Keith Altham was the last journalist to interview Jimi Hendrix five days before his death at The Cumberland Hotel in 1970. He joined the Classic Rock Magazine Show to talk about that and more and air that exclusive final conversation he had with the doomed guitarist.
As he tells show host Nicky Horne, “The first time that I met Jimi was the time that Hey Joe go into the charts, which Chas helped along the way by buying a few extra copies, and then it took off on its own. He was very timid, quite shy, he punctuated everything with ‘so on’ and ‘ you know’.
“In those days, journalists were much closer to the artists than they are now, they didn’t mind you going to their home or being with them in the studio as they worked, they weren’t so on their guard.”
An untimely death still mired in mystery, to read Harry Shapiro’s take on the events that transpired at the Samarkand Hotel in Notting Hill on that fateful night then click the link below.
The 10 Best Jimi Hendrix Covers
