James Marshall Hendrix aka Jimi Hendrix, was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Jimi Hendrix delighted audiences in the 1960s with his outrageous electric guitar playing skills and his experimental sound. He was widely recognized as one of the most creative and musical talented musicians in the early 20th century. Hendrix was a pioneer genius who exploded many possibilities of the electric guitar. Hendrix’s style of combining fuzz, feedback, and controlled distortion created a new musical form in the industry.
He was born in 1942 in Seattle, Washington as Johnny Allen Hendrix but was later renamed James Marshall by his father, James “Al” Hendrix. He had a difficult childhood growing up in an unstable home, sometimes living in care of relatives and other acquaintances. Jimi’s mother, Lucille was only 17 years old when he was born so she struggled with his care being of such a young age. His father Al Hendrix and Lucille had very complicated relationship which soon caused her to leave the family after the couple had two more children together, sons Joseph and Leon. Jimi would only see his mother occasionally before her death in 1958.
In many ways, music was his sanctuary which powered him at a very young age no matter what circumstances came his way. He learned to play the guitar as a teenager taking interest from many musical greats such as: Buddy Holly, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, B. B. King, and Howlin’ Wolf. Early Childhood Jimi was a very self-taught individual but had an inability to read music. Suffering from this only made him concentrate even harder on the music he heard. His father, Al Hendrix soon realized his interest in music so he took upon his self to help fulfill Jimi’s interest.
James remembered recalling, “I used to have Jimmy clean up the bedroom all the time while I was gone, and when I would come home I would find a lot of broom straws around the foot of the bed. I would say to him, ‘Well didn’t you sweep up the floor? ‘ and he’d say ‘Oh yeah,’ he did. But I’d find out later that he used to be sitting at the end of the bed there and strumming the broom like he was playing a guitar. ” His father soon after found an old one-string ukulele which was a huge improvement for Jimi compared to his broom.
By the summer of 1958 his father purchased him a 5-dollar secondhand acoustic guitar from a friend that overwhelmed limi and soon opened him up even more to the musical world. Jimi was a fan of rock and roll and blues and with his father’s encouragement and ambition for him, helped him to pursue his talent and love. Hendrix was 16 years old when his father got him his first acoustic guitar but a year later his father stepped up with a purchase of an electric guitar. It was a right-handed Supro Ozark that Jimi had to flip upside down to play because he was a lefty.
He soon got the hang of it pretty well and began performing with his first band, The Velvetones. After 3-months with his group, he soon left the band to pursue his own interest. The Formation of a Band Shortly after the departure from that group, Hendrix began performing with his band, The Rocking Kings. In 1959, Hendrix decided to drop out of high school and began to go into the workforce. Hendrix continued to work many different jobs while continuing his musical aspirations. Soon after in 1961, limi decided that working many jobs was not making ends meet so he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Jimi left home and decided to enlist in the United States Army. While training as a paratrooper in the army, Jimi earned the right to wear the “Screaming Eagles” patch for the paratroop division in November 1962. He still found time for music even though he was there for many other duties. Military vs. New Beginnings While stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Jimi found time to form The King Casuals with bassist Billy Cox. After being injured performing a parachute jump, Hendrix was soon discharged from the military because of his stint of injury.
After leaving the military, Jimi began working up under his name of Jimmy Hendrix as a session musician. He ended up playing backup for the great superstars such as: B. B. King, Little Richard, Sam Cooke, and the Isley Brothers. Jimmy also had acts with Ike and Tina Turner that molded him into an even better performer. Jimmy soon teamed up with Little Richard to form his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames leaving the role of the backup guitarist for the spotlight of a lead player. Throughout the later year of 1965 and heading into the beginning of 1966 became a new change from Jimmy.
He played many gigs in front of small venues in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Hendrix encountered the bassist Chas Chandler during a July performance at a small cafe. Chandler enjoyed the style and talent of Hendrix and returned again a few months later to have Hendrix sign an agreement that would changes his life greatly in the music industry. The agreement would have Jimmy to move to London in order to form a new band. Chandler had a great idea in mind that caused him to switch gears from bass player to manager. Chandler’s first task was to change Hendrix’s name to “Jimi”.
Featuring bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell formed the newly Jimi Hendrix Experience. Their group quickly became the talk around the whole entire London in the fall of 1966. While performing a show in England, Hendrix built up his resume quickly among country’s rock royalty, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Who, all admiring Hendrix’s work. Released in 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience had a single that erupted on the scene called “Hey Joe,” that went viral all over Britain following up with other hits titled “Purple Haze” and “The Wind Cries Mary”.
Jimi Hendrix was soon labeled as a legendary guitarist from is fans and his musical peers. Like many musical artist in the industry that encounter fame at a young age Hendrix had an addiction that he could not fight off. Hendrix’s Hendrix had a major drug addiction that the legendary guitarist battled with on a daily basis. Hendrix had stated that he had used drugs to ease his pain during his parachute incident in the army which was the reason for his discharge. Hendrix main drug of choice was LSD, which is a psychedelic drug.
He would take a banana and soak in LSD then tie it around his head to help give his self a mind blowing high. In fact, Hendrix would sometimes make a small cut in the top of his forehead so his body would absorb it even fast. Hendrix was known for doing other crazy things to get hisself high but his most heavily used was alcohol and cannabis. Despite having a successful music career he never looked at drugs as a stint to his musical career. Jimi never really hid the fact that he smoked cannabis around his father because his dad knew that his mother would of not have cared even if she was around.
Since his mother had died while he was very young he said that he never felt bad because he always remembered his mother as being a groovy lady so the cannabis ran in the family. Jimi’s drug addiction only got worse from here when he soon had a couple run-ins with the law because of his heavily addiction. In 1968 he got arrested for his chaotic behavior at an international hotel between one of his girlfriends. It was said that he beat her one time with a public phone headset because he thought she was on the phone with another man.
Hendrix was very drunk at the time and his band mates and friends said he was very abusive and angry once intoxicated. Many people and a lot of Hendrix’s fans said that the song “Purple Haze” was not about acid he would take but felt it was about a dream he had. They thought that maybe his dream was about a musical tour he went on while on some acid and others thought his dream was about his self being underwater feeling great vibrations and colors. Fans and other musicians felt that Hendrix’s drug abuse and usage is what powered him to be the greatest guitarist he had become over the years.
In late 1969, Hendrix decided to put together a new group with his army buddies Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles. Their band was name the Band of Gypsys but never really got the chance to take off. Bassist Billy Cox felt that Hendrix was spinning out of control with his drug addiction and remembered their trip from the studio that day in scare. We’d go into the studio around eight o’clock in the evening,” Cox remembers, “and a lot of times we didn’t come out until noon the next day.
When we came out of the studio, he’d have his guitar, l’d have my bass… and the Corvette was a two-seater. So we take off, and my face is hangin’ out the window, along with one of my legs, and Jimi’s got his guitar in the back. We’re goin’ through traffic, and I’m sayin, ‘Oh, lord, you gon’ run into somebody! ‘ He scared me. I’d get out at the hotel and say, ‘Whew, man! I made it safe and sound. ‘” Conclusion Many people including his Bassist Cox felt that fate would have it in for Jimi.
On September 18, 1970, Hendrix died in London from drug related complications that brought the rock and roll world to a halt. While passing at only 27 years old, Hendrix left an incredible mark on the world of rock music. Hendrix generated many collections of amazing songs over his short career with a unique style of R&B, Jazz, blues, and Rock. Even though his drug addiction brought his journey of music to a halt at a young age, Jimi Hendrix still remains one of the most popular icons ever in the history of rock music.
