Die-hard Hooker fans know that at one point John Lee Hooker recorded under a number of different pseudonyms. Why did he do this?

To get around predatory recording contracts & pocket up-front fees for playing songs, John Lee Hooker would often go from label to label claiming to be various different names, recording slightly different variations of his songs, and earning a fee from each label as he went.

Many Record Labels in the 1940s and 50s were predatory and instead of royalties and rights, they would routinely gave artists a small cash fee for recording a song. Some of those songs became massive hits and the artists would get paltry royalties if they received any.

So John Lee Hooker leveled the playing field by going from label to label under different names, happily committing to contracts, singing a song, collecting cash and moving on to the next.

It was a brilliant play from a brilliant lyricist, and in hindsight, a little surprising more artists at the time didn’t “stick it to the labels” in the same way.

The Names John Lee Hooker Recorded Under

Texas Slim for King Records / Federal Records, 1948, 1949 and 1950

Delta John for Regency Records in 1948, 1949 and 1950

Birmingham Sam & His Magic Guitar for Savoy Records in 1949

Johnny Williams for Staff Records, Gotham Records, Fortune Records in 1949 and 1950

The Boogie Man for Acorn Records in 1950

John Lee Booker for Chess Records, Chance Records and Gone Records in 1951, 1952 and 1953

Little Pork Chops for Fortune Records in the early 1950s

Johnny Lee for De Luxe Records in 1953 and 1954

* He also recorded as John Lee Cooker, but we aren’t confident enough in the info on this one

Po’ Slim or Alabama Slim for J-B-T / Von Records in the late 1940s and Early 1950s