Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on 11/27/1942 in Seattle, Washington. He was the first son born to James Allen “Al” Hendrix and Lucille Jeter. They had a total of five children including Jimi, two other boys and two girls, Leon and Joseph, and Kathy and Pamela. Because of Lucille’s heavy alcohol use Joseph was born with physical difficulties and was placed in foster care at age three. His two sisters were also placed in foster care at young ages. Kathy was born blind and Pamela physical difficulties as well. His mother developed cirrhosis of the liver and died in 1958.
His parents met in Seattle in 1941 when Lucille Jeter was only 16. They married the next year, on March 13, 1942, Lucille was already pregnant and James was shipping out in a couple of days as he had been drafted into the army.
James Hendrix spent the war in the South Pacific Theater and the three years that he was gone were hard on Lucille who struggled with raising her infant son. She neglected him in favor of the nightlife scene so Jimi was cared for by family members and others during this period.
James received an honorable discharge from the Army on 09/01/1945, and when he returned to the states he went to Berkley to get his son from a woman who was caring for him. Reunified with Lucille he found it difficult to get work after the W.W.II, and his family had a hard time getting by. James struggled with alcohol use as did Lucille and they had frequent fights. The turmoil caused by his parent’s fighting would sometimes cause Jimi hide in a closet in their home in order to get away from the situations.
It was at this time that James legally changed his son’s name to James Marshall Hendrix in memory of his late brother, Leon Marshall Hendrix.
The family moved often, staying in cheap hotels and apartments around Seattle and often during his childhood Jimi Hendrix would find himself being dropped with a relative or family friend to be cared for. This instability left an imprint on him which would remain with him the rest of his life.
At age 15, Jimi bought his first acoustic guitar for $5.00 from a friend of his father. Prior to this he had been strumming an old ukulele which his father had found while cleaning a garage. He learned to play by practicing for several hours a day, watched other musicians play, and sometimes getting tips from other guitar players. He was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King and Elmore James, and the jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery.
Jimi liked Elvis Presley, and saw him perform in Seattle in 1957. Jimi’s early exposure to blues music came from listening to his father’s records by Muddy Waters and B.B. King. He also liked the 1954 western Johnny Guitar, in which the hero carries a guitar slung behind his back instead of carrying a gun.
In 1959, his father bought Jimi his first electric guitar, but he had no amplifier. Fellow Seattle musicians later said he learned most of his acrobatic stage moves, which were a major part of the blues/R&B stage performance tradition, including playing with his teeth and behind his back, from a young musician named Raleigh “Butch” Snipes who was a guitarist with a local band named The Sharps.
Jimi got into trouble with the law and was given a choice between spending two years in prison or joining the Army. Jimi enlisted on 05/ 31/ 1961 and after basic training, was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He was considered a below average soldier by his commanding officers and fellow soldiers alike.
While in the army Jimi met fellow soldier and bass player Billy Cox, and the two became loyal friends for the rest of his life. The two would often perform with other musicians both on and off the base as a loosely organized band there named the Casuals.
He required constant supervision, he was known to sleep while on duty, had little regard for regulations, and showed no skill as a marksman. After serving only one year his commanding officers submitted a request that Hendrix be discharged from the military and Jimi did not object.
After the army, Jimi and Billy Cox moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, which was nearby, and continued to earn a living with their band. Jimi had already seen Butch Snipes play with his teeth as well as Alphonso ‘Baby Boo’ Young the other guitarist in the band, also was using this gimmick so Jimi, not to be upstaged, learned to play with his teeth properly and is quoted as saying”… the idea of doing this came to me in a town in Tennessee. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There’s a trail of broken teeth all over the stage…”. They played mainly in low-paying gigs anywhere they could until he moved to Nashville’s Jefferson Street, the heart of Nashville’s black community and home to a lively rhythm and blues scene. Soon however Feeling he had artistically outgrown the circuit and frustrated at following the rules of bandleaders, Jimi decided to try his luck in New York City and in January 1964 he moved there.
In February 1964, Hendrix won first prize in the Apollo Theater amateur contest and played the club circuit sitting in with various bands. Next he was offered the guitarist position with The Isley Brothers’ back-up band and he accepted.
He played the club circuit with them as well as with other artists for the next few months until early 1966 while playing at the Cheetah Club, he met Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, and she recommended him to Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham and producer Seymour Stein. Neither of them liked Jimi’s music, so they both passed. After that she referred him to Chas Chandler, who was leaving The Animals and was looking for talent to manage and produce. Chandler liked the song “Hey Joe” and felt he could create a hit single with the right artist.
Impressed with Hendrix’s version, Chas took him to London and Jimi signed a management and production contract with Chas and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery.
Chas Chandler came up with the name change of “Jimmy” to “Jimi” and then they formed a new band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
After initial success of The Jimi Hendrix Experience in Europe, they achieved fame in the U.S. after their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 .They also at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and again at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.
Jimi Hendrix’s growing career was ended when he died in London on September 18, 1970 due to drug and alcohol abuse but is still considered to be the greatest guitar player in musical history.
Below are a few quotes by a man who did not stay with us long enough, Jimi Hendrix-
Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.
My goal is to be one with the music. I just dedicate my whole life to this art.
I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes.
In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first.
I’m the one that has to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to.
Jimi Hendrix won many rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been awarded many more, posthumously, and was inducted into the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and Rolling Stone Magazine named Jimi Hendrix the number one guitarist on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time in 2003, and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.