A former roadie to the rock legend Jimi Hendrix, has revealed in a new book, that his manager murdered the young rock star, because he stood to collect millions of dollars on the musician's life insurance policy.
Hendrix died in September 1970, aged just 27 years old. An ambulance crew found his body in the Samarkand Hotel, west London, in the room of a female called Monika Dannemann, whom he had known only for a number of days.
Hendrix was found alone in the room, lying on his back, with the gas fire on and the door open. There was no record of who called the ambulance. His inquest recorded the cause of his death as barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit. This was a recorded and open verdict.
However, James "Tappy" Wright tells a different story. The aid claims that Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey, drunkenly confessed to killing him by stuffing pills into his mouth and washing them down with several bottles of red wine, because he feared Hendrix was planning to sack him for a new manager.
In his book, titled, Rock Roadie, Mr Wright alleges that Jeffrey told him in 1971 that Hendrix had been "Worth more to him dead than alive", as he had taken out a life insurance policy on the artist worth $2 million (around £1.2 million at the time.)
However, whether this revelation is true or not, Jeffrey was never able to take full appreciation of the lump sum, as he died in a plane crash two years later.
Night of secrets
Describing the night of Jeffrey's confession, Mr Wright wrote: "I can still hear that conversation, see the man I'd known for so much of my life, his face pale, hand clutching at his glass in sudden rage."
Wright claims Jeffrey told him: "I had to do it, Tappy. You understand, don't you? I had to do it. You know damn well what I'm talking about.
"I was in London the night of Jimi's death and together with some old friends, we went round to Monika's hotel room, got a handful of pills and stuffed them into his mouth, then poured a few bottles of red wine deep into his windpipe.
"I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive. That son of a ***** was going to leave me. If I lost him, I'd lose everything."
John Bannister, the surgeon who dealt with Hendrix at hospital, has said he was convinced the star had drowned in red wine, despite having very little alcohol in his bloodstream.
"I recall vividly the very large amounts of red wine that oozed from his stomach and his lungs and in my opinion there was no question that Jimi Hendrix had drowned, if not at home then on the way to the hospital," he wrote in 1992.
The book comes out next month and recalls Wright's life with several rock stars during the Swinging Sixties, including Tina Turner and Elvis Presley.
Tags: claims, insurance, jimi hendrix, life insurance, life insurance cover