Jimi Hendrix
The prospect of writing a short biography of Jimi Hendrix is daunting, particularly given the volume of words already written and spoken about the man and his music. Perhaps a short sentence would suffice better than a few pages: "Jimi Hendrix permanently changed the course of rock music."
But then we’d be neglecting to mention the blues, and popular music in general, which he also changed in countless ways. His moment in the spotlight was nearly as brief as Buddy Holly’s, and his influence as great, to the third power.
He grew up listening to blues records of his Dad’s, taking up guitar in his teens and continuing to play during a stint in the Army. He bounced around various well-known R&B bands like Little Richard and the Isley Brothers before forming his own band, which is where he was when the Animals’ Chas Chandler discovered him in 1966. Chandler took him to England and hooked him up with two musicians to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and they created the album that shook the world: Are You Experienced?
A legion of guitarists, from rock stars to pre-teens, stopped dead in their tracks, realizing that the rules had suddenly changed. His subsequent albums, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland further astounded and inspired the rock and blues worlds, and when he broke up the Experience and played Woodstock with the Band of Gypsys, he gave a performance that made history. But history also records that his bright moment in the sun ended shortly thereafter; a year after Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix died of a barbiturate overdose accident, just shy of his 28th birthday.
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