Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix, like Paul McCartney, was a left-handed guitar player. During his painfully shortlived career, Hendrix blazed a trail through the Sixties music scene, leaving behind a legacy quite unlike any other guitarist. His innovative techniques and kaleidoscopic blend of rock, jazz and blues found their home with his ensemble The Jimi Hendrix Experience, whose first album - the psychedelic masterpiece Are You Experienced? - is still regarded as one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Sadly the group were to split after three years together, and although Hendrix went on to form the Band Of Gypsies, it was only a year later that he died whilst overdosing on barbiturates. He grabbed electric guitar by the neck and wrestled it into a new era. His feedback-heavy solos and hallucinogenic tunes helped define the psychedelic '60s. Hendrix was one of the featured performers at the Woodstock music festival. He's also one of a series of rock stars who famously died young; he was 27 when he suffocated after ingesting wine and sleeping pills in 1970.

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