2011}}{{cite web |last=White |first=Jim |url=http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/arts-entertainment-living/blue-notes/31015-blues-guitar-great-hubert-sumlin-dies |title=Blues guitar great Hubert Sumlin dies |publisher=Communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com |access-date=December 4, 2011 |archive-date=December 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206114400/http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/arts-entertainment-living/blue-notes/31015-blues-guitar-great-hubert-sumlin-dies |url-status=dead }} He was survived by his wife, son, and three daughters.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/arts/music/hubert-sumlin-master-of-blues-guitar-dies-at-80.html|title=Hubert Sumlin, Master of Blues Guitar, Dies at 80|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 5, 2011}} Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid Sumlin's funeral expenses.{{cite web|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/464802/rolling-stones-jagger-richards-pay-for-hubert-sumlins-funeral |title=Rolling Stones' Jagger, Richards Pay for Hubert Sumlin's Funeral |publisher=Billboard |access-date=October 7, 2015}}

Partial discography

class="wikitable sortable" \|+Albums{{cite web\|url= http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/hubertsumlin.htm\|first= Pete\|last= Hoppula\|title= Hubert Sumlin: Albums\|website= WangDangDula.com\|access-date= January 21, 2010\|archive-date= May 4, 2015\|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150504011726/http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/hubertsumlin.htm\|url-status= dead}}
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"	Year	Title	Label	Number	Notes
1964	American Folk Blues	Amiga	850 043	Germany
1969	Hubert's "American" Blues!	Scout	Sc-4
1974	Kings of Chicago Blues, Vol. 2	Disques Vogue	LDM 30175	France, recorded 1971
1976	Groove	Black & Blue	33.511	France, recorded 1975
1980	Gamblin' Woman	L + R	42.008	Germany, recorded 1980
1987	Hubert Sumlin's Blues Party	Black Top	BT-1036	US
1989	Heart & Soul	Blind Pig	BP-3389	US
1990	Healing Feeling	Black Top	BT-1053	US
1991	Blues Guitar Boss	JSP	239	UK, recorded 1990 in London
1994	Made in Argentina 1993	Blues Special	9501	Argentina, recorded 1993 in Buenos Aires with Emilio Villanueva and the Kansas City Boys
1994	I'm the Back Door Man	Blues Special	9506	Argentina, recorded 1993 in Buenos Aires
1994	My Guitar and Me	Evidence Music	ECD-26045	Paris, recorded on Dec 22, 1975 at Barclay Studio
1996	Blues Classics	Bellaphon	82007	Germany, recorded 1964 in East Berlin
1998	I Know You	APO	2004	US
1998	Wake Up Call	Blues Planet	1116	US
1999	Pinetop Perkins & Hubert Sumlin: Legends	Telarc	83446	US
2003	Do the Don't	Intuition	34252	Germany; Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with Hubert Sumlin
2005	About Them Shoes	Tone-Cool/Artemis Records	51609	US, also Rykodisc RCD 17307 in the UK
2010	Midnight Memphis Sun	NorthernBlues Music	NMB0058	JW-Jones release with special guests Hubert Sumlin and Charlie Musselwhite
2012	Sky Road Songs''	Yellowbird	7724-2	Germany; Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with special guest Hubert Sumlin (recorded in 2011)

class="wikitable"

|+Videos

style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0f0;"

Year

Title

Label

Number

Notes

2005

The Blues Guitar of Hubert Sumlin

Homespun Tapes

SUMGT21

US, VHS & DVD

References

External links

{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p537}}
[http://blues.about.com/od/artistprofile1/p/HubertSumlin.htm Hubert Sumlin biography at About.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827184230/http://blues.about.com/od/artistprofile1/p/HubertSumlin.htm |date=2010-08-27 }}
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/63rg BBC review of About Them Shoes]
[http://www.wirz.de/music/sumlin.htm Illustrated Hubert Sumlin discography]

Category:1931 births

Category:2011 deaths

Category:People from Greenwood, Mississippi

Category:People from Totowa, New Jersey

Category:American blues guitarists

Category:American male guitarists

Category:American blues singers

Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi

Category:Chicago blues musicians

Category:Black Top Records artists

Category:Guitarists from Illinois

Category:Guitarists from Mississippi