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When Jimi Hendrix he lived in a London flat in the 1960s, he didn’t need his own kitchen because he got food from Mr Love, the restaurant downstairs.
While the celebrities were downstairs, eating at heart-shaped tables and served by waiters in hot pants, the American rock star was upstairs, tucking into steaks and hamburgers.
Now the receipts for those meals are part of a large archive of previously unseen items about Hendrix’s life and music that will be shown for the first time at 23 Brook Street, the Mayfair Georgian house where he lived, now a museum.
One bill, covering food for several months, came to £32/16s/6d, which would be around £485 today. He loved the American Mr Love series, he once said that the problem with English food is “you get mashed potatoes and everything, and I can’t say anything good about it”.
The restaurant receipts are part of a collection that brings to life the guitarist, singer and composer who pioneered the expressive, explosive sound of the electric guitar, in music that blends rock, soul, blues and jazz. His classics include Purple Haze, Foxy Lady and All Along the Watchtower. He died in 1970 at the age of 27, after an overdose.
Many of the records to be shown for the first time are records of the company Anim Records, the company that managed the Jimi Hendrix Experience and other events. They include everything from contracts to calendars, past event recordings and flight information, as well as invoices for the musical instruments that helped him create his sound.
While its founder, Mike Jeffery, was Hendrix’s official manager, day-to-day operations were handled by his assistant, Patricia ‘Trixie’ Sullivan, now 83. Between 1966 and 1973, he was booking sessions in recording studios, arranging tours and negotiating for musicians around the world.
After Jeffery’s death in 1973, he collected the items left behind by Biff when he moved into his house. London office, very interested in its furniture.
He kept everything in four plastic bags under his bed in Spain. When he returned to the UK, as his health was deteriorating, his grandson, Jonathan Garcia Sullivan, kept them in his shed in Dorset.
Now this story has inspired an exhibition that will take place next month in Handel Hendrix’s housea museum in the real homes of two of London’s greatest musicians – George Frideric Handel, who lived at 25 Brook Street from 1723 to 1759, and Hendrix, who was at No 23, between 1968 and 1969. Mr Love’s place is now a fashion store.
The Handel Hendrix House – which is known as “Baroque ‘n’ Roll” – has received a lot of attention in an upcoming exhibition supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The home that Hendrix shared with his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham has been beautifully renovated. He once explained that it was the only place where he felt at ease. It was there that he became popular and connected with other icons of British rock music of the 1960s. On the way up the stairs to his apartment, George Harrison had to jump over one of Hendrix’s friends, who passed out on the way out.
The new exhibits include letters, work permits and dry cleaning tickets for a striped suit and gold jacket, among other psychedelic-inspired clothing, as well as tens of thousands of pounds worth of phone bills.
There are also Sullivan’s notes, which he wrote during Hendrix’s January 1969 tour in Germany. Of their Munster gig, he wrote: “One show alone – a large crowd almost rioted – broke a lot of seats at a cost of $250. They were pushed around when they got into the car.”
Claire Davies, curator of the exhibition and deputy director of Handel Hendrix House, said of the receipts and other documents: “They tell the story of a very important small moment of domestic life in Hendrix’s life. He had a very difficult childhood and, during the four years of his career when he was in London, he lived in London, he lived with other people, when he was in Brooks Street. he called the house and the only place whose name was on the rent invoices.
“To furnish his apartment, he bought luxurious Persian carpets which in today’s money would be worth around £30,000, the receipts show. It’s a fascinating insight into what his life behind his rock star image looked like in this brief moment, and what it might have looked like if he had lived a little longer and settled down.”
Sullivan told his grandson that Hendrix was “very famous” and “had a lot of self-doubt”, and that he always played guitar when he went to his house.
Garcia Sullivan said: “I’m sure my sister would have just bullied her into self-confidence … She described herself as her guardian.”
The story shows that Sullivan was “a big influence on everything Hendrix is doing”, Davies said. He was running the show. I’m not sure they could have done it without him.
The exhibition will open on 19 June at 23 Brook Street.
