Lonnie Brooks (born Lee Baker Jr. , December 18 1933) is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born in Dubuisson, Louisiana.

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Career

Brooks began performing with Clifton Chenier during the 1950s under the name Guitar Junior . He recorded some songs under that name which had local success. Among these songs was "Family Rules," which remains a regional favorite of the swamp pop idiom in south Louisiana and southeast Texas. ^[1] In 1960, he moved to Chicago, Illinois. Luther Johnson was already using the name "Guitar Junior" there, so he adopted the alternative stage name, Lonnie Brooks. ^[2]

In 1961 he played guitar on the double album, Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall .

In 1978, four of his songs were included on an anthology of Chicago blues released by Alligator Records. The following year, he released his album Bayou Lightning on the Alligator record label. ^[3]

Brooks' style, sometimes described as "voodoo blues", includes elements of Chicago blues, Louisiana blues, swamp pop and rhythm and blues. Lonnie's vocals seem to be an inspiration of the late Stevie Ray Vaughn. Live performances of his band are dead ringer inspiration for ZZ Top's live setup.

Brooks appeared in the movie, Blues Brothers 2000 .

Millions who have never heard his records have seen him playing the back porch bluesman, who loses his wife but wins a recording contract, in a sequence of TV advertisements for Heineken lager.

Brooks' sons, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks are also full-time blues entertainers, fronting their own bands and touring extensively both in the U.S. and abroad. Ronnie appears on his father's 1991 Alligator release Satisfaction Guaranteed on rhythm guitar. The Brookses are frequent guest performers at each others' shows and have booked appearances as 'The Brooks Family', performing entire concerts together.

Quotation

"If my hands could get what my eyes see" he sings in "Eyeballin'", "then my whole mind and body would be trouble-free."

See also

• List of blues musicians
• Excello Records
• Long Beach Blues Festival
• San Francisco Blues Festival
• Chicago Blues Festival

References

1. Shane K. Bernard, ''Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues'' (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996), p. 58.
2. The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
3. Allmusic biography - accessed February 2008