Johnnie Allen Hendrix, renamed James Marshall Hendrix in 1946, in memory of his father’s deceased brother. In 1965 he formed the group “Jimmy James and the Flames” and played in the clubs of “Greenwich Village”. In London, he created the trio “Experience” together with Noel Redding – guitar, and Mitch Mitchell – drums, with which he recorded his first hit “Hey, Joe” and his most important albums. Played at the Monterey (1967) and Woodstock (1969) festivals. Then he created the group “Band of Gypsies”, which existed only for a few months. His last big concert was at Father White (1970). He died in London from a drug overdose.
His parents divorced in 1951 and his mother died in 1958 when he was 16. Jimmy is very attached to his maternal grandmother, who is Native American (Cherokee), and from whom he inherits a strong sense of pride and respect for his roots.
After Lucille’s death, Al gave his son a ukulele and later bought him an acoustic guitar for $5. It is curious that in the same year his only double at school was in music. Jimi Hendrix, who is left-handed, used this very skillfully. Musical instruments are made for right-handed people, so Jimmy starts playing the guitar by turning it upside down. He got his first acoustic guitar around the age of 16.
What inspired Hendrix in his youth was an Elvis Presley performance in Seattle. After playing in several local bands, Hendrix joined the army in the 101st Airborne Division as a paratrooper to avoid a two-year sentence for driving a stolen car. Less than a year later, he was fired for health reasons after breaking his ankle in a parachute jump. In 1966, Jimmy formed his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, and settled in New York. Guitarist Chaz Chandler took him to England, helping him form the band The Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
Jimmy’s first single was a variation of “Hey Joe”, a stylized blues song written by Billy Roberts and which was a “standard” for rock bands at the time. Jimmy revolutionized the rock and roll genre after the song was recorded in an innovative way, mixing rock and blues. Hendrix’s success was strengthened with the songs “Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary”, which together with “Hey Joe” were hits in the Top 10 chart.
The fame of the Jimi Hendrix Experience continued to grow after the band’s first album, Are You Experience. Hits such as “Red House”, “Highway Chile” and “Remember” – climbed to number five on the Billboard 200 chart. Hendrix, together with his friend Cathy Etchingham, settled in London and rented accommodation at 23 Brook Street. Curious is the fact that the Baroque composer Georg Friedrich Handel lived at 25 Brook Street in the 18th century, and Hendrix was visibly pleased by this coincidence.
Hendrix is known for the perfectionism he puts into recording his music. Each song was recorded countless times until he found the right sound (“Gypsy Eyes” was recorded 43 times). In the USA, Jimi Hendrix gave the performance of his life at the Monterey Pop Festival held in 1967. At the end of the show he lit his guitar on fire in front of an ecstatic audience. This is how the legend Jimi Hendrix was born. That same year, he released a second album that shot to the top of the charts upon its release. It was called Axis: Bold as Love. During the making the album showcased his incredible talent for songwriting.The third album – Electric Ladyland – had hits such as “All Along the Watchtower”. It was released in 1968. As well as being his only number one album, it is also his most commercially successful album.
The expansion of Hendrix’s musical horizons was accompanied by the deterioration of his relationship with Noel Redding and in 1969 The Jimi Hendrix Experience disbanded. He was arrested at the Toronto airport after heroin was found in his luggage. Hendricks was released on $10,000 bail. He was later acquitted because authorities found convincing his claims that the drug had been slipped into his bag by an admirer without his knowledge. In August 1969, Hendrix formed a new group called Gypsy Suns and Rainbows.
With albums and songs topping the US and UK charts in the 1960s, the acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist won fans around the world with his stage presence and innovative sound. In his short music career, which lasted about five years, he released many hits, including his first single “Hey, Joe”, “All Along the Watchtower” and “Purple Haze”.
Throughout his career as a musician, Hendrix owned a variety of guitars, including a Gibson Flying V, which he painted with psychedelic designs. However, the guitar most associated with his name is the Fender Stratocaster, or “Strat.” Some consider Hendrix to have contributed the most to making the Stratocaster the best-selling guitar model in history.
In July 1970 he played to his biggest crowd of 400,000 at a pop festival in Atlanta, Georgia, and in August he made his last UK appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival with Mitchell and Cox. Hendrix expresses on stage his frustration with the audience’s desire to listen only to his old hits.
September 6, 1970 was his last live performance in Germany, where he was booed by the audience. A week later, on the morning of September 18, he was found dead in an apartment at the Samarkand Hotel. He spent the night with his German girlfriend, Monica Dannemann, and died. times according to Rolling Stone Posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 14, 1991.
