A kid who clung to a broom dreaming of a guitar became the most electrifying rock guitarist who ever lived — then died at just 27.
Born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, his name was later changed to James Marshall Hendrix by his parents in 1946. His father Al was stationed in Alabama with the US Army at the time of his birth and was thrown in the stockade by his commanding officer rather than given leave, not meeting his son until months later.
Hendrix's childhood was marked by poverty, family instability, and heartbreak. His parents divorced when he was nine, his mother Lucille died at 33 from a ruptured spleen, and his father refused to let him and his brother Leon attend her funeral — instead giving the boys shots of whiskey and telling them that was how men deal with loss.
A school social worker noticed young Hendrix obsessively carrying a broom to emulate a guitar and wrote a letter requesting funding for an instrument, warning that denying him one could cause psychological damage. Her efforts failed, but in 1957 Hendrix found a one-stringed ukulele in someone's garbage and taught himself to play along to Elvis Presley's 'Hound Dog' by ear.
At 15, Hendrix acquired his first acoustic guitar for just $5 and soon formed his first band, the Velvetones. He couldn't be heard over the other instruments without an electric guitar, so his father eventually bought him a white Supro Ozark — which launched his performing career at venues around Seattle.
Caught twice riding in stolen cars before age 19, Hendrix was given a choice between prison and the Army. He enlisted on May 31, 1961, was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, and earned the prestigious Screaming Eagles patch — but his platoon sergeant recommended his discharge, writing that Hendrix had 'no interest whatsoever in the Army.'
After his Army discharge in 1962, Hendrix moved to Nashville and cut his teeth on the Chitlin' Circuit, backing legends like Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Ike & Tina Turner, and the Isley Brothers. He also learned to play guitar with his teeth after seeing another guitarist perform the trick in Tennessee.
In February 1964, Hendrix won first prize at the legendary Apollo Theater amateur contest in Harlem. This victory, combined with connections from his girlfriend Faye Pridgon, helped him land a spot as guitarist for the Isley Brothers' backing band, the I.B. Specials.
Hendrix moved to England in late 1966 after Animals bassist Chas Chandler became his manager. Within months, the Jimi Hendrix Experience scored three UK top-ten hits — 'Hey Joe,' 'Purple Haze,' and 'The Wind Cries Mary' — and his legendary performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival made him a star in America.
His 1968 album Electric Ladyland became his only number-one on the US Billboard 200 chart. As the world's highest-paid rock musician, he headlined both the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 before dying in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18, 1970, at just 27.
Hendrix revolutionized electric guitar by turning feedback, fuzz distortion, and effects like the wah-wah pedal into a fluid musical vocabulary. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings, and Rolling Stone described him as pioneering 'the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source.'