Howlin’ Wolf was the stage name of Chester Arthur Burnett, an American blues guitarist, and singer who lived from June 10, 1910, until January 10, 1976. One of the greatest blues musicians to have ever lived, according to many.
Over the course of a four-decade career, he recorded music in the blues, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and psychedelic rock genres. He also facilitated the change from Chicago blues to Delta blues.
He was raised in a challenging environment despite being one of six children born into poverty in Mississippi. After his mother kicked him out, he moved live with his great-uncle, who was notoriously violent.
He ran away to his father’s house in the early 1930s and eventually found a loving family, where he was trained by famed Delta blues guitarist and singer Charley Patton.
By the end of ten years after starting his solo career in the Deep South and playing with other notable blues artists of the period, he had made a name for himself in the Mississippi Delta.
Who is Howlin’ Wolf’s wife Lillie Handley?
Burnett’s future wife Lillie Handley (1925-2001), attended one of his concerts at a Chicago nightclub, and he initially became acquainted there. She and her family were well-educated and affluent, and they stayed away from the allegedly sordid scene that the blues musicians frequented.
But he was pulled to her as soon as he saw her in the audience. He immediately pursued her and won her over.
People who knew them said that the couple stayed committed to one other till his death. They both reared Betty and Barbara, Lillie’s children from a previous union. Lillie Handley lives a private life hence not much is known about her personal life.
