Jimi Hendrix
In 1961, Hendrix enlisted in the US Army; he was granted an honorable discharge the following year. In 1963, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit. In 1964, he earned a spot in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later that year he found work with Little Richard, with whom he continued to play through mid-1965. He then joined Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after having been discovered by bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals. In 1967, Hendrix earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". Later that year, he achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. The world's highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before dying from barbiturate-related asphyxia at the age of 27.
Inspired musically by American rock and roll and electric blues, Hendrix favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in developing the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock, and pioneered experimentation with stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings.
Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously; 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 his three non-posthumous 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 6th greatest artist of all time.
Jimi Hendrix's mixed genealogy included African American, Irish, and Cherokee ancestors. His paternal great-great-grandmother Zenora was a full-blooded Cherokee from Georgia who married an Irishman named Moore. They had a son Robert, who married an African American girl named Fanny. In 1883, Robert and Fanny had a daughter whom they named Zenora "Nora" Rose Moore, Hendrix's paternal grandmother.[nb 1] The illegitimate son of a black slave woman, also called Fanny, and her white overseer, Hendrix's paternal grandfather, Bertran Philander Ross Hendrix was named after his biological father, a grain merchant from Urbana, Ohio, and one of the wealthiest white men in the area at the time. On June 10, 1919, Hendrix and Moore had a son they named James Allen Ross Hendrix (died 2002); people called him Al.
Stationed in Alabama at the time of Hendrix's birth, Al was denied the standard military furlough afforded servicemen for childbirth; his commanding officer placed him in the stockade to prevent his 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.[nb 3] During Al's three-year absence, Lucille struggled to raise their son, often neglecting him in favor of nightlife. 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 U.S. Army on September 1, 1945. Two months later, unable to find Lucille, Al went to the Berkeley home of a family friend named Mrs. Champ, who had taken care of and had attempted to adopt Hendrix, and saw his son for the 1st time.
After returning from service, Al reunited with Lucille, but his difficulty finding steady work left the family impoverished. Both he and Lucille struggled with alcohol abuse, and they often fought when intoxicated. His parents' violence sometimes made Hendrix withdraw and hide in a closet in their home. Hendrix relationship with his brother Leon 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 other 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 would take Hendrix to Vancouver to stay at his grandmother's. A shy and sensitive boy, he was deeply affected by these 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.
In 1957, while helping Al with a side-job, Jimi found a ukulele amongst the garbage that they were removing from a wealthy older woman's home. The woman 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 Presley's cover of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog".[nb 5] By the age of thirty-three, Hendrix's mother Lucille had developed cirrhosis of the liver, and on February 2, 1958, she died when her spleen ruptured. Instead of taking James and Leon to attend their mother's funeral, Al gave them shots of whiskey and told them that was how men are supposed to deal with loss.[nb 6] In mid-1958, at age 15, Hendrix acquired his 1st acoustic guitar, for $5. Hendrix earnestly applied himself, playing the instrument for several hours daily, watching others and getting tips from more experienced guitarists, and listening to blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, and Robert Johnson. The 1st tune Hendrix learned how to play was the theme from Peter Gunn.
In November 1961, fellow serviceman Billy Cox walked past the service club and heard Hendrix playing guitar inside. Cox, intrigued by the proficient playing, which he described as a combination of "John Lee Hooker and Beethoven", immediately borrowed a bass guitar from the club and the two jammed. Within a few weeks, they began performing at base clubs on the weekends with other musicians in a loosely organized band called the Casuals.
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 Pridgeon, known as "Faye", who became his girlfriend. Pridgeon, a Harlem native with connections throughout the area's music scene, provided Hendrix with shelter, support and encouragement. He also met the Allen twins, Arthur and Albert.[nb 9] In February 1964, Hendrix won 1st prize in the Apollo Theater amateur contest. Hoping to secure a career opportunity, he played the 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' back-up band, the I.B. Specials; Hendrix readily accepted.
In March 1964, Hendrix recorded the two-part single "Testify" with the Isley Brothers. Released in June 1964, it failed to chart. He toured with them through mid-1964, when he quit after a gig in Nashville.[nb 10] In September 1964, Hendrix joined Little Richard's touring band, the Upsetters.[nb 11] During a stop in Los Angeles, Hendrix recorded his 1st and only single with Richard, "I Don't Know What You Got ", written by Don Covay and released by Vee-Jay Records.[nb 12] In July 1965, on Nashville's Channel 5 Night Train, he made his 1st television appearance. Performing in Little Richard's ensemble band, Hendrix backed up vocalists "Buddy and Stacy" on "Shotgun". The video recording of the show marks the earliest known footage of Hendrix performing. He often clashed with Richard over tardiness, wardrobe, and his stage antics, so in late July 1965, Richard's brother Robert fired him. He then briefly rejoined the Isley Brothers, and recorded a 2nd single with them, "Move Over and Let Me Dance" backed with "Have You Ever Been Disappointed".
Later that year, Hendrix joined a New Yorkâ€"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 on and off with them for eight months. In October 1965, he and Knight recorded the single, "How Would You Feel" backed with "Welcome Home" and on October 15 Hendrix signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin. While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which caused considerable problems for Hendrix later on in his career.[nb 13] During his time with Curtis Knight and the Squires, 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".
In mid-1966, Hendrix recorded with Lonnie Youngblood, a saxophone player who occasionally performed with Curtis Knight. The sessions produced two singles for Youngblood: "Go Go Shoes"/"Go Go Place" and "Soul Food "/"Goodbye Bessie Mae". Singles for other artists also came out of the sessions, including the Icemen's "(My Girl) She's a Fox"/ "(I Wonder) What It Takes" and Jimmy Norman's "That Little Old Groove Maker"/"You're Only Hurting Yourself".[nb 14] Hendrix earned his 1st composer credits for two instrumentals, "Hornets Nest" and "Knock Yourself Out", released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single in 1966.
In May 1966, Hendrix, struggling to earn a living wage playing the R&B circuit, 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. She commented: "[His] playing mesmerised me". She arranged for him to join her for a drink, and the two soon became friends.
Immediately following Hendrix's arrival in London, Chandler began recruiting members for a band designed to highlight the guitarist's 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, who stated that he also liked Redding's hairstyle. Chandler asked Redding if he wanted to play bass guitar in Hendrix's band; Redding agreed. Chandler then began looking for a drummer and soon after, he 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 convinced Hendrix to change the spelling of his 1st name from Jimmy to the exotic looking Jimi.
In mid-October 1966, Chandler arranged for the Experience to accompany Johnny Hallyday as his support act for a brief tour of France. Their enthusiastically received 15-minute performance at the Olympia theatre in Paris on October 18 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 record label, Track Records, who released the Experience's 1st single on October 23. "Hey Joe", a cover of the Billy Roberts song, which included a female backing chorus provided by the Breakaways, was backed by Hendrix's 1st songwriting effort, "Stone Free".
After the moderate UK chart success of their 1st two singles, "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze", the Experience began assembling material for a full-length LP. Recording began at De Lane Lea Studios and later moved to the prestigious Olympic Studios. Released in the UK on May 12, 1967, Are You Experienced spent 33 weeks on the charts, peaking at number 2.[nb 19] The LP was prevented from reaching the top of the UK charts by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. As with Sgt. Pepper, Are You Experienced was recorded using four-track technology.
Although popular in Europe at the time, the Experience's 1st US single, "Hey Joe" backed by "51st Anniversary", failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release on May 1, 1967. Their fortunes soon improved when Paul McCartney recommended them to the organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival. McCartney insisted that the event would be incomplete without Hendrix, who he called "an absolute ace on the guitar", and he agreed to join the board of organizers on the condition that the Experience perform at the festival in mid-June.
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, they were booked as an opening act for the pop group the Monkees, on their 1st American tour. They had asked for Hendrix because they were fans, but their young audience disliked the Experience, who left the tour after six shows. Chandler later admitted that he had engineered the Monkees tour to gain publicity for Hendrix.
The title track and finale of the 2nd Experience album, Axis: Bold as Love, features the 1st recording of stereo phasing.[nb 22] Author Keith Shadwick described the song as "possibly the most ambitious piece on Axis, the extravagant metaphors of the lyrics suggesting a growing confidence" in Hendrix's songwriting. The album's opening track, "EXP", featured innovative use of microphonic and harmonic feedback. It also utilized a stereo panning effect in which sounds emanating from Hendrix's guitar move through the stereo image, revolving around the listener.
The album's scheduled pre-Christmas release date 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". Bassist Noel 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 of the song, Hendrix doubled his vocal line with a guitar part, which he played one octave lower than his vocals.
Hendrix voiced his disappointment regarding their having re-mixed the album so quickly, and he felt that it could have been better had they been given more time. He also expressed dismay regarding the album cover art work, which depicts Hendrix and the Experience as various forms of Vishnu, incorporating a painting of them by Roger Law, from a photo-portrait by Karl Ferris. Hendrix stated that the cover would have been more appropriate had it highlighted his American Indian heritage. Track Records released the album in the UK on December 16, 1967, where it peaked at number 5, spending 16 weeks on the charts. In February 1968, Axis: Bold as Love reached number 3 in the US.
In 1989, the founding editor of Guitar World magazine described the LP as "a voyage to the cosmos". According to author Peter Doggett, the work "heralded a new subtlety in Hendrix's work". Mitchell commented: "Axis was the 1st 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."
In October 1968, Hendrix released his 3rd and final studio album, Electric Ladyland. The double LP was the 1st Experience album to be mixed entirely in stereo. Recording began at the newly opened Record Plant Studios with Chandler as producer aided by engineers Eddie Kramer and Gary Kellgren. During recording sessions Chandler became increasingly frustrated with Hendrix's perfectionism and demands for numerous re-takes of material that Chandler considered satisfactory. Hendrix also allowed various friends and guests to join them in the studio, which contributed to a chaotic and crowded environment in the control room, leading Chandler to sever his professional relationship with Hendrix. The album's cover stated that it was "produced and directed by Jimi Hendrix".
Related Sites for Jimi Hendrix
- Amazon.com: People, Hell & Angels: Music read Jimi Hendrix
- Amazon.com: Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix: Music read Jimi Hendrix
