27: Jimi Hendrix

The 27 Club #3

by Chris Salewicz

James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix is the most famous and perhaps the most innovative guitarist in music history. He died aged 27.In this thought-provoking mini-biography, acclaimed author Chris Salewicz attends not just to Hendrix's virtuoso skill, but also to his enigmatic and unpredictable character. He explores Hendrix's status as psychedelic talisman and fashion icon, detailing the attitude and style that informed his Jimi Hendrix paints an intimate portrait of a man struggling with fame and substance abuse while mesmerizing the world. 27: Jimi Hendrix is the fourth in a series of exclusive music ebooks, an ambitious project examining the perils of genius, celebrity and excess. Other titles in the series include 27: Amy Winehouse, 27: Kurt Cobain, 27: Brian Jones, and 27: Jim Morrison.

Genres: Music

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 8, 2012

About the author

Chris Salewicz's writing on music and popular culture has appeared in publications around the globe. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer."

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of a series of short ebooks about musicians who died at the early age of 27 and includes Kurt Kobain, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, among others. In a way, they are more a potted biography than anything else and I was interested to read this one, as I knew very little about Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix had a difficult childhood. His seventeen year old mother was little more than a child herself when he was born. His young parents had a turbulent and difficult relationship – breaking up several times, having two children with serious medical conditions and eventually having all their four youngest children either made Wards of Court or being placed into foster care. Jimi, the eldest, was also threatened with being taken away from his father; who was finally awarded custody due to his mother’s drinking and neglect. Although he was not taken from his father, throughout his childhood he spent much time with relatives.

His unsettled childhood certainly affected Hendrix deeply. He became a quiet and sensitive boy, who idealised the mother who was kind to him, but unable to fulfil her responsibilities as a mother and who died young. His mother was always a woman who enjoyed partying and drinking and Jimi found himself attracted to such women as he grew older, yet wildly jealous of them and afraid of being left as his mother left him.

This book takes us through Jimi’s early career as a musician, his ‘discovery’ by Chas Chandler of the Animals, his success in Swinging London and then, later, his return to America. Sadly, alongside the success of his albums and appearances at such huge events as the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock, there are frictions with the band and the drugs and drink which would plague him. Like all of the books in this series, this is a sad read – so much potential unfulfilled and a young life ended too soon. Yet, these are also good introductions to musicians – their lives and their music – and I recommend the series highly.