Jimi Hendrix has lived an interesting life

During the 1960s in the US a new genre of music hit the scene when Jimi Hendrix gained popularity with the hippie crowd. After becoming beloved, Hendrix’s talent and music inspired a whole new generation of musicians.

N. Mansfield, Journalist

March 5, 2025

Jimi Hendrix has lived an interesting life

Early Life

Jimi Hendrix was born at 10:15 a.m. on November 27, 1942 as Johnny Allen Hendrix. Johnny, at the time, was later renamed to “James” by his father. James or “Jimi” had an early childhood of going back and forth between foster homes, friends, and family as his father and mother were divorced and his father had struggles making ends meet. Jimi would later go on to live with his father fully in 1950. When Jimi was a teenager, early rock and roll was on the rise. Elvis Presley was one of the first popular artists Jimi was known to enjoy. There is a sketch of Elvis drawn by a young Jimi Hendrix kept in his family’s archives. Along with Elvis Jimi enjoyed Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Buddy Holly, and Howlin Wolf. Jimi would often try to learn and concentrate on the tunes of the songs he listened to without knowing how to read music. Before he got a guitar he would pretend to play on a broom he had. In 1958, Jimi was given his first electric guitar. It was a $5 acoustic guitar given by a friend. This guitar would help with what continued to be Jimi’s passion, guitar.

Military Life

In 1959 Jimi dropped out of high school. He has claimed before that he was kicked out and it is unknown whether he was kicked or dropped out. In 1961, Jimi Hendrix enlisted in the military. Jimi had gotten in trouble over stolen cars and was given the options between facing prison time or joining the military. As stated earlier, Jimi would join the military. By many sources, it has been stated that he did not do very well. He was given the role of a paratrooper. Jimi began his training and had just started playing his guitar more. His passion for guitar eventually took over, neglecting many military duties until he was eventually discharged. Jimi would eventually sustain an ankle injury from a parachute jump and his sergeant would later file a report saying “He has no interest whatsoever in the Army … It is my opinion that Private Hendrix will never come up to the standards required of a soldier. I feel that the military service will benefit if he is discharged as soon as possible”. On July 2nd, 1962, Jimi Hendrix would be honorably discharged from the military.`

Jimi Hendrix was in the military (N. Mansfield)

Big Break

In 1966, Jimi would get his big break with his single “Hey Joe.” After the military Jimi would perform as a session guitarist. While doing this Jimi was able to play with many people such as Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard. Jimi would eventually play guitar with bassist Chas Chandler during a July performance. Chas was impressed with Jimi and offered him an agreement that would move him to London to form a new band. Jimi was paired up with drummer Mitch Mitchel and bassist Noel Redding. “Hey Joe” was released and topped the UK charts, reaching as high as number 6 in 1967. This would later follow up with the release of the album “Are you Experienced.”

Success

Jimi would come to have a lot of success in England with tracks on his album such as “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Foxy Lady,” and “Are You Experienced?” Jimi was getting popular in England, but he would only start to become popular with an American audience once he performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival. After Jimi performed, many people around the world started listening to The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1967, Jimi Hendrix would release his album Axis: Bold As Love and later return to America to start the process of building his own studio. This studio would be later known as Electric Lady Studios. Jimi would later release his album Electric Ladyland to major success. With all the stress of touring and recording, it became demanding for “The Jimi Hendrix Experience” and in 1969 the group disbanded, this would not stop the growing success of Jimi Hendrix however. Later on in 1969 Jimi would perform the Star Spangled Banner. This performance was praised for making a statement on the Vietnam war at the time with sounds of gunfire and war in the song.

“As much a statement about his feelings about war, ‘Star Spangled Banner’ was a perfect vehicle for Hendrix’s complex vision of incorporating stunning technical work with completely new ideas in feedback,” says Wayne Pernu.