Many great musicians describe Jimi Hendrix as a ‘rock and roll legend’, sometimes even as ‘the greatest guitarist to ever live’, and he has truly earned those titles. Perfecting everything from his live performances to being obsessive over studio recording, Hendrix’s goal was perfection and he achieved just that with his Fender Stratocaster. I chose do to my library report on him because everything he ever has done fascinates me. I love all of his music and he had a great personality. Jimi Hendrix is by far my favorite guitarist. The Early Years Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27th 1942 in Seattle, Washington (Jimi Hendrix biography p.1). He is of African American, European, Cherokee Indian and Mexican decent, his grandmother being completely Cherokee Indian. When he was 8, his brother, Leon, was born. His mother moved out when he was 9. Jimi’s father then changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix. Jimi’s mother died when he was fifteen of cancer. Neither he, nor his father, attended the funeral. After his mother’s death, Jimi began teaching himself how to play the guitar. He was left-handed and provided only with an old right-handed ukulele, so he sufficed and taught himself to play it backwards stringed upside down. That inspired him to buy an old five-dollar acoustic guitar later that year. He soon joined his first group, The King Kasuals, playing acoustic guitar. In 1959, Jimi’s father purchased him an electric guitar allowing him to join another band, The Rocking Kings, with whom he made his live debut. In 1960 The Rocking Kings became Thomas & The Tomcats. His musical work began to take a higher seat than his schoolwork and he started failing classes. In late 1960, Jimi was thrown out of High school for holding the hand of a white girl during class. He never graduated. In Between After several run-ins with the Seattle police, Jimi lied about his age and enlisted in the U.S. Army and began basic training. Later that year, Jimi joined the 101st airborne Division where he underwent parachute training. In July1962, Jimi was released from the army with an honorable discharge after breaking his ankle. In October, Jimi started a band-for-hire with his friend from the army, Billy Cox. They played many Nashville clubs until later that year when Jimi joined the mix-raced R&B band, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers. Hendrix quit and moved back to Nashville in 1963 and formed The King Casuals again with Cox (Vaughn 1). Over the next few years he collaborated on and off with many R&B singers such as Little Richard and Arthur Lee until July 23, 1966 when Keith Richards’ (of the rolling stones) girlfriend, Linda Keith, saw a Hendrix show and was immediately impressed. She tried to show him to the Stones’ manager, Andrew Oldham, but he didn’t like his music. She then requested that the former Animal bassist, Chas Chandler, to accompany her to the next Jimmy James and The Blue flames show in the Café Wha? In Greenwich Village. Chas saw them perform and was greatly impressed with Hendrix’s guitar talent. He invited Jimi to join him to London to find a band and get a good record deal. (Vaughn 1) The Experience The Jimi Hendrix experience was formed between the 29th of September and the 5th of October. They recruited British bassist Noel Redding and British drummer Mitch Mitchell. The Experience played their first gig in Evreux, near Paris. Their first recording was ‘Hey Joe’, after its release Jimi began writing their debut album that included ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘The Wind Cries Mary’. Their final recording for the ‘Are You Experienced’ LP occurred just as they began a controversial UK tour with The Walker Brothers. Their first American gig occurred on the 18th of June in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival (Richard p.2). Another horrible collaboration began when The Experience began their first US tour with pop-idols, The Monkees. After not even lasting a month, The Experience leaves the tour on July 16th by mutual consent. All went well as Jimi jammed with former Boss, Curtis Knight, and finished their 2nd LP, ‘Axis Bold As Love’, until January 4th 1968 when Jimi was arrested in Gothenburg, Sweden for completely trashing a hotel room. He was charged a large fine and released. After returning home to London, Jimi began work on his biggest hit, Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watch Tower’ (Richard p.2). On April 18th, 1968 work began in New York on what would later become the ‘Electric Ladyland’ LP. The recording was finished on the 27th of August as he started to produce his first album for Cat Mother & The All Night News Boys. In March of 1969, he produced for the second time, this time for The Buddy Miles Express. That May, trouble began as he was arrested for possession of illegal drugs at Toronto International Airport. Things all went down hill from there. On the 9th of June, The Experience played their last show together when Noel Redding was replaced with Billy Cox (Luxton 2) The Aftermath On the 14th of August, 1969, Jimi’s new band debuted with an extended line-up including Larry Lee, Juma Sultan, and Buddy Miles in a band now called Gypsy Sons & The Rainbow Band. On January 28th, 1970 after 2 songs with the Gypsy Sons, Jimi walked off the stage. The Gypsy sons & The Rainbow band broke up soon after (Luxton 2) In February Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell and Jimi Hendrix announced the reformation of The Experience, though they never recorded together or preformed together again. On June 15th, Hendrix opened his own studio, Electric Ladyland Studios in New York. It was an exciting event because he had always loved to produce music. (Luxton 2) The Final Days In Denmark, his touring days were over when Jimi had to leave the stage after just 3 songs due to an overdose of sleeping pills. On the 18th of September 1970 ambulances are called to the flat where Jimi is staying with his girlfriend. When she awoke at 10am, she found him unconscious with vomit running out from the side of his mouth. (Luxton 2) The ambulance-men were unable to revive him and he was pronounced D.O.A. at The St. Mary Abbot’s Hospital. It was concluded that he choked on his vomit after an overdose of nine sleeping pills. On October 1st 1970, Jimi was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Seattle. (Reing 6) It is still unknown whether it was suicide or a simple mistake. Many people believe that if he were to have wanted to commit suicide, he would have taken more than just 9 pills out of a 40-pill bottle. It appears that the death of the greatest guitarist to ever live will remain a mystery. Though he is dead, his songs still receive continuous play on many radio stations and in movies such as Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World II. Jimi Hendrix will live on in his striking guitar chords and moving lyrics forever.