On November 27th, 1942, Johnny Allen Hendrix was born at King County Hospital in Seattle, Washington, at 10:15 in the morning (Cross and Fricke). Born to Al Hendrix and Lucille Jeter, Hendrix joined his family as the oldest of five children (“Jimi Hendrix Biography.”). In the very beginning of his life, his father, Al, renamed him James Marshall, and gave him the nickname “Jimmy” to which he referred to him by most often (Cross and Fricke). Due to highly dysfunctional alcoholism, Jimi only saw his mother, Lucille, very sporadically before her death in 1958 (“Jimi Hendrix.”). In accordance, Hendrix was raised solely by Al, his father, who worked a multitude of jobs in order to support Jimi, and his only brother at the time, Leon. As a child, “Jimmy” began to show a very strong …show more content…
Due to his inability to read music, “Jimmy” began to study his favorite artists, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, etc, with intense scrutiny, and eventually lead to his start in music and his ability to play guitar (Cross and Fricke). Having studied these artists Jimi learned how to play guitar at 15, and his father bought him an acoustic when he was 16 (Cross and Fricke;”Jimi Hendrix.”). A year after this, Hendrix was caught riding in a stolen car and dropped out of Garfield High School to join the army in order to get out of going to prison for two years (“Jimi Hendrix Biography.”). Despite serving for only one year as a paratrooper, Jimi was medically discharged in 1962 due to injury (Murray). However, during his short time in the military, Hendrix formed a band with fellow soldier, Billy Cox, and played for troops all over the country (“Jimi Hendrix Biography.”). When Hendrix was discharged, he and Cox formed the band the King Kasuals, and played regularly in Nashville, TN (“Jimi Hendrix Biography.”). While in Tennessee, Jimi played not only on the bass with the King Kasuals, but as an accompanist to many musicians throughout the city