Think of Jimi Hendrix and most people conjure up a larger-than-life, almost other-worldly image—a man who was destined to be a star; a man who set fire to guitars, women’s hearts, and the status quo; a man who strutted across stages with the plumage of a peacock. In this illuminating, groundbreaking, uniquely in-depth account of Jimi Hendrix’s life, bestselling author and music journalist Charles R. Cross paints a far deeper, more compelling portrait of this musical genius. Beyond his legendary sex appeal, his drug use, his onstage presence, and his backstage magnetism, Room Full of Mirrors captures the whole man, from birth to death—a view of Hendrix unlike any revealed before.Coinciding with the thirty-fifth anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death in 1970, Room Full of Mirrors is the definitive biography of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest guitarist. Meticulously researched, it is based on more than three hundred interviews with those who knew Hendrix best—more than half of whom have never spoken about him before. Unlike any prior biography, this landmark book recounts the entire arc of Hendrix’s life: from his troubled childhood in Seattle’s projects and the early loss of his mother, to his struggles against racial prejudice as a young musician and his rapid ascent to the top of the swinging London scene, and finally to the apex of his career headlining Woodstock in 1969, with his death a year later.
This book is as colorful and large as the decade of the sixties. It tells eye-popping tales of sex, drugs, and excess, while also revealing the complexity of a man who struggled to accept his role as an idol and who privately craved the kind of normal family life he never had.
Drawing on never-before-seen documents and private letters, Room Full of Mirrors unlocks the vast mystery of one of rock’s most enduring legends—a man who, in twenty-seven short years, managed to rise from poverty, set the world aflame, and inadvertently extinguish his own burning talent. The world of music has never been the same, and Hendrix’s fame is immortal. This page-turning, moving, and compelling biography gives the real Jimi Hendrix the immortality he deserves.