6/14/20161 The Life of Jimi Hendrix

6/14/20162 A Star is Born Jimi was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington. He had a difficult childhood, sometimes living in the care of relatives and even acquaintances at times.

6/14/20163 Troubled Family His mother, Lucille, was only 17 years old when Hendrix was born. She had a stormy relationship with his father, Al, and eventually left the family after the couple had four more children together, three of them with physical difficulties. Hendrix would only see his mother sporadically before her death in 1958.

6/14/20164 In many ways, music became a sanctuary for Hendrix. He was a fan of blues music and taught himself to play guitar. At the age of 14, Hendrix saw Elvis Presley perform. He got his first electric guitar the following year and eventually played with two bands—the Rocking Kings and the Tomcats.

6/14/20165 Hendrix got into trouble with the law twice for riding in stolen cars. He was given a choice between spending two years in prison or joining the Army. Hendrix chose the latter and enlisted on May 31, Hendrix trained at Fort Ord in California to become a paratrooper. Even as a soldier, he found time for music, creating a band named The King Casuals. Hendrix served in the army until 1962 when he was discharged due to an injury from a parachute jump.

6/14/20166 By the end of 1965, Jimmy had played with several marquee acts, including Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard. Jimmy parted ways with Little Richard to form his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, shedding the role of back-line guitarist for the spotlight of lead guitar.

6/14/20167 Jimi at Denver Concert At ‘The last Experience’ concert took place on June 29, 1969 at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, a three-day event held at Denver's Mile High Stadium that was marked by police firing tear gas into the audience as they played "Voodoo Child.”The band escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck which was partly crushed by fans trying to escape the tear gas.

6/14/20168 Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock About midway through his two-hour set, he launched into a medley of tunes including The Star Spangled Banner. The national anthem had long been part of the Hendrix repertoire; he played it nearly 50 times in his career, but never as long and with as much riding on it as at Woodstock. His performance was during the Vietnam war, when many were angry at their country for the unnecessary war.

6/14/20169 Hendrix had a special fondness for hallucinogens like LSD and was also an enthusiastic marijuana smoker. In addition, scores of women flocked to him. Yet he is almost universally remembered as a shy, diffident person, occasionally explosive but largely gentle and naïve.

6/14/ Jimi Hendrix died of an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol at the age of 27 in a London hotel room. There are speculations that the CIA killed him because of his support of the black panther party.

6/14/ His career and death grouped him with Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones as one of the 27 Club, a group including iconic 1960s rock stars who suffered drug-related deaths at the age of 27 within a two year period. They all left legacies in death that have eclipsed the popularity and influence they experienced during their lifetimes. Kurt Cobain was later added to this list, also dying at the age of 27.

6/14/ Hendrix synthesized many styles in creating his musical voice and his guitar style was unique, later to be abundantly imitated by others. Despite his hectic touring schedule and notorious perfectionism, he was a prolific recording artist and left behind more than 300 unreleased recordings.

6/14/ Hendrix affected popular music with similar profundity. Along with earlier bands such as The Who and Cream, he established a sonically heavy yet technically proficient bent to rock music as a whole, significantly furthering the development of hard rock and paving the way for heavy metal. He took blues to another level. His music has also had a great influence on the development of funk rock.

6/14/ Jimi Hendrix was able to overcome racial discrimination through his life. He did not conform to the conservative popular view and wasn’t afraid to take risks in his music and physical appearance. He died before his time, leaving a legacy that will continue on.

6/14/ Works Cited html Youtube.com Hendrix-bio-is-a-very-intimate-one php woodstock?page=0,1 september/18/newsid_ / stm