Jimi Hendrix : a brother's story / Leon Hendrix with Adam Mitchell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hendrix, Leon, 1948-

Contributor:

Mitchell, Adam D., 1975-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hendrix, Jimi.

Hendrix, Leon, 1948-.

Hendrix, Leon.

Rock musicians--United States--Biography.

Rock musicians.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 276 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2012.

Summary:

More than forty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix, recently named the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, continues to inspire fans. Many have written about Hendrix's life and music, but this book provides a revealing and unprecedented look at this visionary icon: an intimate biography written by Jimi's younger brother, Leon. Leon Hendrix takes us back to the days before Jimi's amazing rise to fame, beginning with their tough childhood in Seattle, when their fascination with science fiction and UFOs helped them escape a difficult family life. (Jimi insisted his family call him "Buster," after Flash Gordon actor Buster Crabbe.) The author reveals Jimi's early fascination with sound, from his experiments with plucking wires attached to bedposts to the time when he got in trouble for taking apart the family radio ("I was looking for the music," he explained) to Jimi's purchasing his first guitar, a Sears, Roebuck and Co. acoustic, from a neighbor. Leon recounts Jimi's early days performing on the "Chitlin' Circuit," when Jimi would call from the road to play early versions of tracks for the classic album Are You Experienced, and illuminates the biographical roots of Jimi's most well-known songs. The book also tells about the heady days of sex and drugs that came with Jimi's skyrocketing fame and how Leon felt Jimi's management isolated him from the rest of the family. The author speaks of his own heartbreak, learning of his brother's sudden death while incarcerated in Washington State's Monroe Reformatory. Commemorating what would have been Jimi's seventieth birthday, Leon Hendrix's poignant and captivating account sheds new light on a music legend.

Contents:

Rainer Vista projects

Vagabond gypsy boys

Foster care

Finding the music

Joining bands

From the rocking kings to the army

Life without Buster

Seattle street hustling

September 6, 1968

California dreaming

Still dreaming

In and out of the army

The darkest days

Freedom and the aftermath

Rock and roll swindle

Losing Dad.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780312668815

0312668813

9781250012371

1250012376

OCLC:

759913922