Jimi Hendrix is acknowledged as one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. His fame with the Jimi Hendrix Experience lasted a very short space of time, from late 1966 until his death in 1970.
During that period his band members consisted of Englishmen Noel Redding (bass guitar) and Mitch Mitchell (drummer). And, like the Rolling Stones, they were a bit wild. Respectable grown-ups disliked them – they weren’t like those nice Beatles or Monkees. But they made great music.
LtoR – Redding, Hendrix, Mitchell
After Hendrix’s death both Redding and Mitchell continued their musical careers, though with much lower profiles. In the mid-eighties I wandered into the Anne Port Bay Hotel, a quiet bar on Jersey’s east coast. It was quieter than ever that evening, just one chap sitting in the corner reading his paper. I was introduced to him, quietly spoken, wet-fish handshake. He said hello politely and the former hell-raising drummer Mitch Mitchell returned to reading his newspaper.
Mitchell died in 2008, five years after Redding.
Back On The Rock 
I’m a big Jimi Hendrix fan, or rather, a fan of his music. I would have never recognized any of these musicians. But what an interesting dichotomy between the loud, mania of drumming and sitting quietly reading a newspaper.
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Hi Letizia 🙂 Yes it brought home to me the extent to which performing musicians are like actors, and their private personae are often quite different to the public’s perception.
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Get you and your hobnobbing with the famous Roy 🙂
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I know, just a rock groupie Andrea 🙂
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I liked Hendrix and remember watching the story of his life many years ago which was amazing, funny and very sad. You certainly did have a brush with fame meeting Mitch Mitchell 😉
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Hello Dianne 🙂 Yes I’ve met a lot of Olympic athletes over the years, but only that serendipitous brush with a rock star. I actually wrote Mitch in (obliquely) to a scene in Barry2 where an unassuming guest at Barry’s hotel picked up a guitar and started a sing-song.
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Nice one! I’ve never met anyone famous. Must be fun to look back on, and exciting at the time. 😊
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Thanks Ali. I believe that Mitch is the only rock star that I’ve met. Many Olympic athletes though (including Irishwomen Sonia O’Sullivan, Mary Peters & Deirdre Gallagher) so I’ve been very fortunate.
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Kind of sad, though, seeing someone ‘famous’ not so famous anymore, sitting in a corner alone. What a youth he had, though.
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Hi Pam 🙂 I’m guessing he was happy enough to be out of the limelight. As was Noel Redding who lived his life out in West Cork, Ireland, whilst still pursuing his musical career.
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Ironic to read this particular column today. I was listening to the top 30 Countdown from 1967 on Sirius 60s on 6 and they were playing Purple Haze. Hard to believe that was 50 years ago now. Heavy Sigh.
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But while our music heroes seem to die off pretty frequently at least they leave us a with much to remember them by.
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True.
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Musicians are usually of the type to be alone learning, practising, playing and concentrating on letting the music out. Then playing in a band, group or orchestra is about being in a single entity, a team, everything is about “together”, tight, responsive, listening, focus… in the scheme of things, playing live is a relatively small chunk of time. You cannot be a hellraiser all the time 😉
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Yes indeed. Those of us in the audience tend to forget that a musical performance is simply that, a performance. We ought not to be surprised that each of those guys or gals may be completely different away from that environment. Thanks for your comment 🙂
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