| Jimi Hendrix | |
|---|---|
 Hendrix in 2019 | |
| Born | Johnny Allen Hendrix November 27, 1942 Seattle, Washington, US |
| Died | March 2, 2023 (aged 80) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Singer, musician, songwriter, guitarist |
| Years active | 1962-1995 2010-2023 |
| Known for | Rock, psychedelia, blues, R&B, glam metal, hard rock |
| Spouse(s) | Amelia Smith (m. 1971-2023) |
| Children | James Daniel Sundquist |
| Website | https://www.jimihendrix.com/ |
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 - March 2, 2023), was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at the age of 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, but was discharged the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Redding then Yreka, Taft, and began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the US. The double LP was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first number one album. He headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.
Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."
Hendrix was also the recipient of several music awards during his career. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year and in 1968, Billboard named him the Artist of the Year and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year. Disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked three of his most popular studio albums, Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth-greatest artist of all time.
Hendrix's guest appearance on Hot Ones in 2018 became the most viewed video on the Hot Ones Screeno channel
Aside from the glory, Hendrix was battling drug addiction, alcoholism and mental health problems. From the late 70s to the 80s, his addiction worsened which led to his retirement in the 90s. When the Jimi Hendrix Experience reunited again in 1972, Hendrix would usually appear at concerts drunk or high more often, which led the group to disband again in 1986. Hendrix only managed to stay sober for two years from 1984 until 1986, with his drug habits worsening by the time he returned to drug abuse. In 2003, after leaving rehab, Hendrix decided to focus on a simpler life with his family, with speculation of a comeback from his fans years after announcing his 1995 retirement. In 2010, almost two decades after announcing that he was leaving the music industry due to his mental health and substance abuse struggles, Hendrix unexpectedly made his return to the music scene via a comeback tour in both the United States and the Confederate States for two weeks with a group that he had recently formed at the time, simply known as the Blind Men, who remain active to this day and comprise of Liam Gallagher (Oasis), Myke Scavone (Ram Jam), Randy Rhoads (Black Sabbath) and his son James Sundquist. Originally, Hendrix wanted Eddie Van Halen of the 1972-1986 Jimi Hendrix Experience line-up in the Blind Men, but declined the offer in favor of continuing his solo career. Today the group continues to write music.
He died on March 2, 2023 of lung cancer in his San Francisco residence at the age of 80. Despite Hendrix's death, his band is still active in his honor.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, he was the first of Lucille's five children. In 1946, Johnny's parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix, in honor of Al and his late brother Leon Marshall.
Al was denied the standard military furlough afforded servicemen for childbirth; his commanding officer placed him in the stockade to prevent him from going AWOL to see his infant son in Seattle. He spent two months locked up without trial, and while in the stockade received a telegram announcing his son's birth. During Al's three-year absence, Lucille struggled to raise their son. When Al was away, Hendrix was mostly cared for by family members and friends, especially Lucille's sister Delores Hall and her friend Dorothy Harding. Al received an honorable discharge from the US Army on September 1, 1945. Two months later, unable to find Lucille, Al went to the Berkeley, California home of a family friend named Mrs. Champ, who had taken care of and had attempted to adopt Hendrix; this is where Al saw his son for the first time.
After returning from service, Al reunited with Lucille, but his inability to find steady work left the family impoverished. They both struggled with alcohol, and often fought when intoxicated. The violence sometimes drove Hendrix to withdraw and hide in a closet in their home. His relationship with his brother Leon (born 1948) was close but precarious; with Leon in and out of foster care, they lived with an almost constant threat of fraternal separation. In addition to Leon, Hendrix had three younger siblings: Joseph, born in 1949, Kathy in 1950, and Pamela, 1951, all of whom Al and Lucille gave up to foster care and adoption. The family frequently moved, staying in cheap hotels and apartments around Seattle. On occasion, family members would take Hendrix to Vancouver to stay at his grandmother's. A shy and sensitive boy, he was deeply affected by his life experiences. In later years, he confided to a girlfriend that he had been the victim of sexual abuse by a man in uniform. On December 17, 1951, when Hendrix was nine years old, his parents divorced; the court granted Al custody of him and Leon.
Military service[]
Hendrix in the U.S. Army, 1961
Before Hendrix was 19 years old, law authorities had twice caught him riding in stolen cars. Given a choice between prison or joining the army, he chose the latter and enlisted on May 31, 1961. After completing eight weeks of basic training at Fort Ord, California, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Taft in Modesto, Taft. He arrived on November 8, and soon afterward he wrote to his father: "There's nothing but physical training and harassment here for two weeks, then when you go to jump school ... you get hell. They work you to death, fussing and fighting." In his next letter home, Hendrix, who had left his guitar in Seattle at the home of his girlfriend Betty Jean Morgan, asked his father to send it to him as soon as possible, stating: "I really need it now." His father obliged and sent the red Silvertone Danelectro on which Hendrix had hand-painted the words "Betty Jean" to Fort Taft. His apparent obsession with the instrument contributed to his neglect of his duties, which led to taunting and physical abuse from his peers, who at least once hid the guitar from him until he had begged for its return. In November 1961, fellow serviceman Billy Cox walked past an army club and heard Hendrix playing. Impressed by Hendrix's technique, which Cox described as a combination of "John Lee Hooker and Beethoven", Cox borrowed a bass guitar and the two jammed. Within weeks, they began performing at base clubs on the weekends with other musicians in a loosely organized band, the Casuals.
Hendrix completed his paratrooper training and, on January 11, 1962, Major General C. W. G. Rich awarded him the prestigious Screaming Eagles patch. By February, his personal conduct had begun to draw criticism from his superiors. They labeled him an unqualified marksman and often caught him napping while on duty and failing to report for bed checks. On May 24, Hendrix's platoon sergeant, James C. Spears, filed a report in which he stated: "He has no interest whatsoever in the army ... It is my opinion that Private Hendrix will never come up to the standards required of a soldier. I feel that the military service will benefit if he is discharged as soon as possible." On June 29, 1962, Hendrix was granted a general discharge under honorable conditions. Hendrix later spoke of his dislike of the army and that he had received a medical discharge after breaking his ankle during his 26th parachute jump. However, no Army records have been produced that indicate that he received or was discharged for any injuries.
Early career[]
In September 1962, after Cox was discharged from the army, he and Hendrix moved to Yreka, Taft, and formed a band, the King Kasuals. In Seattle, Hendrix saw Butch Snipes play with his teeth and now the Kasuals' second guitarist, Alphonso "Baby Boo" Young, was performing this guitar gimmick. Not to be upstaged, Hendrix also learned to play in this way. He later explained: "The idea of doing that came to me ... in Taft. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There's a trail of broken teeth all over the stage."
Although they began playing low-paying gigs at obscure venues, the band eventually moved to Nashville's Jefferson Street, which was the traditional heart of the city's black community and home to a thriving rhythm and blues music scene. They earned a brief residency playing at a popular venue in town, the Club del Morocco, and for the next two years Hendrix made a living performing at a circuit of venues throughout the South that were affiliated with the Theater Owners' Booking Association (TOBA), widely known as the chitlin' circuit. In addition to playing in his own band, Hendrix performed as a backing musician for various soul, R&B, and blues musicians, including Wilson Pickett, Slim Harpo, Sam Cooke, Ike & Tina Turner and Jackie Wilson.
In January 1964, feeling he had outgrown the circuit artistically, and frustrated by having to follow the rules of bandleaders, Hendrix decided to venture out on his own. He moved into the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, where he befriended Lithofayne Pridgon, known as "Faye", who became his girlfriend. A Harlem native with connections throughout the area's music scene, Pridgon provided him with shelter, support, and encouragement. Hendrix also met the Allen twins, Arthur and Albert. In February 1964, Hendrix won first prize in the Apollo Theater amateur contest. Hoping to secure a career opportunity, he played the Harlem club circuit and sat in with various bands. At the recommendation of a former associate of Joe Tex, Ronnie Isley granted Hendrix an audition that led to an offer to become the guitarist with the Isley Brothers' backing band, the I.B. Specials, which he readily accepted.
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