Former roadie James "Tappy" Wright has recently come out and said that Jimi Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey, drunkenly confessed to killing the late, great ‘60s icon shortly after his untimely death.
Wright has claimed in his new book Rock Roadie that Michael Jeffrey took Hendrix’s life by stuffing pills into his mouth and washing them down with several bottles of red wine because he feared Hendrix intended to fire him for a new manager.
In his book, Wright says Jeffrey told him in 1971 that Hendrix had been "worth more to him dead than alive" because he had taken out a life insurance policy on Jimi worth $2m, with himself as the beneficiary.
In describing Jeffrey's confession, Wright wrote: "I was in London the night of Jimi's death and together with some old friends... we went round to Monika's hotel room, got a handful of pills and stuffed them into his mouth... then poured a few bottles of red wine deep into his windpipe.” Wright also claims that Jeffrey told him: "I had to do it, Tappy. You understand, don't you? I had to do it. You know damn well what I'm talking about.” Two years later, Jeffrey was killed in a plane crash.
Hendrix died on September 18, 1970 at the age of 27. Hendrix was found alone in the room and lying on his back with the door open. There was no record of who had called the ambulance. His cause of his death was recorded as barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit.
John Bannister, the surgeon who handled Hendrix at hospital, stated: "I recall vividly the very large amounts of red wine that oozed from his stomach and his lungs and in my opinion there was no question that Jimi Hendrix had drowned, if not at home then on the way to the hospital.” Pretty freaky stuff.
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R.I.P. Jimi
Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, and Germaine Greer are all wheeled out to wax lyrical about their days with Jimi, but nothing is more eloquent than watching and listening to him play.
