Excellent read on his life before he became an icon. Focuses quite a bit on his early days in Seattle, Nashville and while serving in the Army at Fort Campbell.
In 1969 I had tickets to see Hendrix at the Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was a wee lad and wanted to go with my friend Geof O’Keefe (drummer and co-founder of Pentagram) and Bobby (the singer of Pentagram). It was on my birthday and my mother had made plans for a party and I had to give up seeing Hendrix. Geof and Bobby at met him in 68 at a concert and were raving about his live playing. Geof’s dad was always taking him to concerts and would wait patiently in the parking lot while Geof and Bobby and occasionally me tagging along would go see the show. I remember Mr. O’Keefe driving us from Arlington to Merriweather Post Pavilion in 1969 to see Led Zeppelin open up for the Who on their Tommy tour.
Anyway, if you are into guitar and want to learn more about Hendrix, this is the best biography on his early life I have read.