Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Jimi Hendrix born Johnny Allen Hendrix November 27 1942 September 18 1970 was an American guitarist singer and songwriter He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a part of his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience the institution describes him as arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15 In 1961 he enlisted in the US Army but was discharged the following year Soon afterward he moved to Clarksville then Nashville Tennessee and 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 mid1965 He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires Hendrix moved to England in late 1966 after bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager Within months he had formed his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience with its rhythm section consisting of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell and achieved three UK top ten hits Hey Joe Purple Haze and The Wind Cries Mary He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 His third and final studio album Electric Ladyland 1968 became his most commercially successful release and his only number one album on the US Billboard 200 chart The worlds highestpaid rock musician Hendrix headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 He died in London from barbituraterelated asphyxia in September 1970 at the age of 27 Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tonealtering effects units in mainstream rock such as fuzz distortion Octavia wahwah and UniVibe He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings Holly GeorgeWarren of Rolling Stone commented Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began Description above from the Wikipedia article Jimi Hendrix licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia