Jimi Hendrix: the story on HearLore

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on the 27th of November 1942 in Seattle, Washington, into a family fractured by poverty and the absence of his father. His father, Al Hendrix, had been drafted into the US Army three days after marrying Lucille Jeter, leaving the infant son behind while he served in World War II. During Al's absence, Lucille struggled to raise Johnny alone, often relying on her sister Delores Hall and friend Dorothy Harding for support. The family lived in cheap hotels and apartments, moving frequently, and the violence between Al and Lucille when they were both intoxicated drove the young boy to hide in closets. Al was denied a standard military furlough to see his newborn son, and instead spent two months in the stockade, receiving a telegram announcing the birth while locked up without trial. When Al finally returned from service, he could not find Lucille and went to the home of a family friend named Mrs. Champ, where he saw his son for the first time in two years. The family struggled with alcoholism, and the violence sometimes drove Hendrix to withdraw and hide in a closet in their home. His relationship with his brother Leon, born in 1948, was close but precarious, with Leon frequently entering and leaving foster care, creating a constant threat of fraternal separation. In addition to Leon, Hendrix had three younger siblings: Joseph, born in 1949, Kathy in 1950, and Pamela in 1951, all of whom Al and Lucille gave up to foster care and adoption. A shy and sensitive boy, he was deeply affected by his life experiences, and in later years, he confided to a girlfriend that he had been the victim of sexual abuse by a man in uniform. On the 17th of December 1951, when Hendrix was nine years old, his parents divorced, and the court granted Al custody of him and Leon. At Horace Mann Elementary School in Seattle during the mid-1950s, Hendrix's habit of carrying a broom with him to emulate a guitar gained the attention of the school's social worker. After more than a year of his clinging to a broom like a security blanket, she wrote a letter requesting school funding intended for underprivileged children, insisting that leaving him without a guitar might result in psychological damage. Her efforts failed, and Al refused to buy him a guitar. In 1957, while helping his father with a side-job, Hendrix found a ukulele among the garbage they were removing from an older woman's home. She told him that he could keep the instrument, which had only one string. Learning by ear, he played single notes, following along to Elvis Presley songs, particularly Hound Dog. By the age of 33, Hendrix's mother Lucille had developed cirrhosis of the liver, and on the 2nd of February 1958, she died when her spleen ruptured. Al refused to take James and Leon to attend their mother's funeral; he instead gave them shots of whiskey and told them that was how men should deal with loss. In 1958, Hendrix completed his studies at Washington Junior High School and began attending, but did not graduate from, Garfield High School. In mid-1958, at age 15, Hendrix acquired his first acoustic guitar for five dollars. He played for hours daily, watching others and learning from more experienced guitarists, and listening to blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson. The first tune Hendrix learned to play was the television theme Peter Gunn. Around that time, Hendrix jammed with boyhood friend Sammy Drain and his keyboard-playing brother. In 1959, attending a concert by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters in Seattle, Hendrix met the group's guitarist Billy Davis. Davis showed him some guitar licks and got him a short gig with the Midnighters. The two remained friends until Hendrix's death in 1970. Soon after he acquired the acoustic guitar, Hendrix formed his first band, the Velvetones. Without an electric guitar, he could barely be heard over the sound of the group. After about three months, he realized that he needed an electric guitar. In mid-1959, his father relented and bought him a white Supro Ozark. Hendrix's first gig was with an unnamed band in the Jaffe Room of Seattle's Temple De Hirsch, but they fired him between sets for showing off. He joined the Rocking Kings, which played professionally at venues such as the Birdland club. When his guitar was stolen after he left it backstage overnight, Al bought him a red Silvertone Danelectro.

When was Jimi Hendrix born and where did he grow up?

James Marshall Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on the 27th of November 1942 in Seattle, Washington. He grew up in a family fractured by poverty and violence while moving frequently between cheap hotels and apartments.

How did Jimi Hendrix get his first guitar and what was his early musical education?

Hendrix found a one-stringed ukulele in the garbage in 1957 and later acquired his first acoustic guitar for five dollars in mid-1958. He learned by ear following Elvis Presley songs and listening to blues artists such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King.

What military service did Jimi Hendrix complete before his music career took off?

Hendrix enlisted in the Army on the 31st of May 1961 and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He received a general discharge on the 29th of June 1962 after his superiors deemed him unqualified and his conduct drew criticism.

When and how did Jimi Hendrix gain international fame in London?

Chas Chandler brought Hendrix to London on the 24th of September 1966 and signed him to a management contract. The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed their first show on the 13th of October 1966 and released their first single Hey Joe on the 16th of December 1966.

What happened during Jimi Hendrix's performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967?

Hendrix opened the festival on the 18th of June 1967 and ended his set by destroying his guitar and tossing pieces to the audience. This performance included burning his guitar and became one of the most famous images in rock history.

When did Jimi Hendrix die and what was his final album release date?

Jimi Hendrix died on the 18th of September 1970 in London, England. His final studio album Electric Ladyland was released on the 25th of October 1967 and reached number one in the US.

The Army And The Circuit

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 the 31st of May 1961. After completing eight weeks of basic training at Fort Ord, California, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He arrived on the 8th of November, 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 Campbell. 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 the 11th of January 1962, Major General Charles 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 the 24th of May, 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 the 29th of June 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, but no Army records have been produced that indicate that he received or was discharged for any injuries. In September 1962, after Cox was discharged from the Army, he and Hendrix moved about across the state line from Fort Campbell to Clarksville, Tennessee, 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 Tennessee. 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, 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. In March 1964, Hendrix recorded the two-part single Testify with the Isley Brothers. Released in June, it failed to chart. In May, he provided guitar instrumentation for the Don Covay song, Mercy Mercy. Issued in August by Rosemart Records and distributed by Atlantic, the track reached number 35 on the Billboard chart. Hendrix toured with the Isleys during much of 1964, but near the end of October, after growing tired of playing the same set every night, he left the band. Soon afterward, Hendrix joined Little Richard's touring band, the Upsetters. During a stop in Los Angeles in February 1965, he recorded his first and only single with Richard, I Don't Know What You Got (But It's Got Me), written by Don Covay and released by Vee-Jay Records. Richard's popularity was waning at the time, and the single peaked at number 92, where it remained for one week before dropping off the chart. Hendrix met singer Rosa Lee Brooks while staying at the Wilcox Hotel in Hollywood, and she invited him to participate in a recording session for her single, which included the Arthur Lee penned My Diary as the A-side, and Utee as the B-side. Hendrix played guitar on both tracks, which also included background vocals by Lee. The single failed to chart, but Hendrix and Lee began a friendship that lasted several years; Hendrix later became an ardent supporter of Lee's band, Love. In July 1965, Hendrix made his first television appearance on Night Train, a program produced and aired on Nashville TV station WLAC-TV. Performing in Little Richard's ensemble band, he backed up vocalists Buddy and Stacy on Shotgun. The video recording of the show marks the earliest known footage of Hendrix performing. Richard and Hendrix often clashed over tardiness, wardrobe, and Hendrix's stage antics, and in late July, Richard's brother Robert fired him. On the 27th of July, Hendrix signed his first recording contract with Juggy Murray at Sue Records and Copa Management. He then briefly rejoined the Isley Brothers, and recorded a second single with them, Move Over and Let Me Dance backed with Have You Ever Been Disappointed. Later that year, he joined a New York-based R&B band, Curtis Knight and the Squires, after meeting Knight in the lobby of a hotel where both men were staying. Hendrix performed with them for eight months. In October 1965, he and Knight recorded the single, How Would You Feel backed with Welcome Home. Despite his two-year contract with Sue, Hendrix signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin on the 15th of October. While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which later caused legal and career problems for Hendrix. During his time with Knight, Hendrix briefly toured with Joey Dee and the Starliters, and worked with King Curtis on several recordings including Ray Sharpe's two-part single, Help Me. Hendrix earned his first composer credits for two instrumentals, Hornets Nest and Knock Yourself Out, released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single in 1966. Feeling restricted by his experiences as an R&B sideman, Hendrix moved in 1966 to New York City's Greenwich Village, which had a vibrant and diverse music scene. There, he was offered a residency at the Cafe Wha? on MacDougal Street and formed his own band that June, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, which included future Spirit guitarist Randy California. The Blue Flames played at several clubs in New York and Hendrix began developing his guitar style and material that he would soon use with the Experience. In September, they gave some of their last concerts at the Cafe Au Go Go in Manhattan, as the backing group for a singer and guitarist then billed as John Hammond.

The London Tornado

By May 1966, Hendrix was struggling to earn a living wage playing the R&B circuit, so he briefly rejoined Curtis Knight and the Squires for an engagement at one of New York City's most popular nightspots, the Cheetah Club. During a performance, Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, noticed Hendrix and was mesmerised by his playing. She invited him to join her for a drink, and the two became friends. While Hendrix was playing as Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, Keith recommended him to Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and producer Seymour Stein. They failed to see Hendrix's musical potential and rejected him. Keith referred him to Chas Chandler, who was leaving the Animals and was interested in managing and producing artists. Chandler saw Hendrix play in Cafe Wha?, a Greenwich Village, New York City nightclub. Chandler liked the Billy Roberts song Hey Joe, and was persuaded he could create a hit single with the right artist. Impressed with Hendrix's version of the song, he brought him to London on the 24th of September 1966, and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. That night, Hendrix gave an impromptu solo performance at The Scotch of St James and began a relationship with Kathy Etchingham that lasted for two and a half years. Following Hendrix's arrival in London, Chandler began recruiting members for a band designed to highlight his talents, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix met guitarist Noel Redding at an audition for the New Animals, where Redding's knowledge of blues progressions impressed Hendrix. Another important criterion for Hendrix was fashion, according to author Keith Shadwick, what he really liked was Redding's hairstyle. Chandler asked Redding if he wanted to play bass guitar in Hendrix's band; Redding agreed. Chandler began looking for a drummer and soon after contacted Mitch Mitchell through a mutual friend. Mitchell, who had recently been fired from Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, participated in a rehearsal with Redding and Hendrix where they found common ground in their shared interest in rhythm and blues. When Chandler phoned Mitchell later that day to offer him the position, he readily accepted. Chandler also persuaded Hendrix to change the spelling of his first name from Jimmy to the more exotic Jimi. On the 1st of October 1966, Chandler brought Hendrix to the London Polytechnic at Regent Street, where Cream was scheduled to perform, and where Hendrix and guitarist Eric Clapton met. Clapton later said: He asked if he could play a couple of numbers. I said, Of course, but I had a funny feeling about him. Halfway through Cream's set, Hendrix took the stage and performed a frantic version of the Howlin' Wolf song Killing Floor. In 1989, Clapton described the performance: He played just about every style you could think of, and not in a flashy way. I mean he did a few of his tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back, but it wasn't in a upstaging sense at all, and that was it ... He walked off, and my life was never the same again. In mid-October 1966, Chandler arranged an engagement for the Experience as Johnny Hallyday's supporting act during a brief tour of France. Thus, the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed their first show on the 13th of October 1966, at the Novelty in Evreux. Their enthusiastically received 15-minute performance at the Olympia theatre in Paris on the 18th of October marks the earliest known recording of the band. In late October, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, managers of the Who, signed the Experience to their newly formed label, Track Records, and the group recorded their first song, Hey Joe, on the 23rd of October. Stone Free, which was Hendrix's first songwriting effort after arriving in England, was recorded on the 2nd of November. From the 8th to the 11th of November 1966, the Jimi Hendrix Experience had a short residency at the Big Apple club in Munich, their first gigs in Germany. At this occasion Hendrix had a show experience that would define him from then on: when trying to escape in panic from a frenetic audience that had pulled him off the stage, he smashed his guitar for the first time in a sound explosion on stage, which was perceived by the audience as part of the show. Observing the audience's reaction, Chandler decided that this show of violence had to become a permanent feature of the Experience's show. In mid-November, they performed at the Bag O'Nails nightclub in London, with Clapton, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, and Kevin Ayers in attendance. Ayers described the crowd's reaction as stunned disbelief: All the stars were there, and I heard serious comments, you know shit, Jesus, damn and other words worse than that. The performance earned Hendrix his first interview, published in Record Mirror with the headline: Mr. Phenomenon. Now hear this ... we predict that [Hendrix] is going to whirl around the business like a tornado, wrote Bill Harry, who asked the rhetorical question: Is that full, big, swinging sound really being created by only three people? Hendrix said: We don't want to be classed in any category ... If it must have a tag, I'd like it to be called, Free Feeling. It's a mixture of rock, freak-out, rave and blues. Through a distribution deal with Polydor Records, the Experience's first single, Hey Joe, backed with Stone Free, was released on the 16th of December 1966. After appearances on the UK television shows Ready Steady Go! and Top of the Pops, Hey Joe entered the UK charts on the 29th of December and peaked at number six. Further success came in March 1967 with the UK number three hit Purple Haze, and in May with The Wind Cries Mary, which remained on the UK charts for eleven weeks, peaking at number six. On the 12th of March 1967, he performed at the Troutbeck Hotel, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, where, after about 900 people turned up (the hotel was licensed for 250) the local police stopped the gig due to safety concerns. On the 31st of March 1967, while the Experience waited to perform at the London Astoria, Hendrix and Chandler discussed ways in which they could increase the band's media exposure. When Chandler asked journalist Keith Altham for advice, Altham suggested that they needed to do something more dramatic than the stage show of the Who, which involved the smashing of instruments. Hendrix joked: Maybe I can smash up an elephant, to which Altham replied: Well, it's a pity you can't set fire to your guitar. Chandler then asked road manager Gerry Stickells to procure some lighter fluid. During the show, Hendrix gave an especially dynamic performance before setting his guitar on fire at the end of a 45-minute set. In the wake of the stunt, members of London's press labeled Hendrix the Black Elvis and the Wild Man of Borneo. An enduring urban legend in the UK maintains that a possible explanation for the feral parakeets that have appeared in Great Britain since the mid-20th century may derive from a single pair of the birds that were released by Hendrix on Carnaby Street in the 1960s. According to a study, however, which mapped historical news reports of sightings of the birds, the myth is not true.

The Monterey Fire

After the UK chart success of their first two singles, Hey Joe and Purple Haze, the Experience began assembling material for a full-length LP. In London, recording began at De Lane Lea Studios, and later moved to the prestigious Olympic Studios. The album, Are You Experienced, features a diversity of musical styles, including blues tracks such as Red House and the R&B song Remember. It also included the experimental science fiction piece, Third Stone from the Sun and the post-modern soundscapes of the title track, with prominent backward guitar and drums. I Don't Live Today served as a medium for Hendrix's guitar feedback improvisation and Fire was driven by Mitchell's drumming. Released in the UK on the 12th of May 1967, Are You Experienced spent 33 weeks on the charts, peaking at number two. It was prevented from reaching the top spot by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. On the 29th of May he performed at the Barbeque 67 concert in Spalding, Lincolnshire, considered by some to have been the first rock festival; tickets cost £1. On the 4th of June 1967, Hendrix opened a show at the Saville Theatre in London with his rendition of Sgt. Pepper title track, which was released just three days previous. Beatles manager Brian Epstein owned the Saville at the time, and both George Harrison and Paul McCartney attended the performance. McCartney described the moment: The curtains flew back and he came walking forward playing Sgt. Pepper. It's a pretty major compliment in anyone's book. I put that down as one of the great honors of my career. Released in the US on the 23rd of August by Reprise Records, Are You Experienced reached number five on the Billboard 200. In 1989, Noe Goldwasser, the founding editor of Guitar World, described Are You Experienced as the album that shook the world ... leaving it forever changed. In 2005, Rolling Stone called the double-platinum LP Hendrix's epochal debut, and they ranked it the 15th greatest album of all time, noting his exploitation of amp howl, and characterizing his guitar playing as incendiary ... historic in itself. Although popular in Europe at the time, the Experience's first US single, Hey Joe, failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release on the 1st of May 1967. Their fortunes improved when McCartney recommended them to the organizers of the Monterey Pop Festival. He insisted that the event would be incomplete without Hendrix, whom he called an absolute ace on the guitar. McCartney agreed to join the board of organizers on the condition that the Experience perform at the festival in mid-June. On the 18th of June 1967, introduced by Brian Jones as the most exciting performer [he had] ever heard, Hendrix opened with a fast arrangement of Howlin' Wolf's song Killing Floor, wearing what Shadwick described as clothes as exotic as any on display elsewhere. Shadwick wrote: [Hendrix] was not only something utterly new musically, but an entirely original vision of what a black American entertainer should and could look like. The Experience went on to perform renditions of Hey Joe, B.B. King's Rock Me Baby, Chip Taylor's Wild Thing, and Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone, and four original compositions: Foxy Lady, Can You See Me, The Wind Cries Mary, and Purple Haze. The set ended with Hendrix destroying his guitar and tossing pieces of it out to the audience. Caraeff stood on a chair next to the edge of the stage and took four monochrome pictures of Hendrix burning his guitar. Caraeff was close enough to the fire that he had to use his camera to protect his face from the heat. Rolling Stone later colorized the image, matching it with other pictures taken at the festival before using the shot for a 1987 magazine cover. According to author Gail Buckland, the final frame of Hendrix kneeling in front of his burning guitar, hands raised, is one of the most famous images in rock. Author and historian Matthew C. Whitaker wrote that Hendrix's burning of his guitar became an iconic image in rock history and brought him national attention. The Los Angeles Times asserted that, upon leaving the stage, Hendrix graduated from rumor to legend. Author John McDermott wrote that Hendrix left the Monterey audience stunned and in disbelief at what they'd just heard and seen. According to Hendrix: I decided to destroy my guitar at the end of a song as a sacrifice. You sacrifice things you love. I love my guitar. The performance was filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and included in the concert documentary Monterey Pop, which helped Hendrix gain popularity with the US public. After the festival, the Experience was booked for five concerts at Bill Graham's Fillmore, with Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jefferson Airplane. The Experience outperformed Jefferson Airplane during the first two nights and replaced them at the top of the bill on the fifth. Following their successful West Coast introduction, which included a free open-air concert at Golden Gate Park and a concert at the Whisky a Go Go, the Experience was booked as the opening act for the first American tour of the Monkees. The Monkees requested Hendrix as a supporting act because they were fans, but their young audience disliked the Experience, who left the tour after six shows. Chandler later said he engineered the tour to gain publicity for Hendrix.

The Studio Architect

The second Experience album, Axis: Bold as Love, opens with the track EXP, which uses microphonic and harmonic feedback in a new, creative fashion. It also showcased an experimental stereo panning effect in which sounds emanating from Hendrix's guitar move through the stereo image, revolving around the listener. The piece reflected his growing interest in science fiction and outer space. He composed the album's title track and finale around two verses and two choruses, during which he pairs emotions with personas, comparing them to colors. The song's coda features the first recording of stereo phasing. Shadwick described the composition as possibly the most ambitious piece on Axis, the extravagant metaphors of the lyrics suggesting a growing confidence in Hendrix's songwriting. His guitar playing throughout the song is marked by chordal arpeggios and contrapuntal motion, with tremolo-picked partial chords providing the musical foundation for the chorus, which culminates in what musicologist Andy Aledort described as simply one of the greatest electric guitar solos ever played. The track fades out on tremolo-picked 32nd note double stops. The scheduled release date for Axis was almost delayed when Hendrix lost the master tape of side one of the LP, leaving it in the back seat of a London taxi. With the deadline looming, Hendrix, Chandler, and engineer Eddie Kramer remixed most of side one in a single overnight session, but they could not match the quality of the lost mix of If 6 Was 9. Redding had a tape recording of this mix, which had to be smoothed out with an iron as it had gotten wrinkled. During the verses, Hendrix doubled his singing with a guitar line which he played one octave lower than his vocals. Hendrix voiced his disappointment about having re-mixed the album so quickly, and he felt that it could have been better had they been given more time. Axis featured psychedelic cover art that depicts Hendrix and the Experience as various avatars of Vishnu, incorporating a painting of them by Roger Law, from a photo-portrait by Karl Ferris. The painting was then superimposed on a copy of a mass-produced religious poster. Hendrix stated that the cover, which Track spent $5,000 producing, would have been more appropriate had it highlighted his American Indian heritage. He said: You got it wrong ... I'm not that kind of Indian. Track released the album in the UK on the 1st of December 1967, where it peaked at number five, spending 16 weeks on the charts. In February 1968, Axis: Bold as Love reached number three in the US. While author and journalist Richie Unterberger described Axis as the least impressive Experience album, according to author Peter Doggett, the release heralded a new subtlety in Hendrix's work. Mitchell said: Axis was the first time that it became apparent that Jimi was pretty good working behind the mixing board, as well as playing, and had some positive ideas of how he wanted things recorded. It could have been the start of any potential conflict between him and Chas in the studio. Recording for the Experience's third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, began as early as the 20th of December 1967, at Olympic Studios. Several songs were attempted; however, in April 1968, the Experience, with Chandler as producer and engineers Eddie Kramer and Gary Kellgren, moved the sessions to the newly opened Record Plant Studios in New York. As the sessions progressed, Chandler became increasingly frustrated with Hendrix's perfectionism and his demands for repeated takes. Hendrix also allowed numerous friends and guests to join them in the studio, which contributed to a chaotic and crowded environment in the control room and led Chandler to sever his professional relationship with Hendrix. Redding later recalled: There were tons of people in the studio; you couldn't move. It was a party, not a session. Redding, who had formed his own band in mid-1968, Fat Mattress, found it increasingly difficult to fulfill his commitments with the Experience, so Hendrix played many of the bass parts on Electric Ladyland. The album's cover stated that it was produced and directed by Jimi Hendrix. During the Electric Ladyland recording sessions, Hendrix began experimenting with other combinations of musicians, including Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady and Traffic's Steve Winwood, who played bass and organ, respectively, on the 15-minute slow-blues jam, Voodoo Chile. During the album's production, Hendrix appeared at an impromptu jam with B.B. King, Al Kooper, and Elvin Bishop. Electric Ladyland was released on the 25th of October, and by mid-November it had reached number one in the US, spending two weeks at the top spot. The double LP was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his only number one album. It peaked at number six in the UK, spending 12 weeks on the chart. Electric Ladyland included Hendrix's cover of a Bob Dylan song, All Along the Watchtower, which became Hendrix's highest-selling single and his only US top 40 hit, peaking at number 20; the single reached number five in the UK. Burning of the Midnight Lamp, his first recorded song to feature a wah-wah pedal, was added to the album. It was originally released as his fourth single in the UK in August 1967 and reached number 18 on the charts. In 1989, Noe Goldwasser, the founding editor of Guitar World, described Electric Ladyland as Hendrix's masterpiece. According to author Michael Heatley, most critics agree that the album is the fullest realization of Jimi's far-reaching ambitions. In 2004, author Peter Doggett wrote: For pure experimental genius, melodic flair, conceptual vision and instrumental brilliance, Electric Ladyland remains a prime contender for the status of rock's greatest album. Doggett described the LP as a display of musical virtuosity never surpassed by any rock musician. In 1968, Hendrix and Jeffery jointly invested in the purchase of the Generation Club in Greenwich Village. They had initially planned to reopen the establishment, but when an audit of Hendrix's expenses revealed that he had incurred exorbitant fees by block-booking recording studios for lengthy sessions at peak rates they decided to convert the building into a studio of his own. Hendrix could then work as much as he wanted while also reducing his recording expenditures, which had reached a reported $300,000 annually. Architect and acoustician John Storyk designed Electric Lady Studios for Hendrix, who requested that they avoid right angles where possible. With round windows, an ambient lighting machine, and a psychedelic mural, Storyk wanted the studio to have a relaxing environment that would encourage Hendrix's creativity. The project took twice as long as planned and cost twice as much as Hendrix and Jeffery had budgeted, with their total investment estimated at $1 million. Hendrix first used Electric Lady on the 15th of June 1970, when he jammed with Steve Winwood and Chris Wood of Traffic; the next day, he recorded his first track there, Night Bird Flying. The studio officially opened for business on the 25th of August, and a grand opening party was held the following day. Immediately afterwards, Hendrix left for England; he never returned to the States.

The Band Of Gypsys

In January 1969, after an absence of more than six months, Hendrix briefly moved back into his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham's apartment in Brook Street, London, next door to the home of the composer Handel. Etchingham stated that she ended the relationship on the 19th of March. After a performance of Voodoo Child, on BBC's Happening for Lulu show in January 1969, the band stopped midway through an attempt at their first hit Hey Joe and then launched into an instrumental version of Sunshine of Your Love, as a tribute to the recently disbanded band Cream, until director and producer Stanley Dorfman was forced to bring the song to a premature end. The Experience bass player Noel Redding describes in his autobiography, as the minutes ticked by on his live show, short of running onto the set to stop us or pulling the plug, there was nothing he could do. We played past the point where Lulu might have joined us, played through the time for talking at the end, played through Stanley tearing his hair, pointing to his watch and silently screaming at us. We played out the show... Afterwards, Dorfman refused to speak to us, but the result is one of the most widely used bits of film we ever did. Certainly, it's the most relaxed. Dorfman recalls at the BBC club after the show, he found Hendrix to be a very sweet man, very quiet, he didn't know he'd done anything wrong at all. However, according to rock and roll legend, Hendrix was banned from working at the BBC again. During this time, the Experience toured Scandinavia, West Germany, and gave their final two performances in France. On the 18th and the 24th of February, they played sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall, which were the last European appearances of this lineup. By February 1969, Redding had grown weary of Hendrix's unpredictable work ethic and his creative control over the Experience's music. During the previous month's European tour, interpersonal relations within the group had deteriorated, particularly between Hendrix and Redding. In his diary, Redding documented the building frustration during early 1969 recording sessions: On the first day, as I nearly expected, there was nothing doing ... On the second it was no show at all. I went to the pub for three hours, came back, and it was still ages before Jimi ambled in. Then we argued ... On the last day, I just watched it happen for a while, and then went back to my flat. The last Experience sessions that included Redding, a re-recording of Stone Free for use as a possible single release, took place on the 14th of April at Olmstead and the Record Plant in New York. Hendrix then flew bassist Billy Cox to New York; they started recording and rehearsing together on the 21st of April. The last performance of the original Experience lineup took place on the 29th of June 1969, at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, a three-day event held at Denver's Mile High Stadium that was marked by police using tear gas to control the audience. The band narrowly escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck, which was partly crushed by fans who had climbed on top of the vehicle. Before the show, a journalist angered Redding by asking why he was there; the reporter then informed him that two weeks earlier Hendrix announced that he had been replaced with Billy Cox. The next day, Redding quit the Experience and returned to London. He announced that he had left the band and intended to pursue a solo career, blaming Hendrix's plans to expand the group without allowing for his input as a primary reason for leaving. Redding later said: Mitch and I hung out a lot together, but we're English. If we'd go out, Jimi would stay in his room. But any bad feelings came from us being three guys who were traveling too hard, getting too tired, and taking too many drugs ... I liked Hendrix. I don't like Mitchell. Soon after Redding's departure, Hendrix began lodging at the eight-bedroom Ashokan House, in the hamlet of Boiceville near Woodstock in upstate New York, where he had spent some time vacationing in mid-1969. Manager Michael Jeffery arranged the accommodations in the hope that the respite might encourage Hendrix to write material for a new album. During this time, Mitchell was unavailable for commitments made by Jeffery, which included Hendrix's first appearance on US TV, on The Dick Cavett Show, where he was backed by the studio orchestra, and an appearance on The Tonight Show where he appeared with Cox and session drummer Ed Shaughnessy. By 1969, Hendrix was the world's highest-paid rock musician. In August, he headlined the Woodstock Music and Art Fair that included many of the most popular bands of the time. For the concert, he added rhythm guitarist Larry Lee and conga players Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez. The band rehearsed for less than two weeks before the performance, and according to Mitchell, they never connected musically. Before arriving at the engagement, Hendrix heard reports that the size of the audience had grown enormously, which concerned him as he did not enjoy performing for large crowds. He was an important draw for the event, and although he accepted substantially less money for the appearance than his usual fee, he was the festival's highest-paid performer. Hendrix decided to move his midnight Sunday slot to Monday morning, closing the show. The band took the stage around 8:00 a.m, by which time Hendrix had been awake for more than three days. The audience, which peaked at an estimated 400,000 people, was reduced to 30,000. The festival MC, Chip Monck, introduced the group as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but Hendrix clarified: We decided to change the whole thing around and call it Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. For short, it's nothin' but a Band of Gypsys. Hendrix's performance included a rendition of the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, with copious feedback, distortion, and sustain to imitate the sounds made by rockets and bombs. Contemporary political pundits described his interpretation as a statement against the Vietnam War. Three weeks later Hendrix said: We're all Americans ... it was like Go America!... We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see. Immortalized in the 1970 documentary film, Woodstock, Hendrix's version became part of the sixties zeitgeist. Pop critic Al Aronowitz of the New York Post wrote: It was the most electrifying moment of Woodstock, and it was probably the single greatest moment of the sixties. Images of the performance showing Hendrix wearing a blue-beaded white leather jacket with fringe, a red head-scarf, and blue jeans are regarded as iconic pictures that capture a defining moment of the era. One of the abiding images of the place and time of Woodstock is Jimi, in white-beaded leather jacket, blue jeans, gold chains and a red head-scarf standing center-stage sending out The Star-Spangled Banner. Woodstock has come to represent a unique moment of community, and Hendrix's appearance in particular symbolizes the freewheeling spirit of the era as well as the troubled heart of the anti-war movement. He played Hey Joe during the encore, concluding the 3-day festival. Upon leaving the stage, he collapsed from exhaustion. In 2011, the editors of Guitar World named his performance of The Star-Spangled Banner the greatest performance of all time. A legal dispute arose in 1966 regarding a record contract that Hendrix had entered into the previous year with producer Ed Chalpin. After two years of litigation, the parties agreed to a resolution that granted Chalpin the distribution rights to an album of original Hendrix material. Hendrix decided that they would record the LP, Band of Gypsys, during two live appearances. In preparation for the shows he formed an all-black power trio with Cox and drummer Buddy Miles, formerly with Wilson Pickett, the Electric Flag, and the Buddy Miles Express. Critic John Rockwell described Hendrix and Miles as jazz-rock fusionists, and their collaboration as pioneering. Others identified a funk and soul influence in their music. Concert promoter Bill Graham called the shows the most brilliant, emotional display of virtuoso electric guitar that he had ever heard. Biographers have speculated that Hendrix formed the band in an effort to appease members of the Black Power movement and others in the black communities who called for him to use his fame to speak up for civil rights. Hendrix had been recording with Cox since April and jamming with Miles since September, and the trio wrote and rehearsed material which they performed at a series of four shows over two nights on the 31st of December 1969 and the 1st of January 1970, at the Fillmore East. They used recordings of these concerts to assemble the LP, which was produced by Hendrix. The album includes the track Machine Gun, which musicologist Andy Aledort described as the pinnacle of Hendrix's career, and the premiere example of [his] unparalleled genius as a rock guitarist ... In this performance, Jimi transcended the medium of rock music, and set an entirely new standard for the potential of electric guitar. During the song's extended instrumental breaks, Hendrix created sounds with his guitar that sonically represented warfare, including rockets, bombs, and diving planes. The Band of Gypsys album was the only official live Hendrix LP made commercially available during his lifetime; several tracks from the Woodstock and Monterey shows were released later that year. The album was released in April 1970 by Capitol Records; it reached the top ten in both the US and the UK. That same month a single was issued with Stepping Stone as the A-side and Izabella as the B-side, but Hendrix was dissatisfied with the quality of the mastering and he demanded that it be withdrawn and re-mixed, preventing the songs from charting and resulting in Hendrix's least successful single; it was also his last. On the 28th of January 1970, a third and final Band of Gypsys appearance took place; they performed during a music festival at Madison Square Garden benefiting the anti-Vietnam War Moratorium Committee titled the Winter Festival for Peace. American blues guitarist Johnny Winter was backstage before the concert; he recalled: [Hendrix] came in with his head down, sat on the couch alone, and put his head in his hands ... He didn't move until it was time for the show. Minutes after taking the stage he snapped a vulgar response at a woman who had shouted a request for Foxy Lady. He then began playing Earth Blues before telling the audience: That's what happens when earth fucks with space. Moments later, he briefly sat down on the drum riser before leaving the stage. Both Miles and Redding later stated that Jeffery had given Hendrix LSD before the performance. Redding saw Jeffery give Hendrix a tablet; Miles saw Jeffery give Hendrix LSD. Miles believed that Jeffery gave Hendrix the drugs in an effort to sabotage the current band and bring about the return of the original Experience lineup. Jeffery fired Miles after the show and Cox quit, ending the Band of Gypsys.

The Final Tour

Soon after the abruptly ended Band of Gypsys performance and their subsequent dissolution, Jeffery made arrangements to reunite the original Experience lineup. Although Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding were interviewed by Rolling Stone in February 1970 as a united group, Hendrix never intended to work with Redding. When Redding returned to New York in anticipation of rehearsals with a re-formed Experience, he was told that he had been replaced with Cox. During an interview with Rolling Stone Keith Altham, Hendrix defended the decision: It's nothing personal against Noel, but we finished what we were doing with the Experience and Billy's style of playing suits the new group better. Although an official name was never adopted for the lineup of Hendrix, Mitchell, and Cox, promoters often billed them as the Jimi Hendrix Experience or just Jimi Hendrix. During the first half of 1970, Hendrix sporadically worked on material for what would have been his next LP. Many of the tracks were posthumously released in 1971 as The Cry of Love. He had started writing songs for the album in 1968, but in April 1970 he told Keith Altham that the project had been abandoned. Soon afterward, he and his band took a break from recording and began the Cry of Love tour at the L.A. Forum, performing for 20,000 people. Set-lists during the tour included numerous Experience tracks as well as a selection of newer material. Several shows were recorded, and they produced some of Hendrix's most memorable live performances. At one of them, the second Atlanta International Pop Festival, on the 4th of July, he played to the largest American audience of his career. According to authors Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz, as many as 500,000 people attended the concert. On the 17th of July, they appeared at the New York Pop Festival; Hendrix had again consumed too many drugs before the show, and the set was considered a disaster. The American leg of the tour, which included 32 performances, ended in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the 1st of August 1970. This would be Hendrix's final concert appearance in the US. When the European leg of the Cry of Love tour began, Hendrix was longing for his new studio and creative outlet, and was not eager to fulfill the commitment. On the 2nd of September 1970, he abandoned a performance in Aarhus after three songs, stating: I've been dead a long time. Four days later, he gave his final concert appearance, at the Isle of Fehmarn Festival in West Germany. He was met with booing and jeering from fans in response to his cancellation of a show slated for the end of the previous night's bill due to torrential rain and risk of electrocution. Immediately following the festival, Hendrix, Mitchell, and Cox traveled to London. Three days after the performance, Cox, who was suffering from severe paranoia after either taking LSD or being given it unknowingly, quit the tour and went to stay with his parents in Pennsylvania. Within days of Hendrix's arrival in England, he had spoken with Chas Chandler, Alan Douglas, and others about leaving his manager, Michael Jeffery. On the 16th of September, Hendrix performed in public for the last time during an informal jam at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho with Eric Burdon and his latest band, War. They began by playing a few of their recent hits, and after a brief intermission Hendrix joined them during Mother Earth and Tobacco Road. He died less than 48 hours later. In July 1962, Hendrix entered a small club in Clarksville, Tennessee, drawn in by live music. He stopped for a drink and ended up spending most of the $400 that he had saved during his time in the Army. I went in this jazz joint and had a drink, he explained. I liked it and I stayed. People tell me I get foolish, good-natured sometimes. Anyway, I guess I felt real benevolent that day. I must have been handing out bills to anyone that asked me. I came out of that place with sixteen dollars left. Alcohol eventually became the scourge of his existence, driving him to fits of pique, even rare bursts of atypical, physical violence. Roby and Schreiber assert that Hendrix first used LSD when he met Linda Keith in late 1966. Shapiro and Glebbeek, however, contends that Hendrix used it in June 1967 at the earliest while attending the Monterey Pop Festival. According to Hendrix biographer Charles Cross, the subject of drugs came up one evening in 1966 at Keith's New York apartment. One of Keith's friends offered Hendrix acid, a street name for LSD, but Hendrix asked for LSD instead, showing what Cross describes as his naivete and his complete inexperience with psychedelics. Before that, Hendrix had only sporadically used drugs, including cannabis, hashish, amphetamines, and occasionally cocaine. After 1967, he regularly used cannabis, hashish, LSD, and amphetamines, particularly while touring. According to Cross, few stars were as closely associated with the drug culture as Jimi. When Hendrix drank to excess or mixed drugs with alcohol, often he became angry and violent. His friend Herbie Worthington said Hendrix simply turned into a bastard when he drank. According to friend Sharon Lawrence, liquor set off a bottled-up anger, a destructive fury he almost never displayed otherwise. In January 1968, the Experience travelled to Sweden to start a one-week tour of Europe. During the early morning hours of the first day, Hendrix got into a drunken brawl in the Hotel Opalen in Gothenburg, smashing a plate-glass window and injuring his right hand, for which he received medical treatment. The incident culminated in his arrest and release, pending a court appearance that resulted in a large fine. In 1969, Hendrix rented a house in Benedict Canyon, California, that was burglarized. Later, while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he accused his friend Paul Caruso of the theft, threw punches and stones at him, and chased him away from his house. A few days later Hendrix hit his girlfriend, Carmen Borrero, above her eye with a vodka bottle during a drunken, jealous rage, and gave her a cut that required stitches. Hendrix was passing through customs at Toronto International Airport on the 3rd of May 1969, when authorities found a small amount of heroin and hashish in his luggage, and charged him with drug possession. He was released on $10,000 bail, and was required to return on the 5th of May for an arraignment hearing. The incident proved stressful for Hendrix, and it weighed heavily on his mind during the seven months leading up to his December 1969 trial. For the Crown to prove possession, they had to show that Hendrix knew that the drugs were there. During the jury trial, he testified that a fan had given him a vial of what he thought was legal medication which he put in his bag. He was acquitted of the charges. Mitchell and Redding later revealed that everyone had been warned about a planned drug bust the day before flying to Toronto; both men also stated that they believed that the drugs had been planted in Hendrix's bag without his knowledge. On the 18th of September 1970, Hendrix died in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia at the age of 27. He was found in the bed of his girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, at the Samarkand Hotel. The official cause of death was listed as pulmonary edema and aspiration of vomit, but the circumstances surrounding his death have been the subject of much speculation and controversy.