In a few short years in the late 60′s, Jimi Hendrix’s talent not only gained him a huge following of fans, it would live on to capture fans of generations to come! Often called the greatest guitarist in rock history, Hendrix was one the most influential musicians of the 20th century!

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 at King County Hospital in Seattle. He was raised by his father who later changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix in 1946.

The long hard road to superstardom started when Hendrix was eight years old. With a passion for music the young boy would strum a broom to the imaginary sounds burning deep in his soul!

His first real musical instrument was an old ukulele with one string that his father had found! In the summer of 1958, his father bought him a five dollar guitar. With no money … Read the rest

Grand Funk Railroad’s early days were met with a love-hate attitude. Their many fans loved them, but the press seemed to almost hated them! A bad choice in managers was most likely the cause of the press’ intolerance of the band.

Knight’s take on the media, was that any publicity whether it was good or bad, was better than no publicity at all. He’d told the band members that the press would write about them just as much if they hated them as they would if they like them!

Their manager, Terry Knight, was a local D.J. in Flint Michigan. He’d left the radio business to get into music and became lead singer for “The Jazz Masters”. Other members of the band included, Don Brewer on drums and Mark Farner on bass. Eventually Knight left the band and landed a job at Capital Records.

In 1968, Brewer and Farner decided … Read the rest

Fleetwood Mac began their music career in 1967 as a British blues band. By the mid 70′s they’d relocated to California and became a pop group. The band’s name came from the combination of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

The idea to form the band had came from Peter Green, both Fleetwood and McVie had been in a band with Green. The three had joined together at Greens suggestion and formed Fleetwood Mac. The fourth member of the band was Jeremy Spencer.

Ironically, over the years the only things that have remained the same with Fleetwood Mac has been the band’s name and the rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie!

Although, many bands have went through member changes, Fleetwood Mac changed both their members and styles with almost every new album! Even amidst all the changing going on the band still somehow managed to release albums that attracted a very … Read the rest

“The Doors” was born on a Southern California beach in July of 1965. Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek ran into each other on Venice Beach and Morrison told Manzarek he’d been writing songs. Manzarek insisted that he sing one of the songs, Morrison sang “Moonlight Drive” and the impressed Manzarek suggested that they form a band.

Manzarek was in the band “Rick and The Ravens” and after John Densmore joined the band in August, Morrison, Manzarek and Densmore along with the Ravens recorded a demo that included six songs in September of 1965. That same month Robby Krieger joined the band playing guitar.

The band didn’t include a bass player like most other rock bands, instead Manzarek strummed out the bass sounds with his left hand on a new invention, the Fender Rhodes bass keyboard! When playing any other keyboard Manzarek always played with his right hand!

By 1966 the … Read the rest