Jimi Hendrix (Johnny Allen Hendrix)

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born in 1942 in Seattle, Washington, the son of Lucille Seter and James Allen Hendrix. Jimi’s early childhood was marked by poverty and personal tragedies. Jimi became a shy and reserved boy. But he loved music and would strum a broomstick as if it were a guitar. When Jimi was 15 his mother died. Sensing his son’s loneliness Jimi’s father paid 5 dollars for a used acoustic guitar to replace the one-string ukulele Jimi had bonded with for a number of years. At age 17 with his talent blossoming, Jimi received his first electric guitar and thereafter his life story changed forever.

Jimi began his formal music career playing with local Seattle area bands. He was eventually expelled from high school for attendance and discipline problems and soon found himself in trouble with the law. Hendrix was ordered to enlist in the army. After the army Hendrix went on the road, playing small towns. Jimi was soon playing with well-known acts such as the Isley Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner and Little Richard.

 

With the help of a few English musicians, Hendrix formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience, a band that soon hit the top of the charts and played to sell-out crowds. Their first album

Are you Experienced became a mega seller, second only to the Beatles.

 

Back in United States, Hendrix’s fame grew exponentially and in the “sex, drugs and rock and roll”, culture of the times. Legal and personal problems mounted including a drug possession arrest and contractual disputes. Other notable musicians joined Jimi and as his schedule excelled and his popularity peaked, so did his use of drugs and alcohol , sometimes affecting his work on stage and in the studio.

 

Hendrix played his last concert in United States in August 1970 at Seattle’s Sick Stadium, blocks from his childhood home. He didn’t like the area of his memories growing up and he played badly. He left, did a show in Hawaii and returned to England. Jimi died September 18, 1970 at the age of 27 in London flat of a friend, Monika Danneman after drinking heavily and taking a handful of sleeping pills. There were different theories of his death, some people thought  that he was not dead at all, the reports of his death were only a publicity stunt.

Violeta Cabeza Trigg