(Credits: Far Out / Paul McCartney / Chris Hakkens / Bent Rej)
Fri 20 February 2026 21:30, UK
While $40 might seem like an inconsequential sum in the grand scheme of music, it was enough to cement Jimi Hendrix as one of the best musicians on the planet.
Why $40? Well, that’s how much it cost for Jimi Hendrix to hop on a flight and head over to the UK. Granted, the guitarist was already having some success in the States, but nothing was truly landing. His style was flamboyant and addictive, but he wasn’t getting signed because people felt like it would be hard to flip that style to the extent that it would become profitable.
“I couldn’t believe nobody had picked up on him before, because he’d obviously been around,” said Linda Keith, who was Keith Richards’ fiancée when she first watched Hendrix perform. “Jimi was astonishing – the moods he could bring to music, his charisma, his skill and stage presence.”
It wasn’t until he came to the UK and word got around about the Seattle-born shredder that the music industry truly began to take notice, and it was in no small part thanks to musical legends seeing him play and word getting around, and to this day, a lot of legendary artists still state that Hendrix was the greatest live performer they ever saw, as his animalistic style of playing was unlike anything they had ever seen.
Five legendary musicians who called Jimi Hendrix the best: