They were then living in a flat in Montagu Square (Marylebone) in Central London, just near Baker Street, which had been occupied in the past by other rock stars including Jimi Hendrix.
The maisonette, which encompassed the ground floor and basement of the building, was leased by Ringo Starr early in 1965. He lived there for a short time before subletting it to friends.
In 1966 Paul McCartney used it as a demo studio, where he recorded an early version of ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Jimi Hendrix stayed there for a short time the following year with his manager Chas Chandler.
The most famous tenants, however, were John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Unable to remain at Kenwood, Lennon’s home in Weybridge, they moved into the building. It was there in the summer of 1968 that they took the controversial cover photography for their first long-player, Unfinished Music No 1: Two Virgins, which featured the pair nude.
Ronnie Wood:
“Hendrix didn’t have much faith in his voice. He knew he could play but he hated his own voice. I said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s just like another instrument, don’t let it hang you up, just get on with it, ’cos people love what you do’. But he had no kind of self worth in that respect.”
In an interview with Classic Rock, Dave Davies, the guitarist of The Kinks, once appraised Hendrix’s personality: “In real life, Jimi Hendrix was nothing like the wild guy that he portrayed on stage. He was a quiet, introverted guy like Ray [Davies] was. He was explosive on stage but very softly spoken off it.”
In the public eye, Hendrix was cool as a cucumber. He dressed in the finest hippie chic, carrying himself with humble elegance and letting the guitar do all the talking. All the while, the guitarist’s dark, piercing eyes betrayed depths of introversion, wisdom and potential, the full extent of which we sadly never experienced.
