Left us on this day (Sept. 18) in 1970: Jimi Hendrix (asphyxiated on his own vomit while intoxicated with barbiturates, age 27), arguably the most acclaimed guitarist rock music has ever known; the list of peers & guitarists to follow that he directly influenced is, without exaggeration, just about everybody; he first backed The Isley Brothers & Little Richard in 1964-65 before joining New York R&B band Curtis Knight & The Squires, then briefly forming his own band, The Blue Flame; he moved to England in late-1966 where he earned three UK Top 10 hits with the Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hey Joe, Purple Haze & The Wind Cries Mary; the group recorded a triad of rocks most acclaimed albums, Are You Experienced? (1967), Axis: Bold As Love (1967) & Electric Ladyland (1968); his incendiary performances at the Monteray Pop Festival, Woodstock & Isle of Wight Festival cemented his reputation; with new ensemble Band of Gypsys, he released the live album of the same name just thee months before his passing; the circumstances surrounding Jimis death are still shrouded in mystery; The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame in 1992 & the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005; in 1999, readers of both Rolling Stone & Guitar World ranked Jimi among the most important musicians of the 20th century...
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 20:40:36 +0000