Artist description Smooth, mellow and rich sound of Joseph Lee Hooker, whose 37 years in music began at the age of 11 when he wrote his first song, "A Girl Like You". Bill Haley's Comets, with whom he performed in 1964 at the well-known Stardust rock 'n roll club in Chester, PA, approached him and offered to purchase the tune. Since then Hooker has written over 500 songs, and has performed in the Philadelphia area and nationwide to rave reviews, repeatedly being described as "The Fifth Beatle", both due to his songwriting style and incredible harmonies. Indeed, "The Beatle" is no gimmic, but instead a strikingly accurate pseudonym for anyone familiar with The Beatle's style, or his lifelong aspiration to sing with the group, and in particular, with Paul McCartney. "I've been practicing for that day all my life -- working on my harmonies and delivery to perfectly complement their songs. No one could ever surpass them, and to even be compared to them so frequently is my highest honor as a singer/songwriter."

Music Style Pop/Rock

Musical Influences Guess...!

Similar Artists Paul McCartney, John Lennon, The Beatles (surprise...!)

Artist History Since 1963, The Beatle has been a member of numerous local and national bands. His first band, formed by members of his Catholic school in 1963, was called "The Beatles of Holy Saviour". Soon afterward, he joined The Gems, which appeared in 1966 on Atlantic City's famed Steel Peer and attained local fame on Tony Grant's "Stars of Tomorrow". Hooker then began a solo career at the age of 18, with his first professional gig being The First International Pop Festival in Puerto Rico ("Mar y Sol"). Hooker was the only solo act of the festival, following John McGlaughlin who highly complimented Hooker's style and talent. Local press reported that "The Beatle" was "going places". Unfortunately, soon afterward Hooker suffered a near-fatal motorcyle accident requiring years of rehabilitation. He struggled to recuperate both physically and emotionally, always being led by the style and inspiration of Paul McCartney and the Beatles. In 1980, Hooker walked 150 miles in the dead of winter from south Philadelphia to New York in honor of the recently assasinated John Lennon, and presented his widow, Yoko Ono, with a song written in John's honor, entitled "A Song For John". Yoko wrote a personal letter of thanks to Hooker. Following the break-up of the Beatles, Hooker closely followed the careers of Paul and Linda McCartney, and met them on 3 occasions. Upon the sad occasion of Linda McCartney's death, Hooker (who himself had just recently lost his 4 year-old son to liver cancer) wrote, recorded and produced a music video tribute for Linda entitled, "Waiting At Heaven's Door - A McCartney Rose", which was donated to Linda McCartney's estate. Head of promotions at MPL Communications commented that the video and song were "very nicely done" and "much appreciated" by Linda's brother, John Eastman, before being sent to Paul and his family in London.

Group Members Joseph Lee Hooker

Instruments all

Albums Hello World

Press Reviews "I've always loved his music -- it reminds me of the Beatles if they were still together today." -Michael Nise, OMNI 2000, Producer of "Dance Party USA" and "Dancin' On Air", USA Cable Network. "Your music really reminds me of the Beatles" or "You sound so much like Paul McCartney" or "That sounds like something John Lennon would have written" are typical and very common audience reviews.

Location West Grove, PA - USA

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