Many questions remain about the life and death of Jimi Hendrix. Perhaps the most haunting, writes Mark Bannerman, is what sort of music might he have given the world had he survived?
On the evening of September 17, 1970, Eric Clapton walked up the steps to Lyceum Theatre in London. He carried with him a white, left-handed Fender Stratocaster guitar.The meeting never took place. The guitar remained with Clapton and, several hours later, Hendrix was found dead in his girlfriend's hotel room.
Dannemann repeatedly told conflicting stories about what happened. Having found Hendrix unresponsive, either dead or near death, she claimed she rang an ambulance some time between 9:00am and 11:00am. Later, she insisted Hendrix was alive as he was loaded into the ambulance.But that version of events is at odds with Eric Burdon's recollections. He claimed, after a frantic call from Monika, he came to the hotel at dawn just in time to see the ambulance disappearing down the street.
It was a lethal cocktail for a man already in poor physical condition, meaning that when he vomited in his sleep he couldn't clear his airway. As Hendrix's biographer Charles R. Cross puts it so clearly: "The life he created as a star was as lonely and isolating as his fractured childhood." According to Sultan, Hendrix's manager did everything he could to undermine the guitarist's vision, even going out of his way to sabotage a television appearance by the new band.Hendrix's problems didn't end with his manager. As the sounds of Woodstock faded, Hendrix found his past catching up with him in the form of an old management agreement he'd signed with one time manager, Ed Chalpin.
Mike Jeffery's answer was to book Hendrix on a punishing touring schedule including concerts halls and festivals. Onstage, the band struggled with sub-standard sound systems, while off-stage the festivals became battle grounds with audiences demanding free concerts and fighting with police.As the year rolled on, Hendrix's frustration was evident. Privately, he told friends he wanted out of his contract with Mike Jeffery.
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