In 1967, guitar legend Jimi Hendrix signed a lyric sheet. Now, 55 years later, that sheet — an extremely rare piece of Jimi Hendrix history — has been saved from damage and neglect, and it will soon go up for sale.
As the story goes, Hendrix was filling in for Chuck Berry at the Bath Pavillion in England when two teenage girls asked for his autograph. The 15- and 16-year-olds were waiting for his signature at the stage door. However, when he arrived, Hendrix didn’t have anything to sign for them.
Neither the girls nor Hendrix had any blank paper, apaprently, so “Hendrix tore a page from an exercise book he had on his had on his person, ripped it in half and gave a piece to each of the girls,” according to Guitar World.
Not only did Hendrix sign the lyric sheet, so did his Jimi Hendrix Experience bandmates, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding. The girls then saw that Hendrix had signed a handwritten lyrics sheet to a song he would release weeks later, “51st Wedding Anniversary,” a B-side to the 1967 “Purple Haze” single.
The girls from the show have since reconnected, and the lyric sheet has been pieced back together after it was previously torn in two. The super rare piece of Jimi Hendrix history will go up for sale soon.
Its rarity is due to the fact that there are very few surviving Hendrix manuscripts, a representative for the rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia store Tracks Unlimited explained, and that even fewer “have been signed by Jimi and two other members of the Experience,” they added.
Looks like it paid off the hang onto the piece of paper for 55 years. The sheet is expected to be sold for a five-figure sum.
