Haze

Jimi Hendrix was not someone you would think would be as famous as he was. In segregated America it was hard to get a job period. Hendrix was Born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27 1942 in Seattle Washington. After his success in the UK, he went to the US and played in the Woodstock festival and that triggered his US success

Early life

            He was born in Seattle Washington in 1942 while his father was stationed in an army base in Oklahoma. He was born to his 17-year-old mother Lucille Hendrix nee jeter. He was one of five kids and was the only one without A disability. Around a year after his mother was put into temporary care because she had depression. While his dad was on release his brother died. His dad changed his name to James Marshall  Hendrix in memory of his brother Leon Marshall Hendrix. Jimi had 2 brothers and 2 sisters their names were Leon, Joseph, Katy, and Pamela. Leon was born with a unknown disease. Joseph and Pamela were born with physical disabilities and Katy was born blind. Jimi ended up having a fond taste for Elvis’music

In the army

            Jimi got into a little trouble with the authorities. He and his friends were downtown and thought what would it be like to hotwire a car and they thought it was so fun they did it a second time.  They were not so cautious and got caught as they were stealing it. When caught he was given a choice of going to prison for 15 years or going to the army for 2. He thought that it wouldn’t be that bad going to the army for 2 years. When he got there all of his things were packed and ready except him. He was assigned the 101st division. His division went into combat normally because he was a paratroop. He was not a good soldier, meaning he wasn’t a good marksman. In addition he didn’t listen to his superiors. After a year he was discharged. Many rumors are still unknown about this. One is that he had fallen in love with one of his fellow soldiers. Another one is that he had been shot or shot an officer.

Early career

            He bought his first guitar at the age of 15. He bought it for 5 cents at a garage sale. He learned to play over a couple of years. He decided at the age of 17 to make a band. He formed a band with 3 members including him. He was playing covers in small bars around Seattle. And one day the band thought what if we played a original song. So they stayed up one night and devised a song to leave the audience in awe. So they had practiced for weeks on end. And when the moment came that they could play it on stage. The crowed stood up and…left except one man in the back. Frank zappa was listening to the song and loved it. He said that they were pretty good and that he would recommend them to play at a show. He did and that started a chain reaction, which lead to the next topic

Woodstock

            This concert was legendary for it’s stature. It had all the major bands of the decade except the Beatles who didn’t tour. When Jimi was up to play he started with a simple song, which was voodoo child (slight return). Then it started to rain all day so this had several negative effects. For one the crowd went from 500,000 to around 180,000 people. Second the equipment was endangering of exploding. The band had a solution for both of these. The first was to cover the equipment. Second ,once the gear was covered he played the best song he could which was the Star Spangled Banner in rock form. He got back his crowd times 2. His next big concert was considered by former Beatle Paul McCartney. He recommended Monterey pop as a major concert for his career. It was it was where he did his famous burning guitar move. He played along with the famous band Cream at the end of their career.

Death

            Jimi Hendrix had returned to his apartment on September 18 1970. He had came home from rocking out and decided to go do some drugs at his apartment as normal. He had a heroin party. He got a little carried away and did around 7 hits in a row. Which is a lot when you think about it. So he had been having a bad trip for about 3 hours and then he puked. He puked one too many times and choked on his own puke. He was found 3 hours later. He was buried in his hometown of Seattle Washington. His grave isn’t complete they area still waiting on the statue of him. Engraved in his tombstone is his signature guitar, a fender Stratocaster with a whammy bar. The guitar is a right-hander but Hendrix was a lefty.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jimi Hendrix." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 22 Feb 2009, 23:16 UTC. 26 Feb 2009

<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimi_Hendrix&oldid=272600302>

The encyclopeadiea of rock/by patricia romanowski/producer rolling stone magizen