Hubert Sumlin

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title: "Hubert Sumlin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1931-births", "2011-deaths", "people-from-greenwood,-mississippi", "people-from-totowa,-new-jersey", "american-blues-guitarists", "american-male-guitarists", "american-blues-singers", "blues-musicians-from-mississippi", "chicago-blues-musicians", "black-top-records-artists", "guitarists-from-illinois", "guitarists-from-mississippi", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "20th-century-american-male-musicians", "blind-pig-records-artists", "telarc-records-artists", "chess-records-artists", "black-&-blue-records-artists", "african-american-guitarists", "20th-century-african-american-male-singers", "20th-century-american-male-singers", "20th-century-american-singers", "21st-century-african-american-male-singers", "21st-century-american-male-singers", "electric-guitarists"] description: "American blues guitarist and singer (1931–2011)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Sumlin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American blues guitarist and singer (1931–2011) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Hubert Sumlin
background	solo_singer
birth_name	Hubert Charles Sumlin
image	HubertSumlin2003.jpg
caption	Sumlin performing at the 2003 Long Beach Blues Festival
birth_date
birth_place	Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Wayne, New Jersey
genre	Chicago blues, electric blues
instrument	Guitar, vocals
occupation	Musician
years_active	1953–2011
website
::

| name = Hubert Sumlin | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Hubert Charles Sumlin | image = HubertSumlin2003.jpg | caption = Sumlin performing at the 2003 Long Beach Blues Festival | birth_date = | birth_place = Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Wayne, New Jersey | genre = Chicago blues, electric blues | instrument = Guitar, vocals | occupation = Musician | years_active = 1953–2011 | website =

Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band. He was ranked number 43 in *Rolling Stone*s "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Biography

Sumlin was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, and raised in Hughes, Arkansas. He got his first guitar when he was eight years old. As a boy, he met Howlin' Wolf by sneaking into a performance.

Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, but his longtime guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. In Chicago, Wolf hired the guitarist Jody Williams, but in 1954 he invited Sumlin to move to Chicago to play second guitar in his band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist, 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 Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf sent him to a classical guitar instructor at the Chicago Conservatory of Music to learn keyboards and scales. Sumlin played on the album Howlin' Wolf (called the "rocking chair album", with reference to its cover illustration), which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Hubert_Sumlin.jpg" caption="Sumlin performing in France, December 17, 1975, five days before recording ''My Guitar and Me''"] ::

Upon Wolf's death in 1976, Sumlin continued playing with several other members of Wolf's band, as the Wolf Gang, until about 1980. He also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session from a tour of Europe with Wolf in 1964. His last solo album was About Them Shoes, released in 2004 by Tone-Cool Records. He underwent lung removal surgery the same year, but he continued performing until just before his death. His final recording, just days before his death, was tracks for an album by Stephen Dale Petit, Cracking The Code (333 Records). ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Hubert_Sumlin_1970_AABF_JT.jpg" caption="Hubert Sumlin at the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival" alt="Hubert Sumlin playing guitar at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1970, Ann Arbor, Michigan"] ::

Sumlin was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2008. He was nominated for four Grammy Awards: in 1999 for the album Tribute to Howlin' Wolf, with Henry Gray, Calvin Jones, Sam Lay, and Colin Linden; in 2000 for Legends, with Pinetop Perkins; in 2006, for his solo project About Them Shoes (which features performances by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, David Johansen and James Cotton) and in 2010 for his contribution to Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Live! in Chicago. He won multiple Blues Music Awards. He was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards, given to support the careers of independent artists.

Sumlin lived in Totowa, New Jersey for 10 years before his death. He died of heart failure on December 4, 2011, at the age of 80, in a hospital in Wayne, New Jersey. He was survived by his wife, son, and three daughters. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid Sumlin's funeral expenses.

Partial discography

::data[format=table title="Albums{{cite web|url= http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/hubertsumlin.htm|first= Pete|last= Hoppula|title= Hubert Sumlin: Albums|website= WangDangDula.com|access-date= January 21, 2010|archive-date= May 4, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150504011726/http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/hubertsumlin.htm|url-status= dead}}"]

2012	Sky Road Songs	Yellowbird	7724-2	Germany; Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, with special guest Hubert Sumlin (recorded in 2011)
::

::data[format=table title="Videos"]

2005	The Blues Guitar of Hubert Sumlin	Homespun Tapes	SUMGT21	US, VHS & DVD
::

References

References

1. Du Noyer, Paul. (2003). "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music". Flame Tree Publishing.
2. Kitts, Jeff; Tolinski, Brad (2002). ''Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time''. Hal Leonard. p. 37.
3. (18 December 2015). "43: Hubert Sumlin". Rolling Stone.
4. (2005). "Encyclopedia of the Blues". Psychology Press.
5. Gross, Jason. "Hubert Sumlin". Furious.com.
6. (1995). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
7. Segrest, James. (2004). "Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf". Thunder's Mouth Press.
8. (21 July 2003). "Hendrix heads list of 100 guitar greats with 'Are You Experienced'". [[The Independent]].
9. (December 6, 2011). "Hubert Sumlin". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
10. Hill, Dorothy L.. "Blues Music Awards 2008".
11. "Independent Music Awards". Independent Music Awards.
12. Shapiro, T. Rees. ''[[Washington Post]]'' News Service. [http://www.northjersey.com/obituaries/totowa-s-hubert-sumlin-influential-guitarist-at-80-1.858491 "Totowa's Hubert Sumlin, influential blues guitarist, dies at 80"], ''[[The Record (Bergen County)]]'', December 7, 2011. Accessed January 28, 2015. "Born in Greenwood, Miss., Mr. Sumlin lived in Milwaukee for most of his life before moving to Totowa 10 years ago."
13. (December 5, 2011). "Hubert Sumlin, legendary blues guitarist for Howlin' Wolf, who influenced Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, has died". Washington Post.
14. White, Jim. "Blues guitar great Hubert Sumlin dies". Communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com.
15. (December 5, 2011). "Hubert Sumlin, Master of Blues Guitar, Dies at 80". New York Times.
16. "Rolling Stones' Jagger, Richards Pay for Hubert Sumlin's Funeral". Billboard.
17. Hoppula, Pete. "Hubert Sumlin: Albums".

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