Hendrix, James Marshall “Jimi”

Impact on the world

After honing his craft as a backing guitarist for the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, and other R&B acts on the Chitlin' Circuit, Hendrix was discovered playing in Greenwich Village and brought to London in 1966, where he formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience and released Are You Experienced, an album that redefined what an electric guitar could do; he was one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects including fuzz distortion, wah-wah, and the Uni-Vibe, and popularized the previously undesirable sound of amplifier feedback as an expressive musical tool. His 1968 album Electric Ladyland became his only number-one album in the U.S., and his extended, war-evoking rendition of the national anthem at Woodstock in 1969, described by one critic as “probably the single greatest moment of the sixties,” remains one of the most studied performances in rock history. Hendrix was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, which described him as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music,” and his influence extends across funk, hip-hop, and metal through guitarists from Prince to Eddie Hazel.

Life & background

Born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, and renamed James Marshall Hendrix by his father, Hendrix taught himself guitar as a teenager and served briefly in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division before pursuing music full time. He rose to fame in London in 1966 and 1967 before returning to headline Woodstock in 1969, and died in London, England, on September 18, 1970, at age 27, from barbiturate-related asphyxia.

Sources

1. MasterClass; EBSCO Research Starters