A signed Jimi Hendrix lyric sheet that was torn in half and given to two fans at a gig 55 years ago has finally been pieced back together.
On February 20, 1967, Hendrix played a gig at the Bath Pavilion in the evening in place of Chuck Berry, who had to cancel his performance.
As the Guardian report, before the show, two unnamed women, aged 15 and 16, waited at the stage door to get an autograph from Hendrix. With no blank paper to hand, the legendary guitarist then tore out a page from a notebook before tearing it in half and signing each half for both fans.
The two women, who wish to remain anonymous, then discovered that lyrics for a song then dubbed “51st Wedding Anniversary” – the eventual track, ’51st Anniversary’, was released weeks after the concert as a ‘Purple Haze’ B-side – were inscribed on the back of their signed pieces of paper. Hendrix’s bandmates Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding also added their signatures to both halves.
In the years following the concert, the two women drifted apart as friends but both kept hold of their signed halves of the lyric sheet.
The road to the two halves being reunited then began in 2021 when one of the women asked for a quote for her half from rock memorabilia company Tracks Limited.
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After Tracks encouraged the woman to try and track down her friend, she successfully did so, and the pair are now selling both of their halves, with the full manuscript expected to fetch five figures.
Speaking about the remarkable discovery, Tracks owner Paul Wane said: “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.”
Earlier this month, it was revealed that a lawsuit has been filed against Sony Music by the heirs of Jimi Hendrix’s former bandmates, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, who allege copyright infringement.
As reported by Variety, the lawsuit has been filed in London’s High Court, with Redding and Mitchell’s heirs seeking royalties and claiming they own a stake in the band’s music.
This new lawsuit follows a filing made by Sony Music and the Hendrix estate in a Manhattan federal court last month, which states that the estates of Redding and Mitchell do not have the right to sue them for copyright claims.