Through Gypsy Eyes: My Life, The 60s, and Jimi Hendrix [Paperback]

Finally, here is a book that embodies the spirit of Jimi Hendrix, told by the person who knew Jimi more intimately than anyone during his rise to stardom.

If you are unsure about whose version of events you can believe regarding the life of Jimi Hendrix, Ms. Etchingham removes all doubt in the span of about 200 pages. At the very least, she clarifies Jimi's lifestyle during his time in London astonishingly well. Of course, the added bonus in this book is its readability; I dare you to put this book down for more than five minutes once you have read about Ms. Etchingham's childhood. In the space of about two hours, not counting a brief dinner break, I read this book from front to back.

"Through Gypsy Eyes" serves several purposes. This book is almost like a postscript to Tony Brown's indispensable book, "Hendrix: The Final Days." But only the last few chapters deal with Jimi's death and the events that have occurred since 1970. Much of Ms. Etchingham's book deals with her time with Jimi, though she sets the stage using her own childhood as the hook that makes you want to keep reading. You can't stop reading because you're just praying that Kathy's life turned out all right, when all along you know that it must have turned out well if she wound up with Jimi.

"Through Gypsy Eyes" is extremely engaging and easy to read. I got engrossed in this book from the first few sentences, and the intangible storytelling skill kept me glued to every page. Reading about Jimi and Kathy's evening at Eric Clapton's house cracked me up, as did every mention of Paul McCartney or John Lennon or Keith Moon. Kathy has this knack for dropping names without "dropping names;" she just happened to know all of these people who we all dream about meeting whenever we listen to their albums.

Several mysteries get solved in "Through Gypsy Eyes." Several people appear more important that I ever realized, while others appear more insane that I dreamt possible. Some people are specifically singled out and dismissed so effectively that I had to laugh out loud, particularly because I know the circumstances behind the stories. One person in particular (Dolores Cullen) suddenly became the villain in this weird, rich tapestry of lies and evil that went on behind Kathy's back for too long.

If you have ever listened to "Hey Joe" and wondered what it was like in the studio when Jimi recorded his first hit single, you need to buy this book. If you ever wondered what Jimi was like before the industry beat him down, you need to read this book. If you are a Hendrix fan, and you don't own this book, you must remedy the situation immediately.

A touching memoir of one woman's experiences with one of the iconic figures of 1960's popular culture and her quest to have a 'Blue Plaque' erected in recognition of his musical genius.

The story begins with Kathy Etchingham arriving to greet the crowd, who have gathered to pay a long overdue tribute to one of the greatest musical geniuses of the twentieth century.

A Blue Plaque is unveiled at the flat she once shared with Jimi Hendrix. It is an honour usually reserved for the elite of the classical music fraternity. For Mrs Etchingham, it marks the end of a long quest to see her former lover and friend gain the recognition he so rightly deserved.

The book then rolls back the years and the author tells of her first meeting with Hendrix and their subsequent relationship. Finally it tells of the feelings she had at hearing of Hendrix's death in late 1970.

The book doesn't offer us any new insights into the mysteries surrounding Hendrix's death, but it gives us a first hand account of a gentle and at times shy musical hero who found it difficult to say 'no' to the hangers on who eventually suffocated his creative spirit.

Kathy was Jimi's first girlfriend when he came to England in late 1966. She lived with him until he split for the States and fame started to get too much for either of them. Jimi is reputed to have written the song 'Gypsy Eyes' for Kathy, hence the name of the book. Kathy was one of the main people responsible for getting the case surrounding Jimi's tragic death to be reopened and she ended up proving that Monica Danneman (who was with Jimi when he died) had lied about the circumstances of Jimi's death. Tragically Monica later killed herself partly as a result of having her lies exposed.

Kathy gives a good insight into life in the swinging sixties of London, particularly for the elite group of musicians and their associates who were in the top bands of the day (the Stones, Beatles, Cream, Hendrix Experience, Traffic etc.). Kathy appears to have been very fond of Jimi and the feeling was mutual. When Kathy later married one of Eric Clapton's roadies Jimi apparently was very upset....although it was partly due to his infidelities on tour that led to Kathy leaving him. They remained friends until the end however and Jimi even looked her up when he was in London in 1970 just before he died. Kathy also campaigned for the Blue Plaque to be put on the house they shared in London, and she was part of a pro-Hendrix group (including original Experience bassist Noel Redding and Jimi's brother Leon) who lined up in opposition to the Hendrix family, led by non-biological stepsister Janie.

Kathy disputes Janie and Jimi's later father's accounts of a generally happy go-luckly childhood, and claims that Jimi was not particularly close to his father, who she believes was more interested in the money after Jimi died. Whilst this seems a little harsh, there does appear to be some truth in it, compared to the carefully manufactured PR ghost written account by Mr Hendrix in ' My Son Jimi'.

Overall Jimi comes across as a sensitive, gentle and shy man who loved his music, but was eventually burn't out and killed by excessive touring, unscrupulous management, hangers on, drugs and the pressures of fame. Jimi's death has been the subject of much speculation and it does now appear that something suspicious happened, especially as he apparently drowned in red wine. Whether this was poured down his throat by Monica or associates of his manager Mike Jeffrey (as recently claimed by Tappy Wright) we will probably never know: but what we do know is that it robbed us of one of the few true music giants and geniuses of the 20th Century. RIP Jimi.