Jess Hooper

Jess Hooper (* in Marks , Mississippi ) is an American rockabilly musician .

Life

Jess Hooper was born in Marks, Mississippi, and initially played in a country band , although he was more interested in the blues . In Clarksdale , Mississippi, he has performed at local events and radio shows. After an audition for Sun Records in Memphis , Tennessee had failed in 1955 , Lester Bihari noticed Hooper and signed him for his label Meteor Records . Bihari put Hooper together with Doug Poindexter's Starlite Wranglers and his studio musician Doug Cox. Named after Meteor's studio band The Daydreamers , Hooper and the group recorded a number of pieces, only All Messed Up and Sleepy Time Blues were released in December 1955. After the single was released, Hooper stayed in Memphis for about a year, performing in the area.

He then moved to Texas, where he continued to work as a musician for a short time and then retired from the music business. In the following years Hooper was married several times and moved through the USA. He later settled in Jackson , Mississippi , completely impoverished .

In the 1960s, bootlegger Lee Johannson released Hooper's Meteor single illegally on the fictional Cherry label. Since the rockabilly revival, Hooper's titles can be found on various re-releases.

Rumor about Charlie Feathers

Jess Hooper went undetected for years, and due to his musical closeness to Charlie Feathers , it was rumored during the rockabilly revival that Hooper was just a pseudonym for Feathers. Feathers himself neither confirmed nor denied it. Hooper's existence was finally cleared up in 1984 when Kicks magazine music journalist Billy Miller tracked down Hooper in Texas and interviewed him.

Discography

year	title	Label #
1955	All Messed Up / Sleepy Time Blues	Meteor 5025
196?	All Messed Up / Sleepy Time Blues	Cherry 602
Unpublished titles
1955	Diamonds and Gold Afraid I think my baby's gone This Heart Is Dying I am a Sinner Well don't you think	Meteor Records

Web links

• Discography with audio samples