Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix has become THE guitar icon - a master at coaxing bizarre sounds from his trademark left-hand upside-down six-string.

During the early and mid-'60s, he had worked with such R&B greats as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis as a backing guitarist, but he had little success in America.

'Hey Joe', 'Purple Haze' and 'The Wind Cries Mary ' made Jimi a star in England, with his 1968 'Electric Ladyland' album - complete with shocking nude cover - producing the hit 'All Along The Watchtower' and, after his death, 'Voodoo Chile'.

Jimi dismantled his UK band 'The Experience' in 1969, closed Woodstock with a shaky set (redeemed by his famous interpretation of 'The Star-Spangled Banner'), and died in London on September 18, 1970 from drug-related complications (i.e. choking on his own vomit).