Mid Term Paper-Jimi Hendrix - Brooke Bartman Dr DiPaolo...

Brooke Bartman
Dr. DiPaolo
Music 005 Section 002
5 March 2008
Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was one of the most influential guitarists in this
country’s history. Some of his hit songs were “Purple Haze” and “The Star Spangled
Banner”. Jimi had a hard life but it did not stop him from being what he wanted to be, a
musician. A newspaper called Jimi Hendrix in 1962 “the best guitarist in Kent” (Redding,
5).
On November 27, 1942, a guitar player in which everybody in this country is
fascinated by is born in Seattle, Washington. Jimi Hendrix had a rough time growing up.
His father, Al Hendrix, served in the United States army and was not granted leave to
visit his son. His mother, Lucille Hendrix, had no money and had to have Jimi stay with
someone else to take care of him. When he was younger, his mother told Jimi that his
father had passed away and left him and his mother with no money (Adoff, 192). When
Jimi was sixteen, his mother passed away. Though he had a hard life, Jimi was a true
guitar player. Jimi taught himself how to play the guitar. From strumming on broom
straws to writing poetry in school, Jimi made what was then small to something big. In
September of 1970, Jimi died of what was to be of an overdose from sleeping pills
(Black, 246).

Jimi was not only a singer but a songwriter too. He was left handed so he learned
to play the guitar upside down and continued to do this throughout his career. When Jimi