American guitarist and
musical genius (1942-1970). He was a
rock superstar for just four years, but in that time, he
transformed the way the
electric guitar was played. He was so damn
good he could play a
right-handed guitar even though he was
left-handed (he played the
guitar upside-down). He pushed the
limits of the guitar
farther than anyone ever has.
Born Johnny Allen Hendrix in
Seattle, Washington on
November 27, 1942, he was renamed James Marshall Hendrix just three years later in honor of his father and his late uncle. After serving some time in the
military, he started his musical
career playing
backup guitar for
Little Richard,
the Isley Brothers, and
King Curtis. But even then, Jimi was an incredible
showman, and many of the
stars, particularly Little Richard, were unhappy with his show-stealing
antics.
When Jimi went
solo in the mid-
1960s, he was encouraged by
Animals bassist
Chas Chandler to record in
England. On
the other side of the pond, the
Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed around Jimi, with
Noel Redding on
bass and
Mitch Mitchell on
drums. They got
popular fast in
Britain, and after Jimi's
sensational performance at
1967's
Monterey Pop Festival, their
debut album, "
Are You Experienced?" sold like
crazy in the
United States.
The Experience's follow-up albums, "
Axis: Bold as Love" and "
Electric Ladyland" were both more
experimental, but less
popular. Jimi
disbanded the Experience in 1969 and formed the
Band of Gypsys with
drummer Buddy Miles and
bassist Billy Cox.
But after blowing
Woodstock away with his performance of "
The Star-Spangled Banner," Hendrix did not record another
studio album. He was unable to decide which
lineup he wanted to play with, disbanding the Gypsys,
reforming the Experience, then disbanding the Experience again soon afterwards. He was unable to decide which
musical direction he wanted to go --
jazz,
funk,
blues,
rock,
experimental, or something else.
He died in
London on
September 18, 1970 of
drug-related complications. Much of his
unreleased studio and
live concert material (some of it
good, some of it
bad) was released
posthumously. After lengthy
court proceedings, all
rights to Jimi's
estate have been returned to his
father,
Al.
Addendum: sideways sez:
"Just for total accuracy, you should probably note that he restrung the right-handed guitar "the left-handed way", so for all intents and purposes, he was playing a left-handed guitar. As a guitarist I can tell you that it's the stringing that matters, not the shape of the instrument. Robert Cray, on the other hand, plays a right-handed guitar upside-down without restringing it. Don't get me wrong -- Hendrix is one of my all-time favourites, but there's got to be better examples of how good he was than his left-handedness."Addendum II: Uri E Bakay sez:
"A better example of how good he was would be, playing Wild Thing one-handed (then killing his guitar after humping it hahaha)"Thanks to bradnowell for corrections.