When Jimi Hendrix Was a Struggling Musician He Squatted in Buildings Under Construction

Jimi Hendrix grew up to become a world-revered guitarist with timeless contributions to the world of music. But it was a long road to get there, and it wasn’t easy for the Seattle-bred musician to get on his feet. In the early days of his career, he was even homeless and slept wherever he could — including half-built buildings.

Jimi Hendrix had a less-than-privileged upbringing

Philip Norman’s 2020 book Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix details Hendrix’s life from his early years to his death in 1970 at age 27. Hendrix came from a humble family in Seattle who didn’t have much money, and often found themselves in financial trouble when Hendrix’s father Al couldn’t provide for them.

One time, their living circumstances led to Hendrix having his first encounter with a guitar — a critical part in his journey to becoming an internationally-renowned guitarist.

“Al Hendrix’s fortunes took another of their frequent downswings,” Norman wrote. “Having scraped together enough to take out a mortgage on a small house, he could not keep up the payments; the property was repossessed and he and Buster [Jimi’s nickname as a child] went to live in a boarding house kept by a Mrs. McKay. There in a back room Buster found an old Kay acoustic guitar which had been bought for their landlady’s paraplegic son and which she was willing to sell for $5.”

Five dollars was a lot to ask of Hendrix’s father. But his Aunt Ernestine had witnessed how Hendrix fawned over a ukulele he found while working an odd job cleaning garbage, and decided to help her nephew. “He begged his father to buy it for him, but the cash-strapped Al bluntly refused to finance such a seeming total irrelevance,” Norman wrote. “His pleas were supported by his mother’s sister, Ernestine, a perceptive woman who had noticed the transformative effects of the one-string ukelele, and when his dad proved immovable, Aunt Ernestine gave him the money.” 

Jimi Hendrix would squat in under-construction buildings as a struggling musician

As an adult, Hendrix played with a variety of local bands, from The Velvetones to The King Kasuals. While he was playing with the King Kasuals, the band faced setbacks that forced its members — minus Hendrix — to take on side jobs.

“Their income as musicians being insufficient to sustain life, five of the six King Kasuals took part-time ‘real’ jobs. Only Jimmy refused to sacrifice hours that might be spent in playing or practicing,” Norman wrote.

One of his bandmates recounted Hendrix’s determination to make it big. “‘He always used to say that when he was famous one day, he would have a thousand guitars,’ [new band member Larry] Lee would recall. ‘He didn’t say “if,” he said “when,”‘” Lee said. “At that time I figured that if he made it, he would do it on the guitar alone. I had no idea he would ever sing.'”

Hendrix’s refusal to get another job to complement his music income led to him having to find a place to sleep wherever he could.

“His was a hand-to-mouth, often homeless existence, although not so very different from much of his childhood,” Norman wrote. “In Nashville, he spent some weeks squatting in a building under construction, managing to conceal his nest and slip away each morning before the building crew arrived.”

He eventually became a global superstar

Hendrix went on to play backup guitar for major artists including Little Richard and Ray Charles. In the mid-1960s, Hendrix formed his own band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1967 and 1968, the band released three albums: Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland.

Hendrix died in 1970 at age 27.