John Warnock Hinckley Jr. will be 69 in May.
Singer, songwriter, musician, and actor.Waylon Jennings is
considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in
country music.
Jennings started playing guitar at age eight and performed
at fourteen on KVOW radio, after which he formed his first
band, the Texas Longhorns. Jennings left high school at age
sixteen, determined to become a musician, and worked as a
performer and DJ on KVOW, KDAV, KYTI, KLLL, in Coolidge,
Arizona, and Phoenix. In 1958, Buddy Holly arranged Jennings’
first recording session, a cover of Jole Blon, and hired him to
play bass. Jennings gave up his seat on the ill-fated flight in
1959 that crashed and killed Holly, J. P. "the Big Bopper"
Richardson and Ritchie Valens.
Jennings died in his sleep from complications of diabetes at
his home in Chandler, Arizona, aged 64.
Waylon Jennings ,left, on bass guitar and Buddy Holly.
Guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle. Hendrix grew up
playing guitar, imitating blues greats like Muddy Waters as well
as early rockers.
He joined the army in 1959 and became a paratrooper but was
honorably discharged in 1961 after an injury that exempted him
from duty in Vietnam.
In the early 1960s, Hendrix worked as a pickup guitarist, backing musicians including Little Richard, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner,
and Sam Cooke.
In 1964, he moved to New York and played in coffeehouses, where bassist Chas Chandler of the British group the Animals heard
him. Chandler arranged to manage Hendrix and brought him to
London in 1966, where they created the Jimi Hendrix Experience
with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
The band’s first single, “Hey Joe,” hit No. 6 on the British pop
In 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience made its first U.S. appearance,
at the Monterey Pop Festival.
Hendrix in the Army in 1961
Jack Sonni (December 9, 1954 – August 30, 2023)
Legendary Dire Straits guitarist Jack Sonni reportedly died,
August 30. The cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Sonni, who was widely known as the band’s “other guitarist”
during the groups Brothers in Arms era, had been suffering
unspecified health issues earlier this week.
Jack Sonni (December 9, 1954 – August 30, 2023)
Known as “the other guitarist” during the iconic group’s Brothers
in Arms era, his passing was announced by the band. No cause
of death was given.