Hendrix Family Feud
Who would have thought that Leon Hendrix, younger brother of Jimi, is a guitarist in a rock band. He’s a decidedly average guitar player judging by Tuesday’s BBC2 documentary about the Hendrix family, but you can’t blame him for attempting to earn a dollar or two on the back of his brother’s legacy.
There’s this perception (one which I shared) that since the Hendrix family won the rights to Jimi’s music after a long legal battle with various music industry heavy-weights, his legacy had returned to its rightful home, namely the family run ‘Experience Hendrix’ label. Experience Hendrix was actually set up by Jimi’s half sister Janie, who Leon believes manipulated his and Jimi’s dying father Al into leaving Leon nothing in his will. Meanwhile, Janie - who is no blood relation to Jimi - is making millions from Jimi Hendrix’s music and name. Both sides of the feud can be accused of greed in the shadow of Jimi Hendrix’s achievements and it’s difficult to decide who his right and wrong in all this (especially from an hour long TV documentary), but it does seem that Leon, being Jimi’s closest living relative, deserves more.