366 | Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington. From a very young age, he showed an interest in music and would use a broom as a guitar. Because of this, his father decided to buy him a ukulele. At thirteen, he received his first electric guitar, a Supro Ozark. Despite some difficulties in his youth—such as his parents’ divorce and financial problems—Hendrix managed to pursue his passion for music.

In 1961, Jimi Hendrix left high school to join the army. He enlisted in the airborne division in the southern United States. There, he met many musicians in nearby cafés, including bassist Billy Cox, with whom he would later perform at the Woodstock Festival and record several singles. Hendrix watched many talented guitarists play, and they made a deep impression on him. After serving fourteen months, he was discharged from the airborne division due to a broken ankle sustained in a failed parachute jump.

After his discharge, Jimi traveled throughout the United States, performing with numerous soul and blues groups, including big names such as B.B. King, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley, and The Isley Brothers. In Greenwich Village, New York, where Hendrix performed with Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, he was discovered by Chas Chandler (bass guitarist of The Animals), who invited him to come to England. In England, the band The Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed. The quickly assembled musicians proved to be a strong trio. Hendrix sang and, of course, played guitar, while Noel Redding provided bass and guitar, and Mitch Mitchell played drums. Interestingly, Noel Redding was not originally a bassist, and Mitch Mitchell came from a completely different corner of the music world: jazz.

With their debut album Are You Experienced (1967), The Jimi Hendrix Experience became world-famous overnight. Their second album, Axis: Bold as Love, made extensive use of new guitar and studio techniques, many of which are still associated with Hendrix today. The band's third album, Electric Ladyland (1968), became the best-selling record Hendrix ever made. It includes timeless classics such as the Bob Dylan cover All Along the Watchtower and Voodoo Child (Slight Return). In August 1969, at the famous Woodstock Festival in New York, Hendrix astonished the audience with his controversial rendition of the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

Jimi Hendrix died on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27, at the Samarkand Hotel in London. The exact circumstances of his death have never been fully clarified. According to the media, he choked on his own vomit after falling into a coma from an overdose of sleeping pills combined with some wine. In 2004, the documentary Jimi Hendrix: The Last 24 Hours claimed that the CIA was behind his murder because of his ties to the Black Panther Party and his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War. Within just a few years, Hendrix had grown into a global superstar, and his (political) influence on America’s youth was immense.

Hendrix was buried at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton, a small town near his birthplace of Seattle.