Jimi Hendrix Birthday

November 27

Jimi Hendrix was born on this date in 1942. He was an African-American blues and rock guitarist known for his innovative playing of the electric guitar and as a symbol of the 1960s youth counterculture.

He was of mixed African-American and Cherokee ancestry. Hendrix was from Seattle, Washington, where he taught himself to play the guitar and while in high school joined a rhythm and blues band that performed locally. From 1962 to 1965 he traveled throughout the United States as a lead guitarist for several rhythm and blues artists. In 1966, while leading his own band in Greenwich Village in New York City, where he had attracted a small following, Hendrix was noticed by British rock musician Chas Chandler, who took him to London and introduced him to Noel Redding, a bass player, and Mitch Mitchell, a drummer.

As a trio, they formed the group called The Jimi Hendrix Experience. With this group Hendrix rapidly became popular in Europe, and his reputation preceded his return to the United States. His appearance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967 was a watershed of his career, as was the success of his album “Are You Experienced?” that same year. These two events lifted him to instant rock stardom. Another album, “Electric Ladyland“(1968), was one of the most influential rock records of the 1960s.