Janie Hendrix, the sister of Jimi Hendrix and CEO of Experience Hendrix LLC, the company that controls Jimi`s music, spoke to Undercover on the eve of the release of the new Hendrix project `Valleys of Neptune`.
Janie was 9-years old when Jimi died. She recalled the exact moment she found out her brother died for undercover.com.au. “I was still in grade-school. My parents got the call and they were still in bed. They didn’t think I would find out,” she tells Undercover Music News. “They just figured they would tell me when I got home. So I went to school. There were kids who lived closer to the school than I did so they left later and heard the news. It was “show and tell” day. One kid got up and said, “today Jimi Hendrix died”.“My teacher knew I didn’t know so she made him sit down. I really didn’t believe it because a month prior there was a rumour that something had happened to him. We called him and he said he was fine.
“I remember walking home from school and coming up the hill and I recall thinking to myself when I turn the corner if there are a lot of cars in front of my house then it must be true. I remember walking slower and slower and slower and when I turned the corner my whole street was flooded with cars.
“I remember walking into my house and my mom was standing there and I said I wanted to go over to a friend’s house for a birthday party and she said “honey you can’t”. Just then my dad swooped in like a superhero, grabbed me and took me into a room and was crying. He said “Jimmy died and life will never be the same for us”. That moment I can still feel. I can be in that room in that house at 9-years old remembering how all of that felt seeing everybody sobbing, seeing everybody sad. I was angry. I really didn’t want to believe it. It was surreal”.
Despite all of the conspiracy theories surrounding his death, Janie believes it was just an accident. “The only thing that we can accept is that he died of asphyxiation. He died on his own vomit,” she told Undercover. “There weren’t enough sleeping pills in his system that could have killed him. He did not overdose of wine. It was just the sad mixture of the two.
“I know there were rumours of conspiracy and murder. I remember people into my house and tell my dad. This was the 70s. There was no CSI or people investigating how people were murdered or not.
“I remember my dad saying “well we can’t bring him back and even if we were to investigate it the people who are accused of doing it are gone.” What is your justification at that point? Who gets punished at that end and how do you prove it. We cannot bring him back. We can only put out the music in the purest form and let the people hear the music and share his gift to the world”.
Jimi Hendrix has been laid to rest in Seattle and Janie visits her brother and parents there often. “I try to get out there once a month” she says. “I used to get out there a couple of times a month to make sure there are flowers. I travel so much it is hard so I actually have someone to do that”.
The gravesite is a major tourist attraction in Seattle and Jimi Hendrix can still pull an arena-sized crowd to the site every month. “10,000 people come there every month,” she says. “I definitely get out there as often as I can. I find it very peaceful. When I need to get away I will go there and meditate and share with him about what is going on. Obviously both my parents are there as well. It is a very pleasant place to be and being in Seattle there are benches and you won’t get wet if you sit under the dome”.
Sony Music is offering you a chance to win a not-for-sale limited edition collectors item Jimi Hendrix iPod Touch for those who preorder the album here.
The prize includes the collectors edition Valleys of Neptune iPod Touch, a Jimi Hendrix canvas print and a CD pack featuring the newly remastered Jimi Hendrix CD collection.
Sony Music will release Jimi Hendrix ‘Valleys of Neptune’ on March 12.
Watch the brand new video for the title track here:
