Jimi Hendrix was born as Johnny Allen Hendrix but when he was four his parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix, in honor of his late uncle. At 14 he acquired a ukelel with one string and taught himself to play single notes by listening to Elvis Presley records. At 15 he began playing the guitar and, after serving in the 101st Airborne Division he began playing professionally full time as a backup musician with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. As the leader of the Jimi Hendrix Experience he shot to the top of his profession through his use of overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, his controlled use of amplifier feedback and wah-wah pedals, and was the first to use stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings. A year after he split with Little Richard he moved to the UK and within months had three top ten hits there. The following year his appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 (at the insistence of Paul McCartney) brought him to the attention of American audiences. His final studio album, "Electric Ladyland," was his only one to reach #1, and the next year he was the world's highest-paid performer. In 1968 he bought the Generaton Club in New York and transformed it into a recording studio, Electric Lady Studios, at a cost of $1 million. He headlined the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969. On 15 June 1970 he jammed at Electric Lady with two members of Traffic, Steve Winwood and Chris Wood, and he recorded one track the next day; the studio officially opened on 25 August, but then he left the US to play at the Isle of Wight Festival. On 16 September he jammed with Eric Burden and War at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Less than 48 hours later he died of barbiturate-related asphyxia, at the age of 27.
Jimi Hendrix was born as Johnny Allen Hendrix but when he was four his parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix, in honor of his late uncle. At 14 he acquired a ukelel with one string and taught himself to play single notes by listening to Elvis Presley records. At 15 he began playing the guitar and, after serving in the 101st Airborne Division he began playing professionally full time as a backup musician with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. As the leader of the Jimi Hendrix Experience he shot to the top of his profession through his use of overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, his controlled use of amplifier feedback and wah-wah pedals, and was the first to use stereophonic phasing effects in music recordings. A year after he split with Little Richard he moved to the UK and within months had three top ten hits there. The following year his appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 (at the insistence of Paul McCartney) brought him to the attention of American audiences. His final studio album, "Electric Ladyland," was his only one to reach #1, and the next year he was the world's highest-paid performer. In 1968 he bought the Generaton Club in New York and transformed it into a recording studio, Electric Lady Studios, at a cost of $1 million. He headlined the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969. On 15 June 1970 he jammed at Electric Lady with two members of Traffic, Steve Winwood and Chris Wood, and he recorded one track the next day; the studio officially opened on 25 August, but then he left the US to play at the Isle of Wight Festival. On 16 September he jammed with Eric Burden and War at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Less than 48 hours later he died of barbiturate-related asphyxia, at the age of 27.
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