November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970
Hendrix was left-handed, but instead of using a left-handed guitar, he played a right-handed guitar upside-down.
Jimi died in 1970 after he choked on his own vomit. He had taken nine pills of the barbiturate Vesparax - 18 times the recommended dosage.
He was entirely self-taught on guitar. He could not read music; instead he communicated his musical visions through colors. "Some feelings make you think of different colors," he said. "Jealousy is purple. I'm purple with rage or purple with anger, and green with envy."
His father, Al Hendrix, controlled Jimi's estate, and his Seattle home, known as the "House of Hendrix," became a gathering place for fans and memorabilia. When Al died in 2002, he left the estate to his adopted daughter Janie, the daughter of his second wife. His son Leon - Jimi's half-brother - fought for control of the estate, but a judge ruled against him. Leon is also a musician, fronting a band called The Mysterience.
The cover of his 1968 album Electric Ladyland shows 19 naked women photographed at a local speakeasy. It's a classic cover, but Hendrix didn't like it because he thought it distracted from the music. In the US, the cover was replaced with some psychedelic artwork so stores would stock it.
His second manager, Michael Jeffrey, had Hendrix kidnapped for two days by "New York Mobsters" and then "rescued" him to try to bolster his role as manager... not a very well known story but documented several times by Hendrix himself.
At the
1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he came on after The Who. Pete Townshend smashed his guitar and threw it into the audience. Hendrix set his on fire.
He played what was known as the "Chitlin Circuit" from 1963-1966, which was a tour with black artists playing to mostly black audiences. This is where Hendrix learned tricks like playing the guitar with his teeth and playing behind his head (something he picked up from T-Bone Walker).
From 1966-1970, he played over 600 shows, many of them festivals that he headlined.
He toured with The Monkees in 1967 because he needed the exposure in America. It was a disaster, as the young girls who came to see The Monkees shouted him down. After the eighth show (Forest Hills, Queens), he flipped off the crowd, threw down his guitar and left the tour.
The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle was called the Experience Music Project when it opened in 2000 with loads of Hendrix memorabilia. The museum was founded by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, a huge Hendrix fan.
After he was caught stealing cars, a judge gave Hendrix the choice to either serve his country or serve time in prison. He enlisted in the United States Paratrooper Division before the Vietnam War got into full swing. Though he claimed he was medically discharged after an accident during his training, he was
actually ousted for behavioral problems, information that became known when his files were released to the public in 2005.
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
A Swedish man named James Sundquist claims to be Hendrix' illegitimate son. This claim was upheld by a Swedish court in 1975.
Bassist Noel Redding, who died in 2003, said he never made any money from his time playing with Hendrix. He only played on Hendrix' first three albums.
Hendrix claimed Cherokee ancestry through his paternal grandmother, Zenora "Nora" Rose Moore, who was one-quarter Cherokee.
In 2002, his body was moved to Greenwood Memorial Cemetery in Renton, Washington, where he is buried under a 30-foot granite dome.
He was born Johnny Allen Hendrix. When his father, Al Hendrix, returned from the Army, he renamed him James Marshall Hendrix.
The first guitarist he was aware of was Muddy Waters: "I heard one of his old records when I was a little boy and it scared me to death because I heard all these sounds," explained Hendrix.
Playing with The Rocking Kings, he played his first gig at a National Guard Armory. They earned 35 cents each.
Just prior to the release of "
Purple Haze," he performed at the Cliffs Pavilion in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex. He was bottom of the bill behind Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch and The Nashville Teens. The theater was only one third full and so the first audience were invited back for the second show and asked to sit at the front to make it appear fuller.
The first instrument Jimi learned to play was a one-string ukulele gifted to him by an older woman whose home he and his father were helping to clear out. Jimi had previously shown his love of music by pretending to play a broom.
He played backup guitar for Ike and Tina Turner, Little Richard, King Curtis, The Isley Brothers, and Wilson Pickett. He formed his first band - Jimmy James and the Blue Flames - in 1965.
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
B.B. King said: "When you heard Jimi Hendrix, you knew it was Jimi Hendrix. He introduced himself with his instrument. His attack to a guitar man, was, oh, something else! You think of one of the great American ball players, or one of the great fighters of the world, you know, that's the way he would attack any note on his guitar."
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Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France
Before forming Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake were considering Mitch Mitchell as their drummer, and with the suggestion of Mitchell adding Jimi Hendrix to their lineup. But they later settled on drummer Carl Palmer to form E.L.P. Shortly afterwards, British tabloids began publishing rumors that Hendrix, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer had formed to become H.E.L.P. But before the band was able to collaborate with Hendrix, he had passed away.
Mitch Mitchell, the drummer in The Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead on November 12, 2008, about a week after wrapping up the "Experience Hendrix" tour. Mitchell also played with John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards. He was the last surviving member of The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
As the headliner of the Woodstock festival, Hendrix received $18,000 - the highest fee of any performer. He also played to the smallest crowd because he didn't go on until the fourth day of the three-day festival, which ran long.
Despite his wild lifestyle, Jimi Hendrix was a tidy man who always had a neatly made bed - a legacy of his time in the army.
