On this day in 1942, jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle

Nov. 27, 1942

Legendary Jimi Hendrix, whom Rolling Stone ranks as the greatest guitarist of all time, was born in Seattle. He left his hometown because of racism and grew up in poverty. 

Hemdrix began playing guitar at age 15, drenched in the blues before backing R&B artists Little Richard and The Isley Brothers on tour, becoming one of the most talented musicians on the Chitlin’ Circuit. 

But he experienced firsthand the South’s segregation, unable to go to the bathroom at a gas station because of the color of his skin. Even after becoming a rock star, he experienced racism, cab drivers in New York City refusing to pick him up. 

When Hendrix made his foray into rock music, he took “the blues out of the Mississippi Delta and sent it to Mars,” one music critic said. He coaxed sounds out of the electric guitar that no one else thought possible. When he played “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock, he turned the standard into a sonic masterpiece, complete with soaring rockets and bursting bombs. 

His version came at the height of the Vietnam War, where Black soldiers were dying on the battlefield in record numbers. Some saw his interpretation as “unpatriotic,” but he disputed such talk on “The Dick Cavett Show,” saying, “I’m an American, too.” 

The last words he wrote before he died accidentally after taking sleeping pills: “The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye. The story of love is hello and goodbye, until we meet again.”