Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy

Assembles photographs, songs, interviews with lovers and fellow musicians, and memoirs by friends and family to give an exhaustive account of the rock guitarist's life and early death

Sympathetic and comprehensive, this biography of left-handed guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) features an exhaustive Hendrix discography, a list of his equipment and a file of film and photo appearances. Shapiro ( Waiting for the Man: Drugs and Popular Music ) and Glebbeek, founder of the Hendrix Information Centre in Ireland, regale the reader with quotes, anecdotes, song analyses and mini-bios of Hendrix colleagues, including the Jimi Hendrix Experience's drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. The musician is portrayed as a perfectionist, brilliant composer whose imaginative sound effects were limited only by equipment; a black artist under pressure from radical black groups because his audience was predominantly white; a dedicated guitarist overwhelmed by his lifestyle. Hendrix's drug abuse and death from a probable barbiturate overdose are not sensationalized as the authors concentrate on his formidable music legacy, flamboyant individualism and sense of humor. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Shapiro and Glebbeek, founders and curators of the Hendrix Information Center, have created a magnum opus that is at once both the definitive biography and reference work on guitar genius Hendrix and his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In addition to a 500-page biography, this Hendrix cornucopia offers all the bells and whistles of a 100-page discography, with over 200 photographs, mementos and pieces of correspondence, a detailed chronology, and a unique appendix delineating Hendrix's guitars, equipment, and playing techniques, all of which contain sumptuous notes. Of the Hendrix mystique and deification since his death at age 27 in 1970, the authors write, "it would be a fitting tribute to Jimi's memory if his substance could begin to predominate over his image." Shapiro and Glebbeek have made a contribution of inestimable value toward this goal. One of the year's best popular music biographies and a mandatory purchase for all libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/1/91.
- Barry Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.