What The Final Year Of Jimi Hendrix's Life Was Really Like

The sudden and unexpected death of guitar god Jimi Hendrix at just 27 years old was one of the biggest rock and roll tragedies of the 1970s. Decades later, it is still somewhat of a mystery. Officially, the musician died on September 18, 1970, caused by suffocating on his own vomit while intoxicated by barbiturates, although there have been questions about the accuracy of this from the very beginning. Some people thought Hendrix had died by suicide, others believe the conspiracy theory that his manager deliberately drowned him with red wine because Hendrix was worth more dead than alive. While we may never know exactly what caused Hendrix's death, we at least know what led up to it.

The three years before Hendrix's death were a roller coaster ride of fame. He released three albums and became world-famous with his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. But then it all seemed to go wrong, or at least become a lot more difficult and a lot less fun than it had been in the beginning. The final year of the legend's life was tumultuous and everything seemed to be coming off the rails. Here's what the final year of Jimi Hendrix's life was really like.

Jimi Hendrix released three iconic albums during his short life, but during his final year, he barely recorded anything at all. In truth, he seemed to be confused about where he wanted to go musically from there. It didn't help that at the time he had a revolving cast of backing band members, having never settled on a set of musicians after The Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up.

The musician gave friends and reporters conflicting information on what he wanted to do next. Attempting to leave his manager, Michael Jeffery, Hendrix tried working with a new producer, one who specialized in jazz. But their attempts went nowhere, and the producers ended the working relationship. About nine months before he died, Hendrix was indicating that he wanted to concentrate on blues music and that he would no longer be a lead singer. 

In the weeks before he died, Hendrix threw out even more ideas. The musician told his girlfriend Kristen Nefer that he wanted to take two years off completely, then only play the acoustic guitar. He told a reporter he looked forward to when he could stop performing and just write songs. Mike Nesmith of The Monkees ran into Hendrix at a party and learned he intended to go more R&B. Hendrix knew he needed a big change of direction and was trying hard to figure out which way to go. Of course, he would never get the chance.

In May 1969, Jimi Hendrix landed in Canada to play a concert for 10,000 fans, but he was probably not expecting to be out on bail when he did. At the airport earlier that day, Hendrix was found to have a bottle in his bag containing three packets of heroin and a pipe with hash residue in it. He was arrested, facing two counts that could get him seven years in jail each.

Hendrix was allowed to leave the country before he returned to face trial in December 1969, nine months before he died. Despite this being a relatively minor drug case, the trial stretched for three days. The musician's defense was that he had been given the bottle by a fan and must have just thrown it in his suitcase without knowing what was in it. This was not as outlandish a statement as it sounds to modern ears. Believe it or not, there was once a time when you weren't asked if anyone had given you a strange package before you got on a plane.

Hendrix explained both while on the stand and to a Canadian newspaper during his trial that he had tried drugs before but that he had grown out of that bad habit. This was nonsense, of course. Years later, a fan of Hendrix admitted that when he arrived in Canada for his drug trial, she and her friend supplied him with some marijuana. Regardless, the jury deliberated for eight hours before finding him not guilty.

Jim Hendrix played Woodstock at 9 a.m. on August 18, 1969, exactly 13 months before he died. After that, Hendrix took a long break from performing live, only doing five shows over the next nine months. But his manager pushed Hendrix to get back on the road because that was where the money was. Once he started touring again in April 1970, Hendrix went almost non-stop until his death, performing everywhere from Hawaii to Georgia to Sweden, doing both huge festivals and smaller solo gigs. He played some iconic and disastrous shows during this period, and those around him could tell the effort required was taking a toll.

Over the July 4 holiday, Hendrix played a Woodstock-like outdoor festival in rural Georgia, where he was the highest-paid performer. He got the second-highest fee for playing the Isle of Wight Festival in August, but he probably didn't think that one was worth the money. There was radio interference during his set, interrupting several songs, and the audience only wanted to hear his biggest hit. But that gig was a dream compared to the nightmare that was the Open Air Love and Peace Festival in West Germany in September. It was ruined by biker gangs robbing audience members, shooting a stagehand during the musician's set, and sending Hendrix fleeing to safety. 

Jimi Hendrix's final live performance before he died was a jam session at a London jazz club. Less than 48 hours later, he was dead.

About a month after Woodstock and exactly a year before he died, a very strange thing happened: Jimi Hendrix was kidnapped, or at least maybe. Either way, something weird definitely happened to him that might have involved the mafia or his manager or some random guys, depending on who you believe. A lot of people are still interested in finding out the truth about the time Jimi Hendrix was kidnapped, and at the time, that would have likely included the musician himself. That's because a big part of the problem when attempting to get to the bottom of this alleged crime is that Hendrix was so high that he didn't seem to realize it happened. The kidnapping became known as "The Lost Weekend."

While no one even heard this story until 2011 — and it originally came from a member of the mob — it seems to be true, and the gangster's story was corroborated by evidence as well as the testimony of others. 

The tale goes that Hendrix was at a wild party and looking for drugs. Two men — allegedly not official members of the Mafia , but apparently cut from the same cloth — offered to give him cocaine and took Hendrix to a second location. They then contacted the musician's people and demanded a ransom in the form of ownership of Hendrix's record contract. After some threats from an actual mobster, Hendrix was returned safely with no ransom paid. Some think Hendrix's manager Michael Jeffery set the whole thing up to look like a hero. 

Jimi Hendrix may have two children, or one child, or no children. What is certain is that two women Hendrix slept with gave birth to children (a girl, then a boy) in the years leading up to his death and both women claimed he was the father. Unfortunately for the kids, the issue wasn't settled by the time Hendrix died.

Tamika James was born on February 11, 1967. Her mother, Diane Carpenter, had been living and touring with Hendrix the previous year, but it seems the 16-year-old did not even try to tell Hendrix about the child until six months after her birth. Hendrix was noncommittal as to whether he believed he could be the father, though in the last year of his life, Carpenter and her lawyers were becoming insistent that he take a blood test to help establish paternity. Despite meetings regarding the matter in May and June of 1970, and an alleged meeting Hendrix had with his own lawyer about it just three days before he died, the test had not been done by then, so James was not allowed to inherit the musician's estate.

James Sundquist was born in October 1969. His mother, Eva Sundquist, had only hooked up with Hendrix on one occasion, but Swedish courts eventually acknowledged his parentage. However, there was no paternity test involved, so this ruling is considered invalid in the United States. Hendrix died when the boy was less than a year old, and never met him.

In the year before he died, Hendrix had several regular girlfriends who he spent time with. There was Monika Dannemann (pictured), who was his companion for the last week or so of his life and who found him unresponsive. That same week, he reconnected with an old flame, model Linda Keith, and gifted her an expensive guitar. In his final year, he also spent time with Kirsten Nefer, Devon Wilson, and Carmen Borrero.

Some of the women were aware of the other ones, and Nefer overheard a phone call he had with Wilson where they argued about their relationship. Strangely, Hendrix appeared to have proposed to at least three of these women in the year before he died. He gave Borrero an engagement ring for Christmas in 1969, and asked both Nefer and Dannemann to marry him during his final week. Only Dannemann seemed to think Hendrix was serious about going through with the marriage.

He also tried to get back with his ex, Kathy Etchingham. Said to be the only woman who didn't have ulterior motives about being with Hendrix, even after she broke up with him in 1969, he would call her when he was at his lowest, and his people would ask her to come calm him down when he was stressed. In March 1970, Hendrix flew to London to try to get Etchingham to leave her new husband. And the day he died, he invited her to come to his hotel, but she never showed.

Jimi Hendrix was under a lot of career pressure in the final year of his life, and those around him noticed the stress and exhaustion were making him angrier, more distracted, and more erratic than he had been previously. The strain also caused anxiety and ulcers, which didn't help his mood, and there was his misuse of both drugs and alcohol, which continued despite watching his friend and sometimes bandmate Billy Cox have a drug-induced breakdown. A few incidents in the last year of Hendrix's life indicated both publicly and privately how badly his mental and physical health had deteriorated.

Christmas 1969 would end up being his last one alive. He spent it with girlfriend Carmen Borrero, and she claims he said it was the best Christmas he ever had. But he was drinking heavily, and after giving her expensive jewelry as gifts, threatened to throw Borrero out a window before hitting her with a bottle. Borrero had to go to the emergency room to get her resulting injuries treated.

A month later, Hendrix played Madison Square Garden as part of a benefit concert. Because of delays with other groups, it was almost 3 a.m. when he went on stage. Witnesses disagree if he was very drunk or very high or both by that point, but he was clearly on something. He played two songs, started talking gibberish to the audience, then sat down in front of an amp and went silent. He had to be led off the stage. 

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By his final year, Hendrix no longer trusted his U.K. manager Michael Jeffery. Previously the manager of The Animals, Jeffery was indeed a very sketchy guy. At various points during his time with Hendrix, Jeffery owed the mob money, owed someone in the U.K. money (who sent a hitman to kill him if Jeffery didn't finally pay him back), and used offshore tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes, among other things. There are people who believe the manager was behind Hendrix's strange kidnapping and some who even think he had the musician killed.

What may have riled Hendrix the most was Jeffery's insistence that he get back to a demanding touring schedule in his final year of life. Jeffery spent lavishly, and tours made the most money. He didn't want Hendrix to do it with the musicians of his choice, either, and Jeffery was insistent he reform the Experience. Hendrix believed Jeffery might have made sure he was busted for drugs in Canada to maintain a financial hold over him, and a friend swore he saw Jeffery give Hendrix some bad acid before a gig. 

Finally at the end of his rope, Hendrix was making moves to leave his manager, and the pair were openly hostile. In the last few months of his life, the musician was essentially hiding from Jeffery. Allegedly, the day before he died, Hendrix's people let Jeffery's people know he was officially changing managers.

Electric Lady Studios is an iconic music location in New York City's Greenwich Village, but almost everything that made it famous happened after Jimi Hendrix's death. That's because despite being two years in the making, the studio was finished just weeks before he died. Hendrix spent little time there, although it went on to great success with other artists.

It is a shame Hendrix didn't live to really use the studio, since it was built to his exact specifications with his recording process in mind. Originally, he and his manager bought the location with the intent to turn it into a nightclub. However, another member of the team pointed out that Hendrix spent an exorbitant amount of money on studio time (for example, they spent $60,000 in 1960's dollars on it for "Electric Ladyland" alone, equivalent to over half a million dollars in 2024). A musician owning a studio was basically unheard of; Hendrix was the only artist to have one of his own when it opened.

There is one major Hendrix claim to fame for his recording space: It was where he was jamming on August 20, 1970, laying down the final song Hendrix recorded before he died less than a month later. The studio officially opened on August 26, with major stars like Eric Clapton, Patti Smith, Ronnie Wood, and Steve Winwood attending the kickoff party. But some guests remember Hendrix didn't seem to want to be at the party, nor did he seem excited about leaving for Europe the next day.

The death of Jimi Hendrix was unbearably tragic, and he seemed to have some inkling it was coming. A little over a year before he died, Hendrix went on a nine-day vacation to Morocco with some friends. While there, he got a tarot card reading from a clairvoyant. She flipped over the Death card, which, as she explained to him, does not actually mean someone is going to die, just that a symbolic ending or rebirth will occur. But according to his friends, this explanation did not matter, and the then-26-year-old Hendrix became convinced he would die before 30. 

He spent the final year of his life counting down the months he thought he had left, although the number would change erratically. When he ran into a journalist he knew just days before he died, he told her, "I'm almost gone" (via The Independent).

At some point before he died, Hendrix left some heartbreaking last words on his former manager's answering machine. Chas Chandler found a message from Hendrix saying, "I need help bad, man" (via Yahoo News). A poem found in the hotel room where he was discovered unresponsive may be the final thing the musician wrote. One line read, "The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye/The story of love is hello and goodbye, until we meet again."