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Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London
Becoming Jimi Hendrix traces “Jimmy’s” early musical roots, from a harrowing, hand-to-mouth upbringing in a poverty-stricken, broken Seattle home to his early discovery of the blues to his stint as a reluctant recruit of the 101st Airborne who was magnetically drawn to the rhythm and blues scene in Nashville. As a sideman, Hendrix played with the likes of Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, the Isley Brothers, and Sam & Dave—but none knew what to make of his spotlight-stealing rock guitar experimentation, the likes of which had never been heard before.
From 1962 to 1966, on the rough and tumble club circuit, Hendrix learned to please a crowd, deal with racism, and navigate shady music industry characters, all while evolving his own astonishing style. Finally, in New York’s Greenwich Village, two key women helped him survive, and his discovery in a tiny basement club in 1966 led to Hendrix instantly being heralded as a major act in Europe before he returned to America, appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, and entered the pantheon of rock’s greatest musicians.
Becoming Jimi Hendrix is based on over one hundred interviews with those who knew Hendrix best during his lean years, more than half of whom have never spoken about him on the record. Utilizing court transcripts, FBI files, private letters, unpublished photos, and U.S. Army documents, this is the story of a young musician who overcame enormous odds, a past that drove him to outbursts of violence, and terrible professional and personal decisions that complicated his life before his untimely demise.
From 1962 to 1966, on the rough and tumble club circuit, Hendrix learned to please a crowd, deal with racism, and navigate shady music industry characters, all while evolving his own astonishing style. Finally, in New York’s Greenwich Village, two key women helped him survive, and his discovery in a tiny basement club in 1966 led to Hendrix instantly being heralded as a major act in Europe before he returned to America, appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, and entered the pantheon of rock’s greatest musicians.
Becoming Jimi Hendrix is based on over one hundred interviews with those who knew Hendrix best during his lean years, more than half of whom have never spoken about him on the record. Utilizing court transcripts, FBI files, private letters, unpublished photos, and U.S. Army documents, this is the story of a young musician who overcame enormous odds, a past that drove him to outbursts of violence, and terrible professional and personal decisions that complicated his life before his untimely demise.
274 pages, Paperback
First published August 31, 2010
About the author
Steven Roby
5 books2 followersSTEVEN ROBY is a respected Jimi Hendrix historian/archivist and author of the bestseller Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix. It was selected as the Best Rock Book for 2002 by the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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October 21, 2022Recimo prosek - sretala sam se i sa dosta boljim biografijama, bar po nekom mom kriterijumu. No dobro, beše čitljivo 😎.
October 19, 2010
Terrific original research on the pre-stardom life of Jimi Hendrix. Disproves some legends, but adds some new ones, especially regarding Hendrix' sexual and musical prowess. On the dark side, Hendrix was a terrible co-worker and an abusive boyfriend. I'd say overall this book makes Hendrix seem more human than superman, which may or may not be a good thing.
September 10, 2012
I'm so glad I read this amazing, informative biography. After getting past a glaring typo on page 1, I found this book to be full of surprising, touching facts. I've always loved Jimi Hendrix, and now I know more about the life and death of this talented, shy, conflicted, young musician. Wish he was here.
July 15, 2016
A good read especially as a musician. It was interesting (and sad) to learn about the past of Jimi.
July 11, 2019
An excellent behind-the-scenes look at one of history's best guitarists. I learned so much from this book about Hendrix that I simply had no idea about. An interesting guy all round!
April 12, 2021
Great storytelling about the legend. Loved the attention to detail and anecdotes from people who actually knew Jimi. Enjoyed this history lesson about an icon. Rest in peace, Jimi.
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March 3, 2014 In the book “Becoming Jimi Hendrix”, the author’s purpose was to inform the readers on the life of Hendrix and how he became who he was. In this book the author states his purpose directly. He gives facts about Hendrix’s life right from the start. Many interesting facts are presented about Jimi Hendrix, such as how he played a right handed guitar left handed. Throughout the whole story it talked about Jimi’s life and what he had accomplished, and how he achieved his fame and accomplishments.
I think the theme of this book would be the rewards of hard work. Achieving something and being good at it isn't just something that happens, it's something you have to work at and put time into. Jimi brought his guitar with him everywhere he went. He wasn’t just automatically good at playing guitar. He practiced each and every time he got. He had a passion for it. Jimi grew up in poverty, also illustrating how it doesn't matter where you come from, you can be successful if you have the effort to put in. His first guitar was actually something he'd made out of common household items. His first actual instrument was a ukulele with one string, and his first actual guitar he had was five dollars, which his dad could almost not even afford.
This book was written in the style of a narration. This book started out as Jimi as a small child, describing when he got his first guitar and the excitement he had, all the way through when Jimi was just a small town player, playing for only a few people at a time. We then see Jimi's rise to fame as he becomes the best guitarist of his time, and even battling Eric Clapton in an epic guitar duel. As you read it, the book almost seems like a "zero to hero" type of deal, and in reality, it's not far from it.
I really enjoyed this book, not only because I really love Jimi Hendrix, but because I believe this book depicts Jimi as an over-comer who never let anything get in his way to being one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Many people do not know what kind of hardships Hendrix went through to get where he did, and I believe he deserves more recognition for that fact. This book, however, did a tremendous job of doing just that, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about Jimi Hendrix or just stories about overcoming obstacles in general.
I think the theme of this book would be the rewards of hard work. Achieving something and being good at it isn't just something that happens, it's something you have to work at and put time into. Jimi brought his guitar with him everywhere he went. He wasn’t just automatically good at playing guitar. He practiced each and every time he got. He had a passion for it. Jimi grew up in poverty, also illustrating how it doesn't matter where you come from, you can be successful if you have the effort to put in. His first guitar was actually something he'd made out of common household items. His first actual instrument was a ukulele with one string, and his first actual guitar he had was five dollars, which his dad could almost not even afford.
This book was written in the style of a narration. This book started out as Jimi as a small child, describing when he got his first guitar and the excitement he had, all the way through when Jimi was just a small town player, playing for only a few people at a time. We then see Jimi's rise to fame as he becomes the best guitarist of his time, and even battling Eric Clapton in an epic guitar duel. As you read it, the book almost seems like a "zero to hero" type of deal, and in reality, it's not far from it.
I really enjoyed this book, not only because I really love Jimi Hendrix, but because I believe this book depicts Jimi as an over-comer who never let anything get in his way to being one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Many people do not know what kind of hardships Hendrix went through to get where he did, and I believe he deserves more recognition for that fact. This book, however, did a tremendous job of doing just that, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about Jimi Hendrix or just stories about overcoming obstacles in general.
December 5, 2012
In the book “Becoming Jimi Hendrix”, the author’s purpose was to inform the readers. In this book the author states his purpose directly. For example he gives facts about Hendrix’s life right from the start. I learned many new things about Jimi Hendrix from reading this book. I learned that he played a right handed guitar left handed. Throughout the whole story it talked about Jimi’s life and what he had accomplished.
In my opinion, I think that the author was trying to say that the theme of the book would be to achieve something and to be good at it, you have to practice and put time into it. Jimi brought his guitar with him everywhere he went. He wasn’t just automatically good at playing guitar. He practiced and practiced and practiced. He also had a passion for it. I think that there was another theme in the book and that it was it doesn’t matter where you came from to be successful. Jimi grew up in poverty. His first guitar he had he made out of common household items. His first actual instrument was a ukulele with one string. His first actual guitar he had was five dollars and his dad could almost not afford that.
This book was written in a narration. A narration tells a story through a series of events in chronological order. This book started out as when jimi was just a small child. And it goes through when he got his first guitar and couldn’t put it down, to him going to the military instead of going to jail, and him playing shows with a couple people he knew. It goes to when he got famous and my favorite part which was when he got into a guitar battle with Eric Clapton who was the best guitarist at that time and beat him.
My opinion of the book, is that I really enjoyed reading it. I just enjoyed mostly all of it because I can relate to playing guitar and I love playing just as jimi did. The only thing out of the book I would take out would be the beginning of the book which was about his childhood and it didn’t really have anything exciting about it. That is the only part of the book that I would change. I would prefer this book to my friends. This book really isn’t similar to any other book I have read in the past.
In my opinion, I think that the author was trying to say that the theme of the book would be to achieve something and to be good at it, you have to practice and put time into it. Jimi brought his guitar with him everywhere he went. He wasn’t just automatically good at playing guitar. He practiced and practiced and practiced. He also had a passion for it. I think that there was another theme in the book and that it was it doesn’t matter where you came from to be successful. Jimi grew up in poverty. His first guitar he had he made out of common household items. His first actual instrument was a ukulele with one string. His first actual guitar he had was five dollars and his dad could almost not afford that.
This book was written in a narration. A narration tells a story through a series of events in chronological order. This book started out as when jimi was just a small child. And it goes through when he got his first guitar and couldn’t put it down, to him going to the military instead of going to jail, and him playing shows with a couple people he knew. It goes to when he got famous and my favorite part which was when he got into a guitar battle with Eric Clapton who was the best guitarist at that time and beat him.
My opinion of the book, is that I really enjoyed reading it. I just enjoyed mostly all of it because I can relate to playing guitar and I love playing just as jimi did. The only thing out of the book I would take out would be the beginning of the book which was about his childhood and it didn’t really have anything exciting about it. That is the only part of the book that I would change. I would prefer this book to my friends. This book really isn’t similar to any other book I have read in the past.
December 30, 2010
I found out about this book from Chris Neal's excellent Rockonomics blog. I was very excited to read this latest volume on the man, the myth, the legend because it deals with Hendrix's origins in the early 60's U.S. R&B scene. I love origin stories!
Unfortunately, this one's a little lacking in depth. I wanted gritty details and lots of 'em, pages and pages of stories, insights into where Hendrix came from. Instead, Becoming Jimi Hendrix is almost a brief overview. It's fascinating and packed with a lot of great information but, in my opinion, not near enough.
Roby did a fine job and conducted a great deal of research, getting in touch with and interviewing a number of people who knew and dealt with Hendrix, played in bands with him in his pre-Experience days and were there for the development of perhaps the finest electric rock guitarist who ever was. All the same, I was left wanting more. Almost a fifth of the book is devoted to an excellent bibliography and listings of both pre-Experience recording sessions and pre-Experience live dates. As valuable and interesting as this information is, it was when I got to these appendices that I felt cut short and at loose ends.
That this is the first volume dealing with Hendrix's early, developmental years means, perhaps, someone else will tackle the subject at a later date and do Roby one better. I will continue to hope so. However, Hendrix fans will find a lot to hold their interest and imagination with Becoming Hendrix.
Unfortunately, this one's a little lacking in depth. I wanted gritty details and lots of 'em, pages and pages of stories, insights into where Hendrix came from. Instead, Becoming Jimi Hendrix is almost a brief overview. It's fascinating and packed with a lot of great information but, in my opinion, not near enough.
Roby did a fine job and conducted a great deal of research, getting in touch with and interviewing a number of people who knew and dealt with Hendrix, played in bands with him in his pre-Experience days and were there for the development of perhaps the finest electric rock guitarist who ever was. All the same, I was left wanting more. Almost a fifth of the book is devoted to an excellent bibliography and listings of both pre-Experience recording sessions and pre-Experience live dates. As valuable and interesting as this information is, it was when I got to these appendices that I felt cut short and at loose ends.
That this is the first volume dealing with Hendrix's early, developmental years means, perhaps, someone else will tackle the subject at a later date and do Roby one better. I will continue to hope so. However, Hendrix fans will find a lot to hold their interest and imagination with Becoming Hendrix.
March 20, 2011
I loved getting to read about Jimi, he is such an inspiration. However, I have to agree with some of the other reviews; this was quite poorly written and edited, sometimes it read like a 5th grader's research essay. I also liked getting to see the pictures included in the book (on my Kindle, great quality!), of Jimi growing up and then playing with so many musical legends.
May 17, 2012
This book actually illuminates Hendrix's personality, history, process, and environment. Add an accusation of murder and you've really got me.
Now I know what the Spanish Castle was!
Great book, thoroughly researched and highly evocative. More here than I would have ever expected.
Now I know what the Spanish Castle was!
Great book, thoroughly researched and highly evocative. More here than I would have ever expected.
July 23, 2011
Short but sweet.
February 17, 2015
Some great, previously unheard stories of Hendrix, especially from his early years as a backup guitarist.
November 4, 2015
I rare and interesting glimpse into the life of a rock star, before he was a rock star. This true to life tell is chalked full of interesting facts of Jimi's life, loves, struggles, and success.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews