Historical Figure
Jimi Hendrix
d. 1970
American guitarist (1942–1970)
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"BBC Radio Interview" — 1967
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Biography
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a part of his band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience; the institution describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music".
Timeline
The story of Jimi Hendrix, told in moments.
Born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle. His father is in the Army, stationed in Oklahoma. His mother Lucille is 17. She drinks. The marriage doesn't last. His father renames him James Marshall when he returns from service. Jimi gets his first guitar at 15. A one-string ukulele he finds in a garbage can.
Enlists in the 101st Airborne. Gets discharged after about a year. His sergeant writes that he has no interest in the Army. Moves to Nashville, plays the Chitlin' Circuit backing the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, and Curtis Knight. Little Richard fires him for being too flashy. He can't read music. Plays left-handed on a right-handed guitar, strung upside down.
Chas Chandler of the Animals sees him play in a New York club and brings him to London. Within months, Hendrix forms the Experience with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. Three UK top-ten hits in a row: "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," "The Wind Cries Mary." He's been playing guitar for eight years and nobody in England has heard anything like it.
Monterey Pop Festival. He sets his guitar on fire on stage. The crowd goes silent, then erupts. Pete Townshend of The Who is watching from the wings. The Who had gone on right before and smashed their instruments. Hendrix and Townshend had argued backstage over who would follow whom. Hendrix won the coin toss.
Woodstock. He's billed as the headliner but goes on at 8 a.m. Monday morning because everything ran late. Most of the 400,000 audience has already left. The remaining crowd watches him play "The Star-Spangled Banner" through distortion and feedback. It becomes the defining sound of a generation's anger and grief.
Dies in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia. He is 27. He choked on his own vomit after taking sleeping pills. He'd been the world's highest-paid rock musician. Rolling Stone called him "the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music." He'd been playing professionally for nine years.
In Their Own Words (20)
Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.
As quoted in Crosstown Traffic (1989) by Charles Shaar Murray, 1989
I used to live in a room full of mirrors, All I could see was me. Then I take my spirit and I smash my mirrors, And now the whole world is here for me to see, Now I'm searching for my love to be.
Room Full Of Mirrors, 1971
Start with a shovel, wind up with a spoon.
Rolling Stone Magazine interview, March 1970, 1970
Definitely, and it's getting more spiritual. Pretty soon I believe people will have to rely on music to get some kind of peace of mind, or satisfaction, or direction, actually. More so than politics, the big ego scene. You know it's an art of words... Meaning nothing. Therefore you will have to get an earthier substance, like music or the arts.
When asked if music has a meaning, 1969
I don’t want to be a clown anymore. I don’t want to be a ‘rock and roll star.'
Rolling Stone Magazine interview, November 1969, 1969
Artifacts (15)
a solitary witness to many a violent burst of grief
, and finally emerging to take long rambling rides on secluded roads with his daughter, Martha, who said she was "a solitary witness to many a violent burst of grief". == Revolutionary War == ===...
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