How much money did Jimi Hendrix make from Woodstock?
The first Woodstock Festival remains a key cultural touchstone. In much the same way the history of the 1950s has been successfully distilled into a set of evocative images (muscle cars, suburban houses, drug-addled housewives), the merest mention of the 1960s brings to mind bucolic-looking women brushing their long flaxen hair, dope-smoking musos chugging on joints and majestic rockers unleashing face-melting guitar solos, all which could be found in great abundance at Woodstock. But despite our enduring fascination with the event – which saw 400,000 people descend on a muddy field in Bethel, New York, in 1969 – we still know relatively little about the details. How much, for example, was Jimi Hendrix paid for his appearance?
By 1969, Hendrix had gone from being a little-known New York backing guitarist to one of the most revered rockers on the planet. After making the move to London in 1964, he formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience and set about making his mark. By 1967, he’d earned not one but two hit singles with ‘Hey Joe’ and ‘Purple Haze’. That same year he opened his show at London’s Saville Theatre with a rendition of the title track from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which had been released just a few days before and had stopped Are You Experienced? from bagging the number one spot. The Beatles were in the audience that night and were blown away.
Hendrix was undoubtedly the most anticipated performer at the Woodstock festival. Many of the 400,000 attendees had come specifically to see the guitarist and his new band, Gypsy Sun & Rainbows. Sadly, by Monday morning, that crowd had dwindled to just 40,000.
Those who stayed saw Hendrix perform one of the most significant sets of his entire career. Recalling the group’s performance during an interview for the Herald Tribune, Gerarde “Jerry” Valez, who played congas in Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, said: “You could see a whole universe above them filled with sleeping bags and trash and bras and bathing suits, food strewn everywhere, prophylactics everywhere. I said, ‘Jimi, we’re the counterculture, man, let’s build our own flag, let’s do our own thing. He was like, ‘Nah, I’m going to do The Star-Spangled Banner.’ Obviously, he was right and I was wrong.”
How much money did Jimi Hendrix make from Woodstock?
According to money.com, Hendrix and his band recieved $18,000 for their appearance. That’s equivalent to $132,206.27 in today’s money. The inflation rate has gone up drastically since 1969, by 634.48%, in fact, which means that the purchasing power of $18,000 in 1969 is roughly equal to $132,206,27 today. Still not bad, eh?
Hendrix was joined onstage by Mitch Mitchell, Juma Sultan, Jerry Velez, Larry Lee and Billy Cox. The guitarist would have taken a bigger percentage than the rest of his band, but let’s say that the sum was split between them equally. Had that been the case, Hendrix and his band members would have earned $22,034.37 each in today’s money.
That might sound like a lot, but Hendrix didn’t have much time to spend his earnings. Just over a year later, the guitarist died in his Notting Hill apartment after choking on his own vomit.
Since then, the question of who should be entitled to Hendrix’s millions has been the subject of various court battles. In 2021, Hendrix’s estate was worth no less than $175 million. Of course, didn’t have time to write a will, which made things very complicated indeed. After his death, Jimi’s finances were handled by an estate lawyer named Leo Branton, who died back in 2002. Al did have time to write a will, in which he stated that the Hendrix estate should be left to his adopted stepdaughter Janie Hendrix. Who knows how much of that $1275 million came from Woodstock? I imagine a very tiny amount, indeed.
