Jimi Hendrix

Born November 27th1942, James Marshal Hendrix was a renown musician. James was born in Seattle, Washington. James had a very tough life, living between relatives and and acquaintances at times. James mother Lucille had given birth to James when she was 17, and had an unstable relationship with Jame's father, Al. Lucille eventually left the family a little after giving birth to two more children, Leon and Joseph. James had seen her one more time before she had passed away in 1958. Growing up with this family issue, James had picked up guitar for an escape and relation to his family issues. At the age of 14, James saw Elvis Presley perform. This must have been a great influence on him; the following year he had received his first electric guitar. He had eventually played with two bands, The Rocking Kings and Tomcats. In 1959, James dropped out of school and searched around for jobs while following his musical aspirations. James had enlisted in the Army in 1961. As a solder he had even found music, and had developed a band in the Army, named The King Casuals. Sadly, in 1962 he was Discharged due to injury.

After leaving the Military, James had pursued music and became a session musician, playing backup for such performers as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and the Isley Brothers. He had also formed his own band named " Jimmy James and the Blue Flames", which played gigs around New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood. In 1966, James met Chas Chandler, a former member of the Animals, who became his manager. Chandler had convinced James to go to England and join with fellow musicians Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to create "The Jimi Hendrix Experience". The name English nick-name "Jimi" was adapted to his American nick-name, Jimmy. Released in 1967, the band's first single, "Hey Joe" was an instant smash in Britain, and was soon followed by other hits such as "Purple Haze" and "The Wind Cried Mary." On tour to support his first album, Are You Experienced? (1967), Hendrix delighted audiences with his outrageous guitar-playing skills and his innovative, experimental sound. He won over American music fans with his stunning performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, which ended with Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire. The band toured and created two more albums, Axis: Bold of Love (1967), Electric Ladyland (1968), until it split up in 1969. Noel Redding, the bassist, had left the band. Shortly after, mid 1969, in the hamlet of Boiceville, near Woodstock New York, Jimi Hendrix had met with a recording agent to record. Replacing Noel Redding on bass, was Billy Cox. Shortly after the recording, they had played the Woodstock Festival on August 18th. Right before this event, however, drummer Mitch Michell was unavailable to help fulfill Hendrix's commitments and had left. On January 26 and 27, 1970, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding flew into New York and signed contracts with Jeffery for the upcoming Jimi Hendrix Experience tour. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was original for the tour and recording of the live album Band of Gypsys. The next day, a second and final Band of Gypsys appearance occurred at a twleve-act show in Madison Square Garden, which was a benefit for a popular anti-Vietnam war committee named "Winter Festival of Peace". Jimi Hendrix was set to perform at the absurd time of 3 a.m., only this time he was obviously in no shape to play. He played "Who knows" before snapping a vulgar responce at a women who shouted a request for "Foxy Lady". He played a second song, "Earth blues", and told the aduience "That's what happens when earth fucks with space-never forget that". He sat down on the drum riser for a minute and then walked off stage. A week after the Band of Gypsys show, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Michell and Noel Redding gave an interview to Rolling Stones for the upcoming tour as a reunited Jimi Hendrix Exprience. Fans refer to this final "Jimi Hendrix Experience" lineup as the "Cry of Love" band, named after The Cry of Love Tour to distinguish it from the original.


In 1968, Hendrix and Jeffery had invested jointly in the purchase of the Generation Club in Greenwich Village. Their plans to reopen the club were scrapped when they had decided that the investment would serve them much better as a recording studio. The studio fees for the "Electric Ladyland" were astronomical, and Jimi Hendrix was constantly in search of a studio that suited him. In 1970, Electric Lady Studios was opened in New York. The studio was made specifically for Jimi Hendrix. With ambient lighting in a myriad of colors, it encouraged his creativity. However, Jimi Hendrix had a drum problem, LCD specifically, and the engineer, Eddie Kramer, refused to allow drugs in this studio, giving it a "professional" atmosphear. Jimi Hendrix had spent the next four months of 1970 working on his next LP tentatively titled First Rays of the New Rising Sun, recording during the week and playing live on the weekends. The group then began the European leg of the tour. The tour was a commitment that Hendrix was not eager to perform, and had only wanted to spend his time in his studio. In Aarhus, Hendrix abandoned his show after only two songs, remarking: "I've been dead a long time".
September 18th, 1970 Jimi Hendrix was reported dead in London, England. He spent the evening of September 17th at a party and was picked up by his girlfriend Monika Dannenmann and was driven to her flat at the Samarkand Hotel in Notting Hill, West London. Jimi Hendrix, unknown to his girlfriend, had taken nine of her prescribed Vesperax sleeping pills. The normal medical dose was half a tablet, but Jimi Hendrix did not know this very strong German brand. Jimi Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit.