Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jimi Hendrix's Final Silent Scream, February 9, 2005
A lot has been speculated about the final days of Jimi Hendrix's tumultuous life. Between Tony Brown's excellent book and the details in Sharon Lawrence's recently-published memoir, the following sordid chain of events seem to be implied:
1. The extremely-sensitive Hendrix was unravelling under an unprecedented amount of personal and professional stress and was particularly vulnerable to negative elements during these two weeks in London. Hendrix spoke of suicide and death frequently during this period. He was essentially surrounded by sharks and sycophants and had no real support network to help him through this rough time in his life.
2. On the night of his death, he had a bad argument with his German girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, that was recounted by several witnesses interviewed by Brown.
3. Sometime after retiring, Hendrix apparently took a deliberate overdose of extremely-powerful sleeping tablets.
4. Dannemann, for whatever reason (anger/vengeance is implied) - seems to have poured wine down his throat as he lay choking on his vomit (this is hinted at by Brown, and claimed openly by Lawrence who claims she confronted Dannemann with this evidence and Dannemann did not deny it).
5. The coroner recorded an "open verdict," since a verdict of suicide would have invalidated the million-dollar insurance policies held on Hendrix by his manager and record company (evidently standard practice in the music business). Thus, Hendrix's suicide has gone down in history as an "accidental overdose."
6. (Fast forward to 1996) Dannemann committed suicide when her version of events was blown apart in a court case brought by another of Hendrix's ex-girlfriends, Kathy Etchingham.
Brown (who passed away a few years ago himself) deserves praise for doing all the research and detective work it took to pull this book together. It is horrible to ponder that one of music's greatest visionaries was driven to this end by the vultures surrounding him, as well as his own lack of discipline. Is it possible to end on a high note? At least the incredible music is still here to inspire the generations who have followed him.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A sober and sad look behind the scenes., April 30, 1999
By A Customer
I'm grateful that Mr. Brown wrote this book. Jimi is long overdue for fair treatment. He was one of those people not easily understood because of the depth of his sensitivity and individuality. But the main thing I feel concerning Jimi Hendrix is how much of a complete waste his premature death was. There is no telling what sort of musical pleasures he would have produced had he lived and had a chance to mature. Personally, as a black man that has never let himself be walled in by definitions of what "blackness" amounts to, it would have been so good to see Jimi continuing to knock down those stupid self-made racial barriers in ever more creative ways. But, alas, it wasn't to be. Tony Brown shows Jimi to be what we all are; fallible human beings who are driven by many frailties.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive explanation of Hendrix's untimely demise., July 21, 1998
By A Customer
So many other Hendrix biographies have glossed over the circumstances surrounding Jimi Hendrix's death. Many other writers have tried to tackle this weighty subject, but none of them have succeeded. None, that is, until Tony Brown published this book. Hendrix: The Final Days spells out all of the facts, including some new elements of the hours leading up to Hendrix's death that I didn't know before I read this book. As a serious Hendrix fan, I consider this book to be an indispensible reference full of quotes and solid facts, just like the rest of Brown's books about Hendrix.Throughout the years, Jimi Hendrix has been used too often as a posterchild for the "Drug-Free America" campaigns. The irresponsible journalists who insist on perpetuating the myth that Hendrix died of a narcotics overdose should read this book. They should read this book and then print apologetic retractions of all the lies they have spread in the name of journalism.
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