Canned Heat is an American
rock band formed in
Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its interpretations of
blues material and for its efforts to promote interest in this type of music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts,
Alan Wilson and
Bob Hite, who took the name from
Tommy Johnson's 1928 "Canned Heat Blues", a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking
Sterno, generically called "canned heat". After appearances at the
Monterey and
Woodstock festivals at the end of the 1960s, the band acquired worldwide fame with a lineup consisting of Bob Hite (vocals), Alan Wilson (guitar,
harmonica and vocals),
Henry Vestine and later
Harvey Mandel (lead guitar),
Larry Taylor (bass), and
Adolfo de la Parra (drums).