Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."[1]

Born in Seattle, Washington, Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army, but was discharged the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, then Nashville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers' backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager. Within months, Hendrix had earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary". He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and in 1968 his third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland, reached number one in the US. The double LP was Hendrix's most commercially successful release and his first and only number one album. The world's highest-paid performer,[2] he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before his accidental death in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia in September 1970.

Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Holly George-Warren of Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."[3]

Hendrix was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously. In 1967, readers of Melody Maker voted him the Pop Musician of the Year and in 1968, Billboard named him the Artist of the Year and Rolling Stone declared him the Performer of the Year. Disc and Music Echo honored him with the World Top Musician of 1969 and in 1970, Guitar Player named him the Rock Guitarist of the Year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling Stone ranked the band's three studio albums, Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1967), and Electric Ladyland (1968), among the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth-greatest artist of all time. Hendrix was named the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.[4]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In 1969, legendary rock musician Jimi Hendrix declared Canada had given him “the best Christmas present” when a Toronto jury acquitted him of drug possession charges.

He had been arrested when he arrived at Toronto airport for a performance seven months earlier. Sadly for local Hendrix fans, it would be his last visit to this country and indeed, his last Christmas. The “Purple Haze” songwriter died 10 months later. 

“Canada has given me the best Christmas present I ever had,” the relieved 27-year-old rock star declared on leaving a Toronto courtroom in early December 1969. His comments followed a three-day trial on charges of illegal possession of narcotics, specifically heroin and hashish residue.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was scheduled to give an evening performance at Maple Leaf Gardens on Saturday, May 3. That morning, the band members flew into Toronto (now Pearson) International Airport. Moments after Hendrix stepped off the plane, a bottle containing three packets of heroin and a tube with hashish residue was found in his flight bag. 

Police detained Hendrix for four hours, while a police lab confirmed the suspicious substances were illegal drugs. Hendrix was arrested, charged, photographed and released on $10,000 bail and then given a police escort to Maple Leaf Gardens, where 10,000 fans were waiting for the 8 p.m. concert to begin. 

He didn’t talk about his arrest on stage that night, although he improvised the song “Red House,’’ adding the line “as soon as I get out of jail, I wanna see her.” 

News of his arrest was slow to surface. It didn’t appear in the Star until the Monday paper two days later when music critic Jack Batten made a passing reference to the fact that Hendrix was “incidentally out on bail” in his rave review of the Saturday concert. Batten called the show “utterly, candidly erotic.” Hendrix, dressed in “tight crimson pants, purple shirt slit to his navel” was the “embodiment of 1969 sex.” 

The same day the review was published, Hendrix appeared in an Old City Hall courtroom filled with young fans. The three-minute arraignment in front of Judge Fred Hayes was mostly noteworthy for his colourful attire — he wore a pink shirt open to the waist, a multicoloured scarf around his neck, and an Apache-style headband. June 19 was set for his preliminary hearing. When Hendrix appeared, he was dressed in a suit. Judge Robert Taylor set a trial date of Dec. 8.

It went on for three days. Then an all-male jury deliberated for eight hours before acquitting James Marshall Hendrix on both charges — avoiding a maximum seven-year-prison term on each count.

He’d celebrated his 27th birthday shortly before trial — on Nov. 27. He would not see his next one.

The musician described by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music” died at a London, England, hotel on Sept. 18, 1970 of asphyxia, from vomit inhalation following a barbiturate overdose. Speculation continues today as to whether the overdose was an accident, deliberate or foul play. 

But when Hendrix won his court case Dec. 10, 1969, and emerged around 9 p.m. from York County Courthouse into a wet Toronto snowfall, he appeared to be on top of the world — grinning, flashing a peace sign and escorted by two beaming female admirers. 

From TheStar.com