John Lee Hooker was working as a janitor in Detroit when he released his first hit single “Boogie Chillen” in 1948. The rest is history. That history is being celebrated at this year’s Detroit Music Weekend festival.

Detroit’s dean of the blues is set to be honored with a special summer tribute, including a posthumous key to the city.

This year’s Detroit Music Weekend on July 2 will honor the blues, with a tribute to the late John Lee Hooker and a “Women of the Blues” showcase with his daughter Zakiya Hooker and others.

When it comes to music, few cities in the U.S. can boast as much music history as Detroit. For many artists, Detroit has long carried the reputation of being a city with an energetic and hungry crowd. In between tour stops in major cities like Chicago and Toronto, Detroit crowds know how have played host to some incredible, and at times sad, moments in rock music history.

Detroit Music Weekend went down from June 14 through June 17, filling the city with music, dance and theater. Acts ranged from up and comers to household names like the Jacksons. Check out our shots of the fun.

With an orange crescent moon and the nostalgic glow of the Fox Theatre behind them, the Jacksons lit up a stage in downtown Detroit Saturday night.

Detroit Music Weekend grows bigger, better, and bolder in 2018 with a huge collection of unique Detroit shopping and dining opportunities, multiple downtown happenings, and – of course – music, and lots of it.

Member of the legendary Jackson Family, Marlon Jackon joined us on The Nine this morning to reminisce and talk about Detroit Music Weekend. Watch in the video player above.

It was 1968 when a group from Indiana signed with Motown records here in Detroit.

WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7 Interview.

The Craig Brown Band joined us in the studio today to play us a song off of their album The Lucky Ones Forget. The band opened for Jack White at Little Caesars Arena last week and said the experience was incredible. 

The return of Detroit Music Weekend is upon us and once again, it's all about the legends.

Detroit Music Weekend – a free, outdoor event produced by Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts – will return for a second year June 14-17.

The surviving Jackson 5 brothers will present the ABC’s of their storied career at the second Detroit Music Weekend, taking place June 14-17 in the cultural area in and around the Music Hall Center and Detroit Opera House.

A year after Aretha Franklin packed the streets in the theater district to inaugurate a new hometown festival, Detroit Music Weekend has another celebrated name on the way.

Aretha Franklin got a lot of R-E-S-P-E-C-T from her home town of Detroit during the past few days -- even if she didn't sing the song.

The familiar voice swooped and soared, nestling into the notes where it wanted and wringing out the emotion when it demanded.

Aretha Franklin sings Sweet Sixteen at Detroit Music Weekend performance

Tuxedo was a long time in the making.

And it proved as good a fit as the duo of Mayer Hawthorne and Jake One could hope.

The two first conceived the idea of Tuxedo and its throwback funky dance-pop sound a decade ago, even before Ann Arbor native Hawthorne blew up with “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” in 2008, They finally put the first Tuxedo album out in 2015, with its successor, “Tuxedo II,” arriving in March.

The first annual Detroit Music Weekend will take place this Saturday in downtown Detroit, with free events spanning four outdoor venues. And queen of soul Aretha Franklin is slated to give what organizers are calling her last-ever Detroit performance.