Chester Arthur Burnett, better known to the world as Howlin’ Wolf, was born June 10, 1910, in the rural heart of White Station, Mississippi. His long-lasting legacy led to him being ranked #51 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”
His father, Leon “Dock” Burnett, carried Ethiopian roots, while his mother, Gertrude Jone, came from a lineage enriched by Choctaw heritage through her father’s side. His mother was one of the biggest influences on his musical journey.
Burnett and his mother would sing side by side in the Life Boat Baptist Church choir near Gibson, Mississippi—something he would later credit as the source of his musical genius. Despite their close relationship, Burnett would later be kicked out of his mother’s home during a harsh winter, the reasons shrouded in mystery.
While the reasons for their estrangement were unknown, he would later share that at the height of his career, he tried to reconnect with his mother, offering her money proof of his achievements, but she refused, dismissing his offerings as merely the spoils of “devil’s music,” leaving her son in tears.
Burnett’s love for music only continued to grow. With his gritty vocals, towering presence, and unparalleled guitar prowess, Howlin’ Wolf didn’t just play music—he redefined it.
In an interview with Chris Strachwitz back in 1967, he shared how he came up with his iconic name.
“They used to tell me stories about the wolves and the animals in the forest, see. The way they told it, I thought the wolf was about the baddest one out there,” he explained. “So I’d keep up a lot of devilment and they’d say, I’m going to put that wolf on you. He’ll be here directly. Every night, when I get ready to go to sleep, I’d worry them to tell me the story about the wolf. They just kept calling me Wolf and it’d make me mad, you know what I mean?”
Wolf’s journey into the blues began with a spark—courtesy of Charlie Patton, Mississippi’s legendary bluesman. With Patton as his mentor, Wolf picked up a guitar and began to create his own sound, drawing inspiration from a variety of blues and folk legends, including the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red and Tommy Johnson.
In 1956, he recorded his own version of Blind Jefferson’s haunting “Match Box Blues, combining his signature howl—which was born out of his esteem for Jimmie Rodgers’ distinctive vocal technique. By the 1930s, Wolf had begun collaborating with artists like Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines, and Honeyboy Edwards, carving out his place in the blossoming blues scene.
“I’m not a smart man. You see, I got a little head and a big heart. Because blues is based on the common ground shared by all people, black and white, young and old. Blues is the story of the human life, of its loves and struggles. All rock and roll, all jazz, all American music finds its roots in gospel music and in blues. Blues is not unhappy music.” —Howlin Wolf
After a stint in the military during World War II (1941-1943), Wolf teamed up with guitarist Willie Johnson and harmonica maestro Junior Parker; he assembled a band that would illuminate his path to fame. By the early 1950s, Howlin’ Wolf had begun making waves in the mainstream blues world.
His first recordings, “How Many More Years” and “Riding in the Moonlight,” set the stage for his meteoric rise. Over the years, Wolf’s band became a revolving door of some of the most talented guitarists and musicians, further enhancing his sound and cementing his impact.
In January 1976, Howlin’ Wolf checked into the Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois, for kidney surgery. Just three days before his passing, doctors discovered a carcinoma in his brain.
On January 10, 1976, at the age of 65, Wolf passed on to the ancestors due to a tumor, heart failure and kidney disease.
