Jimi Hendrix 1942 – 1970

Biography

Jimi Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter widely regarded as the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music. Born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle in 1942, he taught himself guitar, served briefly in the army, and played as a sideman on the rhythm-and-blues circuit before moving to London in 1966. There the Jimi Hendrix Experience released Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, revolutionising the instrument with feedback, distortion, and wah-wah. His performances at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969 became legendary, the latter closing with his searing rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner. He died in London in 1970 at the age of twenty-seven. His recordings continue to inspire guitarists of every generation, and his brief career left a body of work that still sounds startlingly modern.