Jimmy Hendrix Accomplishments

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27th, 1942 at King’s County Hospital in Seattle, Washington to parents Lucille Jeter and Al Hendrix. He was the first of Lucille’s five children, and his name was later changed to James Marshall Hendrix in honor of his father Al and brother Leon before eventually taking on the name Jimmy. Lucille was just seventeen years old when he was born and had a tumultuous relationship with his father Al. She was seldom around and was not an integral part of Hendrix’ life before she died from a drug overdose in 1958. As a child, Jimmy would pretend to play the broom like a guitar as he swept the floors of his home. Remarkably, he never took formal guitar lessons, and he taught himself how to play the guitar. He

After he was honorably discharged, Hendrix relocated to Nashville, TN where he formed a band with Billy called the “King Kasuals”. In Nashville, Jimmy lived in a housing project with no roof and was often exposed to racism including being denied service at restaurants and race riots. The Civil Rights Movement was in full force, and Tennessee was certainly not the most tolerant place in the country at the time. However, Jimmy found solace in music, and formed yet another band called “Jimmy James and the Blue Flames”. This marked his first role as a lead guitarist. In addition to being the front man for this new band, Jimmy also worked as a session guitarist for music icons like Sam Cooke, Ike & Tina Turner, The Isley Brothers, and Little Richard. However, Jimmy often felt as though he was an afterthought and wasn’t being used to his full potential. Unfulfilled with the situation he found himself in, Jimmy began touring the country in search of something new. He eventually made his way to New York City and started hanging out with Bob Dylan and playing in clubs around Greenwich Village. He played for about two hours each night but didn’t make enough money to really survive. He would often try to “chat up” people in order to find a place to stay some nights . Jimmy’s talents were clear to anybody who took a second to listen. He was wowing crowds every night and it was around this time that he decided to change the spelling of his first name to “Jimi” because it “looked more exotic”. Eventually, a frequent visitor to these clubs convinced Chas Chandler to come down to “Café Wha?” to watch him jam. Chas Chandler was the bassist for The Animals, an English R&B band that gained some fame during the early part of the 1960’s. Chas came down to the café and was immediately taken aback by Hendrix’ talent. He approached Hendrix and asked