Arguably the best biographer of Jimi Hendrix, Harry Shapiro, is coming to Dimbola on the (glorious) 12th August to give a talk on Jimi during the years 1969 and 1970 entitled ‘The Year of Living Dangerously’.

Harry’s talk will focus on the events of late 69 and 1970, leading up to the Isle of Wight festival, which happened at Afton Farm just up the road from Dimbola. After the interval Harry will talk on the aftermath during the following three weeks, leading up to Hendrix’s tragic death, and his talk will be followed by a Q&A session.

The exhibition to the 1970 Festival and a bronze statue of Jimi Hendrix in the garden, commissioned by John Giddings of the new Isle of Wight Festival. Experience the Isle of Wight Festival 2002 to 2023 is currently on show at Dimbola until September 17th. The following day, September 18th will be the 53rd anniversary of Hendrix’s untimely demise at the age of just 27. If he had lived, he would have been 80 years old – the same age as Mick Jagger and others of his contemporaries.

Harry Shapiro’s book Electric Gypsy was first published in September 1990, to mark the 20th anniversary of Jimi’s death. It is widely held as the definitive biography of the giant of the electric guitar. Shapiro is a British music-writer and has worked for over 40 years for UK drug charities as an author, journalist and public speaker while also writing music biography – Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Alexis Korner and Graham Bond.

“Jimi Hendrix was under intense pressure during the last year of his life,” said Harry Shapiro.

“Record companies and management wanted a new album, fans just wanted to hear the hits, but even more to see the performance. Jimi was saddled with debt, facing litigation and following a drug bust, could have gone to prison for ten years. He was fed up being “a clown” as he saw it. He just needed space and time to work out what next. But this was a luxury the musician who reinvented the electric guitar was never afforded.”

Starting at 7.00pm, (doors at 6:30pm)  there will be a cash bar, and an interval. All profits will go to the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust, the charity who run Dimbola and keep it open for us all to enjoy. Tickets are £9 (£7 to Friends of Dimbola) and are available from Dimbola front desk or can be booked on 01983 756814.