Author Charles R. Cross’ Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix (2005) is the most recent in a long list of books about the life and music of rock n' roll legend Jimi Hendrix, guitarist extraordinaire, who died on September 18th,1970 at the height of a short but illustrious career.
Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison All Dead at 27
Like Janis Joplin, who died 4 days after Hendrix’s funeral and Jim Morrison of the Doors, whose death came 10 months later—all of them at 27 years old—fact and fiction have been difficult to separate when it comes to Hendrix’s life. Cross’ biography goes quite a distance toward correcting the inaccuracies, the rumors and myths that have swirled around Hendrix’s name for the nearly four decades since his untimely passing.
The author spent four years researching and writing Room Full of Mirrors, about the length of Hendrix’s career in the limelight. Cross conducted 325 interviews with family, friends and fellow musicians, many of whom hadn’t previously spoken out about Jimi.
Interviews With Hendrix's Family & Friends Revealing
Among the most beneficial of those interviews were those with Jimi’s father Al Hendrix (since passed away) and extended family members. They revealed a portrait of young “Buster” (the nickname everyone knew him by) Hendrix, product of a broken home, growing up in abject poverty, raised by a mix of relatives and neighbors in 1950’s inner-city Seattle.
Biographer Cross has stated that he wanted to focus as much on Hendrix’s youth and pre-fame adulthood as his four years of fame, something other writers haven’t done to any extent. He tried to give equal weight to each of Jimi’s 27 years of life, and the result is a much more well-rounded picture of this superstar whom, it turns out, was never truly happy.
Taking its title from one of the guitarist’s later songs, Room Full of Mirrors is loaded with evidence not only as to the emotional depths from which Jimi’s music came, but also the extremes by which he chose to live. The death of his mother when he was 15, the poverty he took most of his life to overcome, and the fact that he was rarely without his guitar (often sleeping with it on his chest) are just a few the factors that Cross expands on nicely.
Early on in the biography, the author, who is from the Seattle area and specializes in writing about the music of the Northwest U.S., makes no secret of his growing up idolizing Jimi Hendrix. Yet Cross doesn’t allow his emotions get in the way of presenting an even-handed, honest story.
As most people know, Hendrix was no saint, especially regarding sexual conquest. Cross balances well the stories that might have some readers cringing with those showing the side of Jimi that was a sweet, shy guy who might sit all night with a young woman asking all about her life, never making a move except to offer more tea.
Author Cross Explodes Myths About Jimi Hendrix
Conversely, the author has no problem exploding some myths, sometimes to hilarious effect. Jimi was very proud of his service with the 101st Airborn Division of the U.S. Air Force, and rarely missed a chance to mention it if the circumstances allowed. What he never mentioned to anyone—something Cross uncovered examining military records—was the fact that he weasled his way out of the service after just one year by pretending to be in love his male bunkmate.
A more poignant story involves Hendrix’s last visit to hometown Seattle while on tour. After the show, the now-superstar guitarist convinced an autograph-seeking teenage fan to drive him around in the middle of night, touring his old haunts, schools and various dwellings. At one point Jimi got out the boy’s car and peeked through the window of his abandoned childhood home, searching, as it were, for his past. Given what has already been revealed, it’s truly moving.
One thing no rock biography can do is successfully relate the music itself, especially if it is of the power and grace of the likes of Jimi Hendrix’s. Only the music will suffice. Short of cranking up Electric Ladyland (or perhaps just after finishing the last page) Charles R. Cross’ Room Full of Mirrors will provide the reader with the fullest portrait yet the life of guitar genius Jimi Hendrix.
Cross, Charles R., Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix 2005, Hyperion, 384 pages
(ISBN: 978-0-7868-8841-2)
Dale Van Every - Dale Van Every is a freelance and fiction writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He earned his Masters Degree in English Literature from ...
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