Earl Hooker (born January 15, 1929 in Clarksdale, Mississippi; died April 21, 1970 in Chicago, Illinois) was an American blues guitarist. Hooker was a Chicago slide guitarist in the same league as Elmore James,Hound Dog Taylor, and his mentor, Robert Nighthawk. Some Chicago blues guitarists even consider Hooker to have been the greatest slide player ever.

Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970) was an American blues guitarist. Born Earl Zebedee Hooker in Clarksdale, Mississippi, his impoverished family moved to Chicago, Illinois when he was still an infant. Influenced by parents and relatives who played music, he was a cousin of John Lee Hooker and began playing guitar as a teenager. An instrumentalist, within a few years Hooker put together a band that toured the United States and made some of his first recordings for Sam Phillips at S