Roger Daltrey revealed that he spent time with Jimi Hendrix only days before his September 18th, 1970 death at age 27. At the time, Hendrix — a labelmate of Daltrey’s — and his girlfriend Devon Wilson were staying with the Who frontman and his fiancee Heather Taylorat their home in the English countryside. Taylor and Hendrix had previously been involved with each other, with the guitarist writing “Foxey Lady” about her.
During a chat to BBC Radio and transcribed by American Songwriter, Daltrey spoke about the visit in September 1970: “No one knows about it but myself and about three other people that are still alive. This is the weekend before he died. I was on tour in Germany, and Jimi and his friend, Devon Wilson, came to my cottage in Berkshire. At my house was my wife-to-be Heather and another girl called Katherine.”
Daltrey went on to recall, “He and Devon were doing this thing, which gospel singers do, and they were doing it with a call and answer — and they were doing it with Bob Dylan lyrics. So he quotes one line and she’d quote the other. . . but it gradually slowed down, slowed down until Devon finally fell asleep.”
He recalled Heather telling him it was “obvious that Jimi was taking more and more barbiturates and his speech became slurred. Then he passed out, and then now they’re starting to get worried.” Daltrey remembered him, Heather, and Katherine putting Hendrix to bed and “took his boots off at around 2 a.m.”
Daltrey then explained the heavily sedated rock legend popped up from a drug induced stupor: “They put the kettle on for a cup of tea and blow me if 10 minutes later he doesn’t appear in the doorway with his boots back on, his hat on all skew-whiff and says, ‘Right I’m ready for the interview.’ I mean, you can’t make it up.”
By 11 a.m. the next morning, Hendrix and his guest were on their way back to London via cab: “That was that weekend and as I say, he was as right as rain in the morning like nothing had happened.”
FAST FACTS
- Jimi Hendrix died on September 18th, 1970 at the age of 27, about two months shy of his 28th birthday. Over five decades later, the events surrounding his death remain sketchy at best, with the only clear fact being that the coroner report stated that Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit, which mainly consisted of red wine.
- Monika Dannemann, his girlfriend at the time, has long contended that he was alive when placed in the ambulance.
- Hendrix aide James “Tappy” Wright claimed in his recent memoir Rock Roadie that Hendrix’s final manager Michael Jeffery confessed to killing the legendary guitarist a year after Hendrix’s death in September 1970. According to Wright, Jeffery claimed that he plied a semi-conscious Hendrix with enough pills and alcohol to kill him so that he could collect insurance money and not risk Hendrix breaking their management agreement.
- Jeffery, who died in 1973, had told Wright that he had taken out a $2 million policy out on Hendrix, which named him as the chief beneficiary.
- The official cause of Hendrix’s death was “barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit.”
- The events surrounding Hendrix’s death have always been shady, especially when it comes to how Hendrix was found and who exactly called for an emergency crew — neither things which are ever out of the ordinary in an O.D. case.
CHECK IT OUT: The Jimi Hendrix Experience on May 18th, 1968 performing “Foxey Lady” live at The Miami Pop Festival: