Seattle and the road
James Marshall Hendrix was born on 27 November 1942 in Seattle, Washington. He grew up in a modest household and taught himself guitar, playing a left-handed instrument turned over, restrung for the purpose. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1961 and served for a short period in the 101st Airborne Division before being discharged, in 1962.
He then worked as a backing guitarist, touring the so-called “chitlin’ circuit” of Black clubs and theatres in the American South and Midwest. He played with performers including the Isley Brothers and Little Richard, and with various rhythm and blues acts, and gained a reputation for skill but also for a showy style that did not always please bandleaders. In 1966 he moved to New York, where he led his own group, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, in clubs in Greenwich Village.
Discovered by Chas Chandler
At a Greenwich Village club in 1966, Hendrix was seen by Chas Chandler, who had been the bass player in the British group the Animals and was looking to move into management. Chandler was struck by Hendrix’s version of “Hey Joe” and persuaded him to come to London, where he thought the audience would be more receptive than in New York. They arrived in September 1966.
In London, Chandler helped assemble a new band: Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. They became the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix’s playing impressed other guitarists in the city almost at once, and some well-known musicians were reported to attend his early shows.
The 1967 breakthrough in Britain
Their first single, “Hey Joe”, appeared at the end of 1966 and reached the British top ten in early 1967. “Purple Haze” followed in March, and “The Wind Cries Mary” in May. The debut album, Are You Experienced, was released in Britain in May 1967. It mixed blues, hard rock, feedback and studio effects in a way that sounded new, and it was one of the major rock records of the year.
His stage show was part of the appeal. He played with his teeth and behind his head and used feedback and distortion as musical ingredients, rather than as accidents. The Beatles were enthusiastic: a few days after the release of Sgt. Pepper in June, he opened a concert at the Saville Theatre in London with the title song, with Paul McCartney reportedly in the audience. Britain’s pop press treated him as the leading new guitarist.
Monterey
Despite his success in Britain, Hendrix was almost unknown in the United States. Paul McCartney, who was a friend of the festival’s organisers, recommended him for the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. On the Sunday, the Experience gave a set that included “Wild Thing” and ended with Hendrix kneeling over his guitar, pouring lighter fluid on it and setting it alight, then smashing it. The performance was filmed for the documentary of the festival, and the images became an emblem of the year.
The American release of Are You Experienced came later in the summer, with a different track listing that added the singles, and it sold well. Hendrix then briefly joined a tour of the television group the Monkees, an odd pairing that was dropped after a few shows. Later in 1967 the Experience released a second album, Axis: Bold as Love, in Britain in December.
Later career
Electric Ladyland, a double album, came out in 1968. It included his version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”, which is often regarded as definitive, and the long studio piece “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”. The Experience split up in 1969.
In August 1969 he played at the Woodstock festival, in the early morning hours of the final day, to a smaller audience than at its peak. His interpretation of “The Star-Spangled Banner”, with feedback imitating the sounds of war, was widely seen as a commentary on the Vietnam War, though he did not describe it in strictly political terms. He then formed a group called Band of Gypsys with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles. He was also reported to be building a studio in New York, Electric Lady Studios, which opened in 1970.
Death in London
Hendrix died in London on 18 September 1970, at the age of 27. He had spent the night at a flat in Notting Hill. He was taken to hospital but was dead on arrival. The inquest recorded an open verdict, and the cause was reported as inhalation of vomit linked to barbiturates. Details about the evening and the events that led to his death have been disputed ever since, and some accounts are not reliable.
Legacy
Over a recording career of only about four years, Hendrix changed what the electric guitar could do and influenced a wide range of musicians. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. For the story of 1967, his path is unusual: he was an American artist whose recognition began in Britain, and the Monterey appearance in June is remembered as the moment that brought him home.