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Hubert Sumlin Biography
Career
Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Sumlin was raised in Hughes, Arkansas. When he was six years old, he got his first guitar.
As a boy, Sumlin first met Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett) by sneaking into a performance. When Burnett relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, his long-time guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. Upon his arrival in Chicago, Wolf first hired Chicago guitarist Jody Williams, and in 1954 Wolf invited Sumlin to relocate to Chicago to play second guitar in his Chicago-based band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist in Wolf's band, 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 an interview cited in Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman, Howlin' Wolf sent Sumlin to a classical guitar instructor at the Chicago Musical College. Sumlin played on the album Howlin' Wolf, also called The Rockin' Chair Album, which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004.
Upon Wolf's death in 1976, Sumlin continued on with several other members of the late Burnett's band under the name "The Wolf Pack" until about 1980. Sumlin has also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session recorded while touring Europe with Burnett in 1964. His latest effort is About Them Shoes, released in 2004 by Tone-Cool Records. He underwent lung removal surgery in 2004 but was still going strong as of 2010. He performed at the Crossroads 2010 Guitar Festival with his oxygen tank.
Sumlin was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1988. Sumlin was also a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
