When I die, just keep playing the records.
Jimi Hendrix
On August 26, 2003, Rolling Stone Magazine named Jimi Hendrix as the greatest guitarist in Rock history. Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Ry Cooder also made the top 10 list.
Hendrix was one of the most innovative electric guitars players of our day. He brought the Fender Stratocaster into the limelight and got sounds out of the guitar that is copied today.
On September 18, 1970, American musician Jimi Hendrix died in London at 27.
One of the 1960s’ most influential guitarists, the Rock Hall of Fame, described him as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music.”
For some days prior to his death, Hendrix had been in poor health, in part from fatigue caused by overwork, a chronic lack of sleep, and an assumed influenza-related illness.
Insecurities about his personal relationships, and disillusionment with the music industry, had also contributed to his frustration.
Although the details of his last hours and death are disputed, Hendrix spent much of his last day alive with Monika Dannemann. In the morning hours of September 18, Dannemann found Hendrix unresponsive in her apartment at the Samarkand Hotel, Notting Hill. She called for an ambulance at 11:18 a.m., and they took Hendrix to St Mary Abbot’s Hospital, where an attempt was made to resuscitate him. They pronounced him dead at 12:45 p.m.
The post-mortem examination concluded that Hendrix aspirated on his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates. At the inquest, the coroner, finding no evidence of suicide, and lacking sufficient evidence of the circumstances, recorded an open verdict. Dannemann stated that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage.
On October 1, 1970, Hendrix was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Washington. In 1992, his former girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, asked British authorities to reopen the investigation into Hendrix’s death. A subsequent inquiry by Scotland Yard proved inconclusive, and, in 1993, they decided against proceeding with an investigation.
Jimi Hendrix was one of the most influential guitarists of the 1960s. Hendrix expanded the range and vocabulary of the electric guitar into areas where no musician had ever ventured before. His boundless drive, technical ability, and creative application of such effects as wah-wah and distortion forever transformed the sound of rock and roll.”
During the week before his death, he was dealing with two pending lawsuits, one a paternity case and the other a recording contract dispute. It also troubled him that he wanted to leave his manager, Michael Jeffery.
Hendrix was in poor health, due in part to severe exhaustion caused by overworking, a chronic lack of sleep, and a persistent illness assumed to be influenza-related.
Lacking trusting personal relationships, his insecurities about the future, and disillusionment with the music industry contributed to his frustration.
