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The Rock Revolutionary Jimi Hendrix's Experience

    Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist in rock history,
revolutionized the sound of rock.   In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix
Experience rocked the nation with their first album, Are You
Experienced?   Hendrix's life was cut short by the tragedy of drugs in
1970, when he was only twenty seven years old.   In these three years  
the sound of rock changed greatly, and Hendrixs guitar playing was a
major influence.

    Jimi was born in Seattle, Washington on November 27, 1942.   As a
young boy, whenever the chance came, Jimi would try to play along with
his R & B records.   However, music was not his life long   dream.   At
first, the army was.   In the late 1950s, Hendrix enlisted in the
101st Airborne Division.   After sustaining a back injury during a
jump, he received a medical discharge.   After his army career came to
an abrupt end, he decided to go into the music field.   By this time
he had become an accomplished guitarist, and was soon to become known
as the greatest guitarist ever   (Stambler, pg. 290).

    However, he did not start out at the top.   Jimi started
out playing as part of the back-up for small time R & B groups.   It
did not take long before his work was in demand with some of the best
known artists in the field, such as B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner,  
Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, Littler Richard, Wilson Pickett, and
King Curtis (Clifford, pg. 181).   Using the name Jimmy James, he
toured with a bunch of R & B shows, including six months as a member
of James Browns Famous Flames (Stambler, pg. 290).

    At the Cafe Wha! in New York, in 1966, Hendrix decided to try
singing.   Jimi lucked out when a man by the name of Charles Chas
Chandler from Eric Burdon's Animals heard him at the club and thought
he was sensational.   When Chas heard him again later that year, he
talked Jimi into moving to England where he would really get the
chance to start his career (Stambler, pg. 290).

    Along with...