"[2] Hooks was born in Bay Minette, Alabama, United States,[1] to a Cherokee mother and an African American father, who was a Baptist raised sharecropper.

[3] Subsequently hitchhiking across the United States, Hooks also travelled around Europe, residing in Paris and Amsterdam, before relocating to New York in his mid-twenties.

[5] Hooks secured headline status at the BBC's World Music Festival in 2003, and opened for Terence Trent D'Arby.

[7] The Hand of God (2005) was recorded in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee, and had five of its tracks mixed by Dan Penn.

[8] His next recording, Godson of Soul, was also produced by Jon Tiven, and included contributions from Steve Cropper and Wayne Jackson.