Hendrix, was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington. At which time, he was given the name Johnny Allen Hendrix, by his mother Lucille Hendrix née Jeter (died 1958). Later, his name was changed to James Marshall Hendrix, by his father James Allen "Al" Hendrix (1919–2002), in memory of his deceased brother, Leon Marshall Hendrix.
Hendrix, having came from a financially and otherwise unstable home, after the separation and divorce of his parents, while at a very young age, followed by the death of his mother when he was 15 years old, went through school basically unnoticed, as a shy and sensitive young boy, who was deeply affected by the poverty and neglect he experienced. His first instrument was a regular house-hold broomstick, which he would strum in imitation of older musicians, such as "Elvis", who he admired, after seeing him perform live in Seattle in 1957. Eventually graduating to a one-stringed ukelele, which his father found while cleaning out the garage one day, Hendrix reportedly learned to play several tunes. He acquired his first guitar at the age of 15, for $5 from a friend of his father. With a heart full of desire, along with his early exposure to Blues music, from listening to records owned by his father, by Muddy Waters and B.B. King, and practicing constantly, Hendrix began to develop his natural talents as a guitarist. In the following summer of 1959, his father "Al" bought him a white Supro Ozark, his first electric guitar and Hendrix was now on his way to becoming a musician and formed his first band naming it the "Velvetones". However, it has been noted that Hendrix failed his high-school music class with a "F" grade, not for a lack in ability, but as a result of poor attendance. Eventually dropping out of High-School, Hendrix enlisted with the Army and joined the 101st Airborne Division, and later received and honorable discharge upon fracturing an ankle during training. Although, Hendrix didn't graduate from Garfield High-School, where he attended, he was later awarded an honorary diploma, after he became famous in the late 1960s, and in the 1990s, a tribute to Hendrix was placed in the school library.
After leaving the army, Hendrix along with an Army friend by the name of Billy Cox moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where they formed a band called "The King Kasuals" and began performing low paying gigs. The band eventually moved to Nashville's Jefferson Street, known as the heart of Nashville's black community and home to a popular rhythm and blues scene. There, becoming basically the house band at Club del Morrocco. Hendrix continued making a living for about two years with "The King Kasuals", and in backing other various bands for soul, R&B, and blues musicians, including Chuck Jackson, Slim Harpo, Tommy Tucker, Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, and on the Theatre Owners' Booking Association (TOBA) or Chitlin Circuit, otherwise known as "Tough On Black Asses," performing in black-oriented venues throughout the South with both Bob Fisher and the Bonnevilles, refining his style and developing his blues roots, making the Chitlin Circuit an important phase of his career. Eventually becoming frustrated with the southern scene, Hendrix decided it was time to leave Tennessee and move onward.
In January 1964, Hendrix moved to New York City and took up residence in Harlem, where he became friends with the Allen twins, Arthur and Albert (now known as Taharqa and Tunde-Ra Aleem), who performed as backup on some of his recordings, most notably the song "Freedom". In February 1964, Hendrix won first prize in an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater.
After, finding the New York music scene difficult to break into, Hendrix moved onto Atlanta under the name Maurice James, at which time he met Little Richard and hired on to record and tour with his backing band "The Royal Company". In 1965, while on tour with Little Richard, Hendrix played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single "My Diary". This was his first recorded involvement with Arthur Lee of the band "Love". He also played on the session for Little Richard's final single "I Don't Know What You've Got, But It's Got Me". Followed by his first TV appearance on Nashville's Channel 5 "Night Train" with "The Royal Company" backing up "Buddy and Stacy" on "Shotgun". Hendrix was later fired by Little Richard, as a result of tardiness and disagreements over wardrobe, and stage antics. Hendrix went on to play temporarily with Ike and Tina Turner for a short time, before once again returning to Little Richard's band. Months later, Hendrix failed to show up to board the tour bus in Washington, D.C. and was either fired or quit!!
Hendrix, then hired on with the Isley Brothers and joined their national tour and performed his first successful studio session on the two-part Isley Brothers single "Testify". Upon concluding his work with the Isley Brothers, which included Nashville's Chitlin Circuit, that he had previously become familiar with, Hendrix left the band to go on tour with Gorgeous George Odell on an R&B package tour that had Sam Cooke as the headliner.
Later, in 1965 Hendrix returned to New York City, where he then toured for two months with Joey Dee and the Starliters, before joining up with a band called Curtis Knight and the Squires, where he quickly became a popular act upon captivating the Harlem music Scene, playing sessions with King Curtis and Ray Sharpe; Lonnie Youngblood; The Icemen; Jimmy Norman; Billy Lamont. He got his first composer credit on the Curtis Knight and The Squires's instrumental single "Hornets". Through his association with Knight, Hendrix became involved with record producer Ed Chalpin. Chalpin signed Hendrix a contract that gave Hendrix only 1% of any royalties, that his recordings earned. Which Hendrix blew off and forgot about and moved on forming his own band called "Jimmy James and The Blue Flames", composed of Randy Palmer (bass), Danny Casey (drums) and a 15-year-old stand in rhythm and slide guitarist, named Randy Wolfe. Although, Hendrix never exercised his contract with Chalpin and the relationship between the two was short-lived, his contract remained in effect, which caused legal issues for Hendrix later on in his career, after Chalpin learned of his future super-star success.
In 1966, Hendrix was discovered by Linda Keith, a girlfriend to Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who was impressed with his style of music and introduced him to Chas Chandler, who was ending his tenure as bassist in "The Animals" and was looking for new talent to manage. Chandler took a liking to Hendrix's version of the song "Hey Joe" and was convinced he could make it a hit single. At which time, Chandler arranged to move Hendrix to London and signed him a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffrey. Chandler helped Hendrix to form a new band, with English musicians Noel Redding on bass and drummer Mitch Mitchell, naming the band "The Jimi Hendrix Experience". They began rehearsing and was soon gigging on the London club scene and became the new bold act that created a controversial image, with Jimi's outlandish wardrobes and stage antics, along with being loud in volume for the times, shocking the public and captivating the attention and hearts of the youth, quickly making Hendrix the popular demand.
Selecting "Hey Joe" to be the first debut single recorded, Chandler secured a recording contract with Polydor and the song was released near the end of 1966, which became a club phenomenon, eventually gaining national recognition. The Hendrix Experience, toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. The first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, "Are You Experienced", was released in the United Kingdom on May 12, 1967.
Although at this point, the Hendrix Experience had gained success and fame throughout the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, Hendrix had not yet received the same popularity and acceptance in his home country on US soil, where the first three singles failed to sell. on June 4, 1967, the Experience performed their last show at England's Saville Theatre, followed by a departure and return to the USA to perform at the Monterey International Pop Festival, which gave Hendrix the opportunity to finally gain acceptance in the US. The musical performance he gave, coupled with pulling out all the stops visually, culminating in the burning and smashing of his guitar ensured that he became an overnight sensation on US soil.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience's second (1967) album 'Axis: Bold As Love' and third recording, of a double album, Electric Ladyland (1968), continued to expand the musical horizons and the band became one of the biggest draws on the live circuit, earning unheard of amounts of money per show. After a year based in the US, Hendrix decided to temporarily moved back to London. During this time, The Jimi Hendrix Experience did a tour of Scandinavia and Germany, which included a final French concert. Later, the Experience performed two sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall on February 18 and February 24, 1969, which were the last European appearances of this line-up of the "Jimi Hendrix Experience". Internal friction arose between Hendrix and Noel Redding over disagreements in instrumentation and Redding feeling uncomfortable with the newly developed hysteria surrounding performances by Hendrix. The last Jimi Hendrix Experience concert took place on June 29, 1969 in Denver Colorado's Mile High Stadium, at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, which was interrupted by police firing tear gas into the audience as they played "Voodoo Child". The following day, Redding announced he was quitting the Experience.
In 1969, following the departure of Noel Redding from the group, legal issues arose with producer Ed Chalpin in relationship to the early unfavorable contract agreement Hendrix signed, prior to his success. The dispute came to a close with Hendrix having to record a complete album of "new songs" for Chalpin, in which Hendrix and Reprise Records would receive no financial return from US sales, including the forfeit of Hendrix's songwriting royalties. In addition, Chalpin was awarded 2% of the profits earned from Hendrix's back catalog sold in the US. The new album recorded on behalf of settling this dispute, was the live album entitled "Band Of Gypsys".
In the summer of 1969, Hendrix relocated to upstate New York near Woodstock, where Manager Michael Jeffrey, encouraged Hendrix to record another new album. Hendrix began rehearsing and recording with his old trusted Army buddy Billy Cox, who replaced Redding on bass and Mitchell was available to help fulfill his last commitments, which was to appear on "The Tonight Show". Hendrix and Cox appeared with a session drummer by the name of Ed Shaughnessy. In effort to expand his sound beyond the power trio. In addition, Hendrix brought in rhythm guitarist Larry Lee, who was another old friend from his earlier R&B days, along with percussionists Juma Sultran and Jerry Velez. Hendrix, unofficially named the new lineup the "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows" and they recorded some jam based material such as "Jam Back at the House", "Villanova Junction" "Shokan Sunrise" and early renditions of the funk driven centerpieces of Hendrix's post-Experience sound: "Machine Gun" "Message to Love" and "Izabella".
August 18, 1969, Hendrix's popularity earned him a headliner performance at the Woodstock Music Festival, where Festival MC Chip Monck introduced the band as "The Jimi Hendrix Experience", but Hendrix quickly corrected this to "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows" and launched into a two hour set, the longest of his career. In spite of bad weather and technical delays, and being unuse to performing long sets, Hendrix managed to deliver a memorable performance, climaxing with his highly-regarded rendition of the The Star-Spangled Banner, a solo improvisation which is now regarded as a special symbol of the 1960s era.
In August 1970, Hendrix opened his new "Electric Lady Studios" in Greenwich Village, New York City. The studio was formerly known as the Generation Club, which was jointly purchased by Hendrix and Jeffrey in 1968, and turned into a recording studio. Hendrix spent only two and half months recording in the studio, during it's final phases of construction. On August 26, following a recording session, Hendrix had an opening party. He then boarded a flight to London to perform at the "Isle of Wright Festival". On September 6, 1970, he performed his final concert, at the "Isle of Fehmarn Festival" in Germany. Hendrix returned to London, where he reportedly spoke to Chas Chandler, Eric Burdon, and others. He met with Linda Keith, the woman who had introduced him to Chas Chandler, reportedly giving her a brand new black Fender Stratocaster, as a token of his appreciation for her earlier discovery efforts and the guitar case containing all of her letters to him. Jimi's last public performance was an informal jam, at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, with Burdon and his latest band, War.
On Friday, September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix Died in London. It was reported that he had spent the later part of the evening before at a party having consumed copious amounts of red wine, followed by an overdose of prescribed sleeping pills, that were enough to suppress the gag reflex, when his alcohol intake caused him to vomit, he choked to death.
Jan (editor)
references: Wikipedia
