Was Jimi Hendrix murdered?

In his forthcoming memoir, former Jimi Hendrix roadie James "Tappy" Wright claims the legendary rock guitarist was murdered.

In Rock Roadie, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday, Wright says Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey, confessed to killing the star by plying him with pills and several bottles of red wine because he feared his client was about to leave him for a more lucrative deal.

Wright claims Jeffrey made the confession in 1971, the year after Hendrix’s death. The former roadie writes that Jeffrey had taken out a life insurance policy on the musician worth about US$2 million, with himself as the beneficiary. Jeffrey himself was killed in a plane crash in 1973.

Hendrix was found dead at London's Samarkand Hotel on September 18, 1970. His official cause of death was reported as "barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit".

Comments

5 Comments

Mack

Jun 1, 2009 at 1:39pm

Alex Constantine's amazing book The Covert War Against Rock makes a persuasive case for Hendrix being murdered, probably by having wine poured down his throat while unconscious. Other Hendrix biographers independently found themselves leaning towards the same conclusion. The notorious Jeffrey meanwhile had both Intelligence and mob connections, which is relevant when you consider that Hendrix had made it onto the FBI's security index, due to his support of "subversive" causes (playing a benefit for the Chicago Seven, for instance). Constantine and others have suggested Hendrix fell foul of the FBI's COINTELPRO program.

And don't get me started on Lennon, John.

Steve Newton

Jun 1, 2009 at 3:00pm

I heard Lennon was alive and living in Ontario or something.

Mack

Jun 1, 2009 at 3:24pm

In that case, we should just let him be.

Chris Slater

Jun 1, 2009 at 4:56pm

Cobain was murdered too, we know this too right?

Lol ...

Jul 23, 2009 at 6:58pm

Ohhh riiiiight. A cooked up a plot to murder someone over "insurance money". Pffft. Fetch me my tin foil hat Oliver Stone! Let me guess, and the government has the recovered bodies of Aliens at area 51, too! Right?