A lyric sheet that was torn in half and signed by Jimi Hendrix and given to two fans in 1967 has been pieced back together after 55 years.
As reported by The Guardian, prior to his show at the Bath Pavilion with The Jimi Hendrix Experience on February 20, 1967 – which he agreed to perform after Chuck Berry canceled his appearance – Hendrix tore the lyric sheet and gave the pieces to two local girls, aged 15 and 16 at the time, who had been waiting at the stage door for an autograph.
Realizing he had no blank paper to sign, Hendrix tore a page from an exercise book he had on his person, ripped it in half and gave a piece to each of the girls. Hendrix's bandmates Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding also added their signatures to each half.
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Following the gig, the girls – who wish to remain anonymous – discovered that the page contained handwritten lyrics, and was titled, “51st Wedding Anniversary”. Just weeks later, Hendrix released a track called 51st Wedding Anniversary as a B-side on his top 10 1967 single, Purple Haze.
According to The Guardian, the two girls drifted apart as friends over the years, but both kept their respective halves of the lyric sheet.
In 2021, 54 years after the show, one of the women got in contact with Lancashire, England-based rock 'n' roll memorabilia store Tracks Limited for a quote for her half of the sheet.
Upon the request of the store, the woman tracked down her friend to locate the other half, and the pair are now looking to sell the combined manuscript, which is expected to fetch a five-figure sum.
“There are extremely few Jimi Hendrix manuscripts in existence and even fewer that have been signed by Jimi and the other two members of The Experience,” says Paul Wane, owner of Tracks Limited.
Earlier month, it emerged that the estates of Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding were suing the estate of Jimi Hendrix over inadequate compensation of historic royalties.
The latest suit – filed following a preemptive lawsuit from the Hendrix estate last month, which sought to exonerate it from any future legal action from the Mitchell and Redding estates over royalties – alleges the bassist and drummer's estates are owed streaming and digital media revenue, as they both have a stake in the Jimi Hendrix Experience's music catalog.
Lawyers representing Mitchell and Redding say that “both died in relative poverty having never received their true entitlement from their works, performances and founding membership of the Jimi Hendrix Experience”.
Hendrix died in 1970, while Mitchell and Redding passed away in 2003 and 2008, respectively.
