One blustery day, I visited the grave of Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix is a native son of Seattle. There are tributes to the late musician all over the city. He is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park, in Renton, Washington, which is about a 40-minute drive from downtown Seattle. Even on the dark, drizzly day of my visit there were at least a half-dozen other visitors to Hendrix’s grave and there was a funeral taking place nearby on the grounds of the tidy suburban cemetery.
Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on November 27, 1942. After his father gave him a used acoustic guitar, he joined the first of many bands that he would be part of during his short life. He served in the Army, before working as a session guitarist for several years. Although many of his fans during his lifetime were not from the Black community, Hendrix was of African-American and Native American heritage. Much of his signature style was influenced by his work with Black artists. The Isley Brothers was just one groups for which he performed. He formed a group called The Jimi Hendrix Experience and eventually he made his way to England where his guitarist skills caught the attention and respect of many iconic musicians of the late 1960s, including Eric Clapton. With The Jimi Hendrix Experience he released three albums in two years before the group disbanded in 1969.
If you’ve never seen the documentary “Woodstock” about the 1969 Woodstock Festival, you really should find a way to watch it. Hendrix was the closing act, but he opened his set with a hauntingly beautiful and psychedelic guitar solo of “The Star Spangled Banner” that was like no other version of the national anthem. Not only did he confirm that his was a once-in-a-lifetime talent–if not otherworldly–but his performance and style stood out even in a film filled with almost nothing but indelible images and performances that the festival would be known for.
Jimi Hendrix died in London on September 18, 1970. The cause of death was a drug overdose and he was only 27 years old. He was interred at Greenwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Renton, Washington. In 2003 his remains were relocated to their current site from another plot in the same cemetery. Jimi Hendrix’s final resting place is marked by a large monument.
A copper electric guitar juts up from a stone pedestal centered beneath the crown-like dome of the structure. It’s fitting that it is an electric guitar at the center of the site, because Jimi Hendrix and the music he created with the guitar will be eternally linked. The artist’s own handwriting was skillfully transferred to many of the grand marker’s surfaces, along with several versions of his likeness. American flags (Hendrix was an honorably discharged Army veteran), flowers and other objects have been deliberately left around the entire site, in tribute to the late musician. Inside, beneath the stone roof, the uncountable kisses left by fans that cover all three pillars in every conceivable shade of lipstick are a testimony that the adoration of Hendrix and of his legacy endures, even if the man did not.
In the time since Hendrix lived and died, his music, his likeness and the sheer creativity he poured into his music have not been at the center of my awareness. Instead his talent and influence always seem to be in the wings of my life. In television and movie soundtracks. In the leave-it-all-on-the-stage guitar work of guitarists like Tom Morello and Slash who were unquestionably influenced by Hendrix. And even though I never had a Jimi Hendrix poster of my own, it was a great honor to see his final resting place.
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