What Really Happened to Jimi Hendrix?

Janis Joplin, Kurt Kobain, Jim Morrison, Amy Winehouse. Each of these musicians died at the young age of 27 and solidified their membership in pop culture’s most mysterious and morbid group - the 27 Club. Though conspiracies abound, there’s no explanation for why so many legendary performers have passed away at 27. To add to the mystique, the circumstances of many of the deaths are shrouded in mystery. Perhaps one of the most mysterious is the tragic demise of guitar icon and innovator Jimi Hendrix.

Career and Death

Relatively unknown in the United States in the mid-60s, Hendrix received a warm welcome in the UK where his career took off. Early on Hendrix released catchy rock hits like “Foxy Lady” but by 1970 wanted to transition to a more avant-garde, “jazzy form” of music according to friend Roger Daltry. Hendrix was living and working in London when he passed away on Sept. 18, 1970. At the time his death was attributed to an overdose of the sleeping pill Vesparax. Hendrix consumed up to 18 times the normal dose of the barbiturate.

The Official Story

In the days before his death, Hendrix was under pressure from pending lawsuits and his manager Mike Jeffrey. On the evening before he passed away, Hendrix attended a party with his girlfriend, Monika Dannermamn, where he complained to friends about the pressure from Jeffrey and indulged in a cocktail of amphetamines and alcohol – not an unusual evening for Hendrix. The pair returned to Dannermamn’s flat in the early morning where Hendrix added the heavy dose of barbiturates on top of the drugs from the party.

Dannermamn, who died in 1996, alleged that she woke up later that morning, around 10 a.m., and left a sleeping Hendrix to buy cigarettes. When she returned around 11 a.m., he was breathing, but nonresponsive. By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospital Hendrix had flatlined. Dannermamn was the only witness to Hendrix’s death.

New Evidence Casts Doubt

Medical evidence released in the 1980s complicates the original story. The autopsy shows that Hendrix did consume sleeping tablets, but whether the dose was enough to kill him is uncertain as Hendrix had an incredibly high tolerance for the drug. The doctor stated that Hendrix’s throat, stomach and lungs contained a large amount of red wine, but very little was present in his bloodstream. This opens the possibility that Hendrix could have drowned from wine forced down his throat, and not from an overdose.

In the early 1990s, Hendrix’s ex-girlfriend Kathy Etchingham contacted the first responders who arrived on the scene in 1970. The ambulance men claimed that Hendrix was fully dressed and alone when they arrived; Dannermamn was not there.

What Really Happened?

Conspiracies around Hendrix’s death vary. Some view Dannermamn as the culprit. Some believe it was suicide. Still, others think Hendrix was a political target for the FBI. After all, Hendrix was on an FBI list of dissident artists and musicians that the organization planned to detain if anti-Vietnam sentiment or Black radicalism boiled over in the United States.

Regardless of what happened to Hendrix in his final hours, his legacy rings on. Hendrix is still viewed as one of the greatest guitarists of all time despite only releasing three albums across a very short three-year window from 1967 to 1970. A pioneer and icon, Hendrix, like the rest of the 27 Club, was gone far too soon.

References: Hear my train a Comin’ – the final days of Jimi Hendrix | The Who’s Roger Daltrey Reveals Details of Jimi Hendrix’s Final Days | The 27 Club: A Brief History