James Marshall Hendrix was born on 27 November 1942 in Seattle, Washington, and taught himself guitar as a teenager, playing right-handed guitars upside down and restrung for his left-handed playing style before serving briefly in the US Army and then touring as a backing musician for artists including Little Richard and the Isley Brothers.
In 1966 Hendrix moved to London at the encouragement of Animals bassist Chas Chandler, where he formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience with British musicians Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, quickly electrifying London's music scene with performances that pushed the electric guitar's capabilities to unprecedented extremes.
The Experience's debut album Are You Experienced, released in 1967, combined psychedelic rock with Hendrix's innovative use of feedback, distortion and the wah-wah pedal, establishing him as one of the most technically and creatively daring guitarists in popular music history.
Hendrix's legendary 1969 performance of The Star-Spangled Banner at the Woodstock festival, using guitar feedback to evoke the sounds of war, became one of the most iconic moments in rock history, encapsulating the countercultural politics of the era in a single performance.
Hendrix continued to push musical boundaries with albums including Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland until his death in London in 1970 at age 27; he is consistently ranked among the greatest guitarists of all time and was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
- Widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists in the history of popular music
- Pioneered new uses of feedback, distortion and the wah-wah pedal on electric guitar
- Delivered an iconic performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival
- Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1992
- Ranked number one guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine
- Mastery can come from unconventional methods. Hendrix taught himself to play a right-handed guitar upside down, turning a limitation into a signature style.
- A single performance can define an era. His Woodstock rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner captured the political tensions of an entire generation in a few minutes of music.