Jimi Hendrix – The voodoo child

Jimi Hendrix was an American songwriter, singer and (most importantly) a guitarist who was born at 1942 and started his career at 1963, while getting successful and well known at 1966.

While his mainstream career only took place for 4(!) years, his influence on almost every rock-driven music genre is undoubtable.

Apart of his musical influence, Jimi also had a huge impact on the hippy culture which developed in the 60’s. He was also part of the Woodstock festival, which we will discuss later on.

Jimi’s interest in music started when was a kid. He used to walk around in school with a broomstick, acting like if he was playing a guitar. He then found a ukulele, which was his first instrument to play on. Although the ukulele had only one string, he started learning songs by ear and spending hours playing it.

He bought his first acoustic guitar when he was 15, spent time listening and learning from his favorite artist and started playing with some unnamed bands in different clubs. He then persuaded his father to buy an electric guitar.

Here you can see Jimi with his first ever electric guitar!

By the time he was 19, the police caught riding stolen cars, so he had to choose if he wanted to server time in jail, or go to the army. He decided to join the army, where a fellow serviceman, Billy Cox, overheard him playing the guitar and joined him with his Bass guitar.

The two then got discharged from the army and moved to form a band together, doing gigs in Nashville’s Jefferson Street, a place known as the heart of the black community and a place where R&B was thriving.

At this time, Jimi went to Seattle and while being there, he saw a guitarist playing with his teeth. Jimi found that interesting, and learned how to do it. This was later one of the most iconic acts ever done by him and became his hallmark.

At May 1966, Jimi performed with a band at one of New York’s pubs which Linda Keith happened to visit. She saw his performance and was mesmerised by his playing. She also happened to be the girlfriend of the Rolling stones guitarist, Keith Richards.

Keith Richards referred him to Chas Chandler, who was looking to produce new artists. Chandler heard Jimi’s cover to “Hey Joe” and was convinced that he could create a hit with Jimi.

Later on, Chandler helped Jimi to assemble his first widely known band, “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”.

Fun fact: Hey Joe was the first song of Jimi that i knew, and the song that got me interested in him 🙂

On October 1966, Chandler took Hendrix to the University of Westminster, where Cream were scheduled to perform. There, he met Cream’s lead guitarist, Eric Clapton. Halfway through Cream’s performance, Jimi took the stage and started playing. Years after, Clapton described his performance: “He played just about every style you could think of, and not in a flashy way. (…) he did a few of his tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back … He walked off, and my life was never the same again”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience started to gain success, and were performing in bigger nightclubs, in attendance of some of the great musician of that time. The songs Hey Joe, Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary were peaking the UK charts at number six, number three and number six, respectively. The band performed in an hotel which was able to host up to 250 guests, but 900 people were at the show and the police had to cancel it.

The success of those songs got the band to release a full length LP, which was released as an album under the name “Are you experienced”.

The album released at may 1967, featuring a diversity of musical styles, including blues, R&B and rock. It peaked at second place of the UK charts, and was prevented first place by the known album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club. The album released in the US at August 1967, and peaked at 5th place of billboard 200.

The band gained more success, resulting with the release of 2 more albums: Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland. Both albums got to the top-10 places at the billboards, and considered masterpieces to this day. The best known songs from those albums are Little wing and All along the watchtower.

After releasing 3 albums, Jimi left the band. Their last show as at June 1969 at Denver’s pop festival. The three day event was marked by police using tear gas to control the audience, which tried to get on stage.

After his departure, Jimi began lodging at the eight-bedroom Ashokan House,near (who would believe) Woodstock, New York State.

By 1969, Jimi was the world’s highest-paid rock musician. He was invited to play in Woodstock, like most of the popular bands of their time.

Jimi was scheduled at the last day of Woodstock festival. It may sound absurd, but the amount of people that stayed until the end of the festival to see Jimi was 10 times less than the peak amount of people at the festival.

Regardless of the small amount, Jimi performed, and the peak of the performance was the “cover” for the US anthem, the star spangled banner. The performance intended to criticize the US government for their acts in Vietnam, and featured a drum line which sounded like gunfire.

Another fun fact: one of the musicians that played with him in woodstock was Billy cox, his old friend from the army.

As one of the greatest musicians out there, Jimi had the “privilege” to join the 27 club. He died at 1970, leaving a legacy which influenced numerous amount of people.

His style, show and music had an impact on most of the artist in the years to come, and till this day, his music, which was filled with ideas of that time, is heard around the world, influencing people.

And don’t think that I forgot why I gave this Ebook its name!