By 1966, Jimi Hendrix‘s career was stalled. The guitarist was frustrated with gigs as a sideman for artists that included Little Richard and the Isley Brothers.
However, his fortunes changed when fashion model Linda Keith convinced Animals’ bassist, Chas Chandler, to see Hendrix at the Café Wha? in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Hendrix’s performance on July 5, 1966 — 55 years ago today — left Chandler awestruck. He immediately put into motion plans to bring Hendrix to London and help him become a superstar.
Linda Keith, a blues fan and girlfriend of the Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards, first saw Hendrix at New York’s Cheetah discotheque, where his band performed as Jimmy James and the Blue Flames.
“It was so clear to me,” Keith said in an interview. “I couldn’t believe nobody had picked up on him before because he’d obviously been around. He was astonishing – the moods he could bring to music, his charisma, his skill and stage presence. Yet nobody was leaping about with excitement. I couldn’t believe it.”
Credit: Facebook Wall of Deborah Dixon.
