Jimi Hendrix's Death

Early on September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix died in London under circumstances which have never been fully explained. He had spent the later part of the evening before at a party and was picked up by girlfriend Monika Dannemann and driven to her flat at the Samarkand Hotel. According to the estimated time of death, he died shortly afterwards.

Dannemann claimed in her original testimony that Hendrix the evening before, unknown to her, had taken nine of her prescribed Vesperax sleeping pills. According to the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix had asphyxiated (literally drowned) in his own vomit, mainly red wine. For years, Dannemann publicly claimed that Hendrix was alive when placed in the back of the ambulance. However, her comments about that morning were often contradictory, varying from interview to interview. Police and ambulance statements reveal that there was no one but Hendrix in the flat, and not only was he dead when they arrived on the scene, but had been dead for some time.

Lyrics to a song written by Hendrix and found in the apartment, led Eric Burdon to make a premature announcement on the BBC TV program 24 Hours, that he believed Hendrix had committed suicide. Following a libel case brought in 1996 by Hendrix's long-term English girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, Monika Dannemann committed suicide, though her later lover, Uli Jon Roth, has made accusations of foul play.