James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix, born in Seattle on Nov. 27, 1942, received his first guitar at age 15 and began his career modestly in Tennessee rhythm 'n blues bands before rising to stardom in England in 1967 and appearing at Monterey Pop, Woodstock, and Isle of Wright. He enlisted in the Army on May 31, 1961, joined the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on November 8, and there became friends with bassist Billy Cox, but music soon eclipsed his interest in becoming a parachutist. On May 24, 1962, his platoon sergeant, James C. Spears, filed a report saying Hendrix had no interest in the Army and would not meet a soldier's standards, and Hendrix received an honorable discharge on June 29, citing an ankle injury sustained in a jump. Playing in and around Clarksville with Cox and saxophonist Charles Washington, he stayed in the area, and he and Cox formed the King Kasuals, playing R&B in Clarksville clubs and sometimes in Nashville and Murfreesboro. After Cox's discharge in September 1962, the two rented a house in Clarksville, later returned there after a brief stay in Indianapolis, and in October 1962 settled in Nashville as the house band at the Del Morocco Club on Jefferson Street. Hendrix's last known trip to Clarksville was in 1963, when he part-exchanged his old Danelectro guitar at Collins' Music Store, where he had also reportedly given impromptu concerts. During his Nashville years he traveled with tour bands, left for New York in December 1963, worked tours with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard the following year, began recording regularly as a session musician, and in 1965 made his first known television appearance on the Nashville show “Night Train” while touring with Little Richard. In September 1966, Chas Chandler brought him to England, his first solo single “Hey Joe” became a hit in January 1967, and after Paul McCartney recommended him for the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, his performance there became a breakthrough in the United States. He later returned to live in New York, invited Cox to rejoin him as bassist for the Band of Gypsys in 1969, and died in London on Sept. 18, 1970, shortly after performing at the Isle of Wright festival.