The reason why Jimi Hendrix loved the United Kingdom so greatly
Although he was American, the late Jimi Hendrix shared a deep connection to the UK. It was on this tiny island where the guitar hero made his first steps to becoming an icon, aided by his manager and former Animals bassist Chas Chandler.
Hendrix’s story is a famous one. In 1966, during his final tour with The Animals in America, Chandler, who was gearing up for his segue into the music industry as a talent scout, artist manager, and record producer, witnessed an unknown performer strutting his stuff at Cafe Wha? in New York’s Greenwich Village. He was there on the advice of Linda Keith, the then-girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who had witnessed this fascinating newcomer only days prior. After this encounter, the world was never to be the same again.
Of course, the performer was a then-unknown Jimi Hendrix who was performing under his current moniker ‘Jimmy James’. The ever-confident Chandler thought to himself, “I could do something with this kid”, and he was right. That September, Chandler convinced Hendrix to accompany him to London, and the rest was history.
Ironically, the manager of The Animals, Michael Jeffery, eventually suggested that Hendrix ditch ‘Jimmy James’ and use his actual name instead, helping an icon to be born.
Not long after touching down in London, Chandler and Hendrix assembled The Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, and together the three created a thunderous sound that was so otherworldly that over the course of the next year, they would rise to become the hottest act on the planet.
Their debut album, Are You Experienced, was recorded between October 1966 and April 1967 at De Lane Lea and Olympic Studios in London, and after it dropped and became an instant classic, Hendrix was woven into the cultural fabric of the English capital and the country forevermore.
In London, the three signalled their arrival by blowing away their most eminent contemporaries, such as Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend, by way of their raucous live set at Saville Theatre. It was here that they resoundingly let everyone know that the time for complacency was over and that the future had arrived. Music was re-energised, and it was for the better.
Speaking to Mouth Magazine in 2018, Hendrix’s younger brother, Leon, explained why the ‘Purple Haze’ musician loved the UK so much: “He loved England ‘cos it was like Seattle. It was like home. It was the same climate, y’know? And this is where all the music was. This is where all of his friends were – Eric Clapton, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones, everybody…”
He concluded: “After people played they all went and jammed together. Like, when Jimi played a concert that was only the warm-up… After the concert he was out and about lookin’ for somebody to play with and somebody’s studio to jam at. They’d just be jammin’ all night ’til, like, seven or eight in the morning. It was awesome.”
