Jimi Hendrix

He was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. He 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. Becoming the world’s highest-paid performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.

Details are disputed concerning Hendrix’s last day and death. He spent much of September 17, 1970, with Monika Dannemann in London, the only witness to his final hours. Dannemann said that she prepared a meal with wine for them at her apartment in the Samarkand Hotel. She said that they talked until around 7 a.m., when they went to sleep. Dannemann awoke around and found Hendrix breathing but unconscious and unresponsive. She called for an ambulance, and at their arrival Paramedics transported Hendrix to St Mary Abbots Hospital where Dr. John Bannister pronounced him dead on September 18, 1970. Hendrix had aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates. Citing “insufficient evidence of the circumstances”, he declared an open verdict where Dannemann later revealed that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage.

Arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music”. Hendrix in 1967 the 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 in1970, 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, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, among the 100 greatest albums of all time, and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.