[2009-06-25] "Rock Roadie: Backstage And Confidential With Hendrix, Elvis ..." hardcover book by James Tappy Wright

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:11 pm

Product Description
Geordie 'Tappy' was there at the beginning when Eric Burdon and the boys formed the Animals and when they recorded their anthem 'House of the Rising Sun'. He was there at the end when they re-formed for a world tour in the early 80s. He was also there when unknown guitarist Jimi Hendrix played to a handful of punters in a smoky American club and next day recorded one of his biggest hits 'Hey Joe'. He regularly took Jimi and his band to the VD clinic as groupies gave them more than their bodies. Among many others, Tappy looked after superstar Tina Turner and her fiery husband Ike on their first ever tour of the UK. He has seen it all, done it all, been jailed, 'press ganged' into the US Army as a deserter, came close to joining the Monkees, was witness and victim to early racism in the music business and has seen drugs kill and destroy. He single-handedly defeated the Spanish Armada's attack on London, during a bad acid trip on LSD. And he knows the real reason Hendrix and his manager Chas Chandler parted company at the height of his fame. Funny, revealing, even frightening in parts, the author blows open the world of rock and roll in the 60s, 70s and 80s, including an explosive revelation about the death of a rock legend that will shock the music industry. Tappy's love of music and his ability to be in the right place at the right time have led to a fascinating life: from playing 2nd guitar with the Animals as they began to form, to working with rock legends from Tina Turner, Little Richard and The Who to Sammy Davies Jnr and Dusty Springfield. He now divides his time between Florida and his native Whitley Bay near Newcastle.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1906779066/?tag=imwan-20

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:14 pm

http://www.nme.com/news/jimi-hendrix/45021

Jimi Hendrix's roadie says guitarist's manager murdered him

Jun 1, 2009

Jimi Hendrix's former roadie James 'Tappy' Wright has claimed that the late guitar legend was murdered by his manager Michael Jeffrey.

In his new book 'Rock Roadie', Wright claims that Jeffrey told him he plied Hendrix with pills and alcohol in order to kill him and claim on the guitarist's life insurance.

Hendrix died in September 1970. His body was found in a room at London's Samarkand Hotel booked by Monika Dannemann, whom Hendrix had known for a matter of days.

Jeffrey allegedly made the confession to Wright in 1971, two years before he was killed in a plane crash.

Writing of the admission, Wright says: "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."

Jeffrey is quoted by Wright as telling him: "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."

The manager was allegedly worried that Hendrix was about to sack him. He had recently taken out a life insurance policy worth $2 million (£1.2 million), with Jeffrey as beneficiary, reports the Mail On Sunday.

"I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive," Jeffrey is quoted as telling Wright. "That son of a bitch was going to leave me. If I lost him, I'd lose everything."

At the time of Hendrix's death, a coroner recorded an open verdict, stating that the cause was "barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit".

[2009-06-25] "Rock Roadie: Backstage And Confidential With Hendrix, Elvis ..." hardcover book by James Tappy Wright

Who is WANline