Elvis Presley Biography

Elvis Presley Biography

Singer, musician, actor. Born Elvis Aron Presley on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi. (He later changed the spelling of his middle name to the biblical form of Aaron.) From very humble beginnings, Elvis Presley grew up to become one of the biggest names in rock and roll. He was originally supposed to be a twin, but his brother Jesse Garon (sometimes spelled Jessie) was stillborn.

Raised by loving, working-class parents, Presley's family had little money, and they moved around a lot. He was deeply devoted to his parents, especially his mother Gladys, and was raised to have a strong faith in God. Presley attended the Assembly of God Church with his parents where the gospel music became an important influence on him.

Presley got his first guitar at the age of ten, and had his first taste of musical success by winning a talent show at Humes High School in Memphis. After graduating in 1953, he worked a number of jobs while pursuing his musical dream. He cut his first demo record at what later became known as Sun Studio that year, and before long, Sam Phillips, the record label owner, decided to take the young performer under his wing. "That's All Right" was Presley's first single in 1954. Presley began touring and recording, trying to get his first big break.

In 1955, Presley began to develop a following with fans being drawn to his unusual musical style, provocative gyrating hips, and good looks. That same year, he signed with RCA Records, a deal worked out by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Presley was on a roll, scoring his first number one single with "Heartbreak Hotel" and first number one album, Elvis Presley, and signing a movie contract with Paramount Pictures—all in 1956. Despite the uproar his sexy dance moves caused, he also becomes a popular guest on a number of television variety shows.

Soon Presley appeared to be everywhere—on the radio, television, and on screen. His first film, Love Me Tender (1956), was a box office hit. Even a stint in the U.S. military couldn't put a damper on Presley's thriving career. He received his draft notice in 1957 and was inducted into the army the following March. He eventually served in Germany about a year and a half. Shortly before Presley left for Europe, his beloved mother died. He was granted a leave and returned to Memphis for the funeral. Deeply saddened by her death, he returned to duty. While in Germany, his spirits lifted a bit when he met a young teenager named Priscilla Beaulieu.

After leaving the army in 1960, Presley resumed his career and soon rose right back to the top of the charts with the soundtrack for his film GI Blues. He continued recording music and acting in such films, as Blue Hawaii (1961), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), and Viva Las Vegas (1964). His films were often hit or miss with critics and audiences alike, but they made a profit and the soundtracks usually sold well. By the late 1960s, however, Presley appeared to be losing his box office appeal. Proving he was still the king of rock and rock, he did his first television special in 1968, which is often referred to as the '68 Comeback. He wowed audiences with his performance, which showcased his talents as a singer and a musician.

CRANBERRIES Biography

Combining the melodic jangle of post-Smiths indie-guitar pop with the lilting, trance-inducing sonic textures of late-'80s dream pop and adding a slight Celtic tint, the Cranberries became one of the more successful groups to emerge from the pre-Brit-pop U.K. indie scene of the early '90s. Led by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan, whose keening, powerful voice is the most distinctive element of the group's sound, the group initially made little impact in the United Kingdom. It wasn't until the lush ballad "Linger" became an American hit in 1993 that the band also achieved mass success in the U.K. Following the success of "Linger," the Cranberries quickly became international stars, as both their 1993 debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We, and its 1994 follow-up, No Need to Argue, sold millions of copies and produced a string of hit singles. By the time of their third album, 1996's To the Faithful Departed, the group had added distorted guitars to its sonic palette and attempted to make more socially significant music, which resulted in a downturn in the band's commercial fortunes.

Originally, the Cranberries were a band called the Cranberry Saw Us. Brothers Noel and Mike Hogan (guitar and bass, respectively) formed the band in Limerick, Ireland, with drummer Fergal Lawler in 1990. Following the departure of the group's original singer, Niall, the trio placed an advertisement for a female singer. Dolores O'Riordan responded to the advertisement and auditioned by writing lyrics and melodies to some of the band's existing demos. When she returned with a rough version of "Linger," the group hired her on the spot. Shortly after she joined, the band recorded a demo tape which they sold in record stores throughout Ireland. After the original run of 300 copies sold out, the group truncated their name to the Cranberries and sent another demo tape, which featured early version of both "Linger" and "Dreams," to record companies throughout the U.K. The tape was made at Xeric studios, which was run by Pearse Gilmore, who would later become their manager. At the time the tape was made, all of the members were still in their late teens.

The demo tape earned the attention of both the U.K. press and record industry and there soon was a bidding war between major British record labels. Eventually, the group signed with Island Records. The Cranberries headed into the studio with Gilmore as their producer to record their first single, "Uncertain." The title proved to be prophetic, as the band did indeed sound ill at ease on the single, leading to poor reviews in the press, in addition to tensions between the group and Gilmore. Before they were scheduled to record their debut in 1992, the Cranberries discovered that Gilmore had signed a secret deal with Island to improve his studios. The tensions within the band became so great they nearly broke up. Instead, the band severed all relations with Gilmore, hired Geoff Travis of Rough Trade as their new manager, and hired Stephen Street, who had previously worked with the Smiths, as their new producer.

The Cranberries' debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, was released in the spring of 1993, followed by a single of "Dreams." Neither the album or the single gained much attention, nor did a second single, "Linger." In the summer and fall of 1993, the band toured the United States, opening for The The and Suede, respectively; frequently, the Cranberries were given a friendlier reception than either of the headliners. The strong live shows led to MTV putting "Linger" into heavy rotation. By the end of the year, the single was on its way to becoming a crossover hit. Eventually, the single reached number eight on the U.S. charts, while the album went double platinum. Everybody Else and "Linger" began to take off in Britain in early 1994; the album eventually peaked at number one during the summer.

O'Riordan married the band's tour manager, Don Burton, in a much-publicized ceremony in July of 1994. The marriage, as well as the group's videos, emphasized the singer as the focal point of the band. O'Riordan's position in the group continued to rise with the fall release of the group's second album, No Need to Argue. Boasting a slightly harder, more streamlined sound, yet still produced by Stephen Street, the record debuted at number six on the U.S. charts and eventually outsold its predecessor; within a year it went triple platinum, spawning the number one modern rock hit "Zombie" and the number 11 "Ode to My Family."

During the tour for No Need to Argue, rumors began to circulate that O'Riordan was going to leave the band to pursue a solo career, all of which the band vehemently denied. Nevertheless, the rumors persisted until the band began recording their third album with producer Bruce Fairbairn, who had previously worked with Aerosmith. The resulting album, To the Faithful Departed, was a tougher, more rock-oriented album. Upon its spring 1996 release, the album entered the charts at number six, but its first single, "Salvation," failed to become ...

Jimi Hendrix Biography

James Marshall Hendrix
november 27, 1942 - september 18, 1970


Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix (November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer who is widely considered to be the most important electric guitarist in the history of popular music. As a guitarist, he built upon the innovations of blues stylists such as B. B. King, Albert King, T-Bone Walker, and Muddy Waters, as well as those of R&B guitarists like Curtis Mayfield. In addition, he extended the tradition of rock guitar: although previous guitarists, such as The Kinks' Dave Davies, and The Who's Pete Townshend, had employed feedback, distortion and other special effects as sonic tools, Hendrix, due to his grounding in blues, soul music and R&B, was able to use these devices in a way that transcended their sources. He was also an accomplished songwriter whose compositions have been covered by countless artists. As a record producer and musical architect, he was one of the first to use the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. Finally, his image as a rock star places him in the lineage of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles.
Youth and pre-professional career

Hendrix was born James Marshall Hendrix, in Seattle, Washington the son of Al Hendrix and Lucille Jeter. He grew up shy and sensitive. Like his contemporaries John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Hendrix was deeply affected by family problems - his parents' divorce in 1951 and the death of his mother in 1958, when he was 16. He was close to his maternal grandmother, who was part-Cherokee, and who instilled in the young Jimi a strong sense of pride about his Native American ancestry; both of Jimi's paternal grandparents were vaudeville performers who had settled in Vancouver, Canada, where his father, Al Hendrix, was born. Al eventually relocated to Seattle after serving in World War II, where he met and married Lucille Jeter. After the death of Lucille, Al gave Jimi a ukulele, and later bought him a US$5 acoustic guitar, setting him on the path to his future vocation.

After playing with several local Seattle bands, Hendrix enlisted in the Army, joining the 101st Airborne Division (stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, about 50 miles from Nashville, Tennessee) as a trainee paratrooper. He served less than a year and received a medical discharge after breaking his ankle on his 26th parachute jump. He said later that the sound of air whistling through the parachute shrouds was one of the sources of his 'spacy' guitar sound.

Hendrix, who had volunteered for service in the Vietnam War, never saw action, but his recordings would become favourites of soldiers fighting there. He initially made a precarious living performing in backing bands for touring soul and blues musicians, including Curtis Knight, B. B. King, and Little Richard during 1965. His first notice came from appearances with The Isley Brothers, notably on the two-parter Testify in 1964.

1965-1966

On October 15, 1965, Hendrix signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin, receiving US$1 and 1% royalty on records with Curtis Knight. The contract was later to cause serious litigation problems with Hendrix and other record labels.

By 1966 he had his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, and a residency at the Cafe Wha? in New York City. It was during this period that Hendrix met and worked with singer-guitarist Ellen McIlwaine and guitarist Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter (later a member of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers) as well as the iconoclastic Frank Zappa, whose band The Mothers of Invention was playing a residency at the Garrick Theatre in Greenwich Village. It was Zappa who introduced Hendrix to the newly-invented wah-wah pedal, an effect pedal of which Hendrix soon became the acknowledged master and which he made an integral part of his sound.


It was while performing with The Blue Flames at the Cafe Wha? that Hendrix was discovered by Chas Chandler, bassist of the famous British rock group The Animals. Chandler brought him to England, signed Hendrix to a management and production contract as his record producer, and helped Hendrix form a new band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

Within his first few show-stopping London club appearances, word of the new star spread like wildfire throughout the British music industry. His all-round showmanship and dazzling musicianship made instant fans of reigning guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, as well as members of The Beatles and The Who, whose managers immediately signed Hendrix to The Who's record label, Track Records. This promise was borne out in their first single, a cover of Hey Joe, a stylised blues song that was virtually a standard for rock bands at the time.

Further success came with the follow-up, the incendiary and original Purple Haze, whose heavily distorted guitar sound would be highly influential for the next 20 years, and the soulful ballad The Wind Cries Mary. These three songs were all top 10 hits. Now firmly established as a major star in the UK, Hendrix and his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham moved into a house in central London that had once been the home of the baroque composer Georg Friedrich Handel.

1967

1967 saw the release of the group's first album, Are You Experienced?, whose mix of melodic ballads (The Wind Cries Mary), pop-rock (Fire), psychedelia (Third Stone from the Sun), and blues (Red House) would prove the template for much of their later work. Hendrix was taken to hospital suffering burns to his hands after setting his guitar on fire for the first time at the Astoria theatre in London on March 31, 1967. He was later warned by Rank Theatre management to 'tone down' his stage act after causing damage to amplifiers and other stage equipment at his shows.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience was booked for the Monterey Pop Festival — at the strong urging of festival board member Paul McCartney — and the concert, featuring Hendrix's iconic burning and smashing of his guitar, was immortalized by filmmaker D A Pennebaker in his film Monterey Pop. The Monterey festival was a triumphant homecoming. It was followed by an abortive support slot opening for the pop group The Monkees on their first American tour.

The Monkees had asked for Hendrix simply because they were fans, but their mostly teenage audience didn't warm to his outlandish stage act and he abruptly quit the tour after few dates, just as Purple Haze was beginning to chart in America. Chas Chandler later admitted that being 'thrown off' The Monkees tour was designed to gain maximum media impact and outrage for Hendrix. At the time, a story circulated claiming that Hendrix had been removed from the tour because of complaints made by conservative women's organization the Daughters of the American Revolution that his stage conduct was 'lewd and indecent'. In fact, the story was false: it had been concocted by the Australian journalist Lillian Roxon, who was accompanying the tour with her friend, singer Lynne Randell, the other support act. The claim was facetiously repeated in Roxon's famous 1969 Rock Encyclopedia but she later admitted it had been fabricated.

Meanwhile, back in England, Hendrix's wild-man image and musical gimmickry (such as playing the guitar with his teeth and behind his back) continued to bring him publicity, although he was to become more and more frustrated by media and audience concentration on his stage act and his early hits, and his increasing difficulty in getting his newer music accepted.

1967 also saw the release of his second album. Axis: Bold as Love continued the style established by Are You Experienced, with tracks such as Little Wing and If 6 Was 9 showing his continuing mastery of his instrument. A mishap almost prevented the album's release, however — Hendrix lost the master tape of side one of the LP after he accidentally left it in a taxi. With the release deadline looming, Hendrix, Chandler and engineer Eddie Kramer were forced to make a hurried remix from the multitracks, which they completed in an all-night session. This was the version released in December 1967; Kramer and Hendrix later said that they were never entirely happy with the results.

1968

By this time, increasing personality differences with Noel Redding combined with the influence of drugs, alcohol and fatigue, led to a trouble-plagued tour of Scandinavia. On January 4, 1968, Hendrix was jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room in a drunken rage.

In November 1968 the band appeared live on the BBC's primetime variety show hosted by Lulu on the day that it was announced that Cream had broken up. Scheduled to do a three song set, after a sped up version of 'Hey Joe' Hendrix announced 'That's enough that stuff. To our good friends in Cream we hope you're doing OK' and launched into an instrumental version of 'Sunshine of Your Love'. Even though the set over ran and 'crashed' the scheduled news programme to follow fortunately the BBC producer kept the broadcast going.

The band's third recording, the double album Electric Ladyland 1968, was more eclectic and experimental, featuring a lengthy blues jam (Voodoo Chile), the jazz-inflected Rainy Day, Dream Away/Still Raining, Still Dreaming, and what is probably the definitive version of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. (Hendrix credited British band the Alan Bown Set for inspiration on the arrangement.)

The recording of the album was extremely problematic. Hendrix had by now decided to return to America and, frustrated by the limitations of commercial recording, he decided to establish his own state-of-the-art multitrack studio in New York, to which he could have unlimited access to realise his expanding musical visions. Construction of the studio, called Electric Lady, was beset with problems and it was not completed until mid 1970.

Hendrix's formerly disciplined work habits were also becoming erratic, and the combination of interminable sessions and studios filled with hangers-on finally led Chas Chandler to quit on December 1, 1968. Chandler later complained that Hendrix's insistence on doing multiple takes on every song (Gypsy Eyes apparently took 43 takes and he still wasn't satisfied with the result), combined with what he saw as incoherence caused by drugs, led to him to sell his share of the management company to his partner Mike Jeffrey. Hendrix's studio perfectionism was legendary — he reportedly made guitarist Dave Mason do more than 20 takes of the acoustic guitar backing on All Along The Watchtower — yet he was always insecure about his voice and often recorded his vocals behind studio screens.

Many critics now believe that the ascendancy of Mike Jeffrey was a decidedly negative influence on Hendrix's life and career. It has been alleged that Jeffrey (who had previously managed The Animals and has been much reviled by them) embezzled much of the money Hendrix earned during his lifetime and secreted it in offshore bank accounts. It is also believed that Jeffrey had close links to US intelligence organisations (he claimed publicly to be a secret agent) and to the mafia.

Despite the difficulties of its recording, many of the album tracks show Hendrix's vision expanding far beyond the scope of the original trio (it is said that the sound of this record would help inspire Miles Davis' sound on Bitches Brew) and saw him collaborating with a range of outside musicians including Dave Mason, Chris Wood and Steve Winwood from Traffic, drummer Buddy Miles and the former Dylan organist Al Kooper.

1969

His expanding musical horizons were accompanied by a deterioration in his relationship with his bandmates (particularly Redding), and the Experience broke up during 1969. His relations with the public also came to a head when on January 4, 1969 he was accused by television producers of arrogance after playing an impromptu version of Sunshine of your Love past his allotted time slot on the BBC1 show Happening for Lulu.

On May 3 he was arrested at Toronto International Airport after heroin was found in his luggage. He was later bailed on a US$10,000 surety; when the matter came to trial Hendrix was acquitted, claiming that the drugs had been slipped into his bag by a fan without his knowledge. On June 29, Noel Redding announced to the media that he had quit the Experience, although he had effectively ceased working with Hendrix during most of the recording of Electric Ladyland.

By August of 1969, however, Hendrix had formed a new band, called Gypsy Suns and Rainbows, to play the Woodstock festival. It featured Hendrix on guitar, Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums, Larry Lee on rhythm guitar and Jerry Velez and Juma Sultan on drums and percussion. The set, while notably under-rehearsed and ragged in performance (Hendrix was reputedly 'spiked' with a powerful dose of LSD just before going onstage) and played out to a slowly emptying field of revelers, featured an extraordinary instrumental version of The Star-Spangled Banner, distorted almost beyond recognition and accompanied by simulated sounds of war — machineguns, bombs and screams — all produced by Hendrix on his guitar.

The creation of these effects was groundbreaking in its own right, far expanding the traditional techniques of the electric guitar. The rendition has been described by some as a generation's statement on the unrest in US society, and others as an anti-American mockery, oddly symbolic of the beauty, spontaneity, and tragedy that was endemic to Hendrix's life. It was an unforgettable rendition remembered by generations. When asked on the Dick Cavett Show if he was aware of all the outrage he had caused by the performance, Hendrix replied: 'I thought it was beautiful.
1970

The Gypsy Suns and Rainbows were short-lived, and Hendrix formed a new trio, the Band of Gypsys (sic), comprising Billy Cox, an old army buddy, on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, for four memorable concerts on New Year's Eve 1969-70. The concerts were recorded, capturing several superb pieces, including what some feel to be one of Hendrix's greatest live performances, an explosive 12-minute rendition of his anti-war epic Machine Gun.

His association with Miles, however, was not to last and ended abruptly during a concert at Madison Square Gardens on January 28, 1970, when Hendrix walked out after playing just three songs, telling the audience: 'I'm sorry we just can't get it together.' Miles later said in a television interview that Hendrix felt he was losing the spotlight to other musicians. The rest of that year was spent recording mainly during the earliest days of the week, and playing live on the weekends. The US 1970 tour was structured with this pattern in mind.

The US 1970 'Cry of Love' tour began on the 25th April 1970 at the Los Angeles Forum to a capacity of about 20,000 people. From an opening comment 'Yours truly on video' it perhaps was filmed, but at least three amateur audio recordings were made (doing the rounds in the collector circles is a mix together of the so-called 'near' and 'far' sources). This was truly a dynamite rock concert and is in the top five live shows Hendrix ever played, with the first live versions of 'Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun)', 'Freedom' and 'Midnight Lightning' featuring toward the end. The next show was at Sacramento County Fairgrounds, 26th April 1970 and featured Hendrix wearing the same clothes as the night before! A very dense and convoluted 'Spanish Castle Magic'>>'Freedom' is considered the highlight of this short show (the previous night clocks in at almost 90 minutes whereas this show is around 60).

May 1970 yielded seven concerts and a anti-war benefit; some say Hendrix stumbled in early May but regained his composure and went on to play two particularly notable versions of the song 'Machine Gun'. The first was from Norman, Oklahoma, and features a flamenco sounding passage at the start (and a dedication to the Kent State slain), and the second is from Temple University, Philadelphia. After a minor illness 22/23 May, Hendrix went on to play the widely known Berkeley shows, which too are in the top five of Hendrix shows (I guess they count as one show ;) ). Aside from live concerts, this period in the studio shows Hendrix to be working solidly on new ideas like the song 'Freedom'. With the opening of Electric Lady studios, Hendrix started to spend more time in the studio and around this period starts laying down tracks on 'Drifting' and 'Straight Ahead'.

June 1970 was the midpoint of this tour and Hendrix played two of his top shows during this month, the sparkling Baltimore Civic Centre 13 June 1970 (which exists in three sources and was also amateur filmed in part) and the Boston Gardens 27 June 1970 show. Baltimore '70 is widely considered by Hendrix collectors as being one of the top two shows and is truly delightful. I've listened to it literally every day since May 1998. It has a clean crisp ringing sound to it and features such delights as a compact 'Red House', a driving 'Message to Love', 'Freedom' and 'Getting My Heart Back Together' (which has a short passage from 'Villanova Junction Blues'). At around 73 minutes it is too short, and finishes with a wild 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)>>Midnight Lightning' medley. The audio sources are about the same as from the LA Forum show. The next top show was from Boston Gardens and unfortunately isn't quite as easy to hear as Baltimore '70. Boston Gardens '70 was a very tight show with the song length kept short. With the placement of the 'Foxy Lady', 'Purple Haze>>Star Spangled Banner>>All Along the Watchtower' complex in the middle of the show, thousands of fans are heard going crazy in the background as these songs are played! With the notoriously bad acoustics Boston Gardens was known for (it was demolished in 2000), the distant sound quality and the surprising dearth of pictures or film, this concert is perhaps the least accessible and appreciable of the top five Hendrix shows. This period shows Hendrix to be intensively working on his new material in the studio. He remarked to fans at the Tulsa, Oklahoma 7 June 1970 show that his next LP would come out in 'July or august, in either one or two parts'. This was wishful thinking as the studio record proves, with perhaps half of the album complete.

July 1970 saw a few notable shows. The first was at Atlanta, 4 July, where the largest crowds in Hendrix' career battled heat and dehydration. At 400,000 people, Atlanta pop festival is truly outstanding in terms of audience and the vibe in the air is dense and muggy. Hendrix is tuned to D for the whole show (the same as *the* BOG 'Machine Gun'). There are so many highlights of this uneven show, but 'Getting My Heart Back Together' is particularly spectacular. Whilst not in the top five shows, Atlanta Pop is at least in the top ten. Professionally filmed and recorded it is a treat.

In August he gave his last performance in the United Kingdom, at the Isle of Wight Festival with Mitchell and Cox, expressing disappointment on-stage at his fans' clamour to hear his old hits rather than his new ideas. On September 6, during his final European tour, Hendrix was greeted by booing and jeering by fans while performing at the Fehmarn Festival in Germany in a riot-like atmosphere (officially his final stage performance). Bassist Billy Cox quit the tour and headed back to the United States after reportedly being dosed with PCP (phencyclidine).

Hendrix remained in England, and on September 17 he was found senseless in bed in the hotel room of a German girlfriend Monika Dannemann after taking a reported nine vesperax sleeping pills and choking on his own vomit. He died the next morning in St Mary Abbots Hospital, South Kensington. His body was returned home and he was interred in the Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, Washington, USA.

Legacy

Part of Hendrix's unique style was due to the fact that he was left-handed and that he played a right-handed guitar upside down, re-strung for left-handed playing. Although he owned and used a variety of guitars during his career (including a Gibson Flying V that he decorated with psychedelic designs) his guitar of choice, and the instrument that will always be associated with him, was the Fender Stratocaster, or 'Strat'. He bought his first Strat about 1965 and used them almost constantly for the rest of his life.

A feature of the Strat that Hendrix exploited to the full was the patented Fender tremolo arm, which enabled him to bend notes and entire chords without the guitar going out of tune. The Strat's easy action and relatively narrow neck were also ideally suited to Hendrix's evolving style and greatly enhanced his tremendous dexterity — as can be seen from films and photos, Jimi's hands were so large that he was able to fret across all six strings with the top joint of his thumb alone, and he could reputedly play lead and rhythm parts simultaneously.

Stratocasters had first been popularised by Buddy Holly and British band The Shadows, but they were almost impossible to obtain in the UK until the mid-1960s due to post-war import restrictions. Hendrix's emergence coincided with the lifting of these restrictions and he arguably did more than any other player to make the Stratocaster the biggest-selling electric guitar in history; before his arrival in the UK most top players had been using Gibsons and Rickenbackers, but after Hendrix, almost all of the leading guitarists, including Beck and Clapton, switched to the Stratocaster. Hendrix bought dozens of Strats during his lifetime; he gave many away (including one to ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons) but many others were stolen and he destroyed several of them in his famous guitar-burning finales.

The burnt and broken parts of the Stratocaster he destroyed at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival were given to Frank Zappa, who later rebuilt it and played it extensively during the 1970s and 1980s. After Zappa's death, the guitar was put up for sale by Zappa's son Dweezil. In May 2002, Dweezil put the guitar up for auction in the US, hoping it would fetch US$1 million, but it failed to sell. It was put up for auction again in September of the same year in London. Dweezil lowered the asking price to £450,000 (765,000 Euros), but once again the guitar failed to sell. The highest offer was a telephone bid of £300,000 (510,000 Euros) was refused. The legendary white 1968 Strat that Hendrix played at Woodstock sold at Sotheby's auction house in London in 1990 for £174,000 (295,800 Euros). The guitar was resold in 1993 for £750,000 (1,275,000 Euros). Both it and a shard of the burnt and broken guitar now reside in a permanent exhibit at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. The museum's founder, Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, is a fan of Hendrix's — the museum was originally conceived to be dedicated just to him.

Hendrix was also a prime mover in the development of modern guitar amplification and guitar effects. His high-energy stage act and the blistering volume at which he played required robust and powerful amplifiers. For the first few months of his touring career he used Vox and Fender amplifiers, but he quickly found that they could not stand up to the rigours of an Experience show. He then discovered the new range of high-powered guitar amps being made by London audio engineer Jim Marshall and they proved perfect for Jimi's needs. As with the Strat, Hendrix was central in promoting the popularity of the Marshall stack and Marshall amplifiers were crucial in shaping his heavily overdriven sound, enabling him to master the creative use of feedback as a musical effect.

Hendrix was also constantly looking for new guitar effects. He was one of the first guitarists to move past the gimmickry and exploit the full expressive possibilities of the wah-wah pedal. He also had a fruitful association with engineer Roger Mayer and made extensive use of several Mayer devices including the Axis fuzz unit, the Octavia octave doubler and the UniVibe, a vibrato unit designed to electronically simulate the modulation effects of the Leslie speaker. Hendrix's sound was a unique blend of high volume and high power, precise control of feedback and a range of cutting-edge guitar effects, especially the UniVibe-Octavia combination, which can be heard to full effect on the Band of Gypsys' live version of Machine Gun.

Despite his hectic touring schedule and his notorious perfectionism, he was also a prolific recording artist and he left behind more than 300 unreleased recordings besides his five official LPs and various singles. He became legendary as one of the great 1960s rock'n'roll musicians who, like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones, rose to stardom, flourished for just a few years and died young.

The legacy and influence of Hendrix has not dimmed with time; he was named the number one guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.

Kurt Cobain - Biography 1

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was born in Grays Harbor Community Hospital, Aberdeen, near Seattle in Washington on 20 February 1967.

His parents divorced in 1976 and in 1979 his father, Don petitioned the Superior Court for custody of Kurt, who ended up staying with various relatives.

In 1983 Kurt Cobain met Chris Novoselic and went around Aberdeen grafitti-ing.

In May 1985 Cobain dropped out of Aberdeen High School and tried heroin for the first time. In 1987 Cobain, Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard form various groups and finally settle down as Nirvana, which is to become the main catalyst of the 'grunge scene'.

A year later, Dale Crover replaced Burckhard as drummer and this role in Nirvana would go through a number of changes.

Burkhard comes and goes again and is eventually replaced by Chad Channing. In November 1988 Nirvana released their first single. "Love Buzz/Big Cheese". "Bleach" their debut album was released in June 1989.

In 1991 Nirvana left Sub-Pop and signed for Geffen. "Nevermind" was released and became a landmark record and in January 1992 it reached Number One. A month later Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love on 24 February.

In 1993 "In Utero" was released, but Cobain was going through well-documented difficulties. In May 1993 he was admitted to hospital in Seattle having had a heroin overdose.

In March 1994 Kurt Cobain overdosed again - on champagne and tablets in what was thought to be a suicide attempt.

On 5 April Cobain killed himself. An admission here: I have a book called "Who Killed Kurt Cobain?" by Halperin and Wallace - but I have not yet read it. According to the 'blurb' "this investigation... offers compelling and credible reasons for reopening this 'suicide case' - so that fans will know how their hero really died." Obviously it would be irresponsible to comment on the validity of these claims not having read the book, but why do 'blurbs' have to use such crass phrases to market books about the loss of someone's life?