JIMI HENDRIX’S FORMER BANDMATES ‘DIED IN POVERTY’
Jimi Hendrix’s former bandmates “died in relative poverty”, a court heard.
Owners of the estates of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell are taking legal action against Sony Music Entertainment UK (SMEUK).
They claim they are entitled to copyright and performers’ rights for three albums the Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded in the 1960s: Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland.
Redding and Mitchell, who both died in the 2000s, formed the band with Hendrix in 1966. The group broke up shortly before the Seattle-born guitarist died following a drug overdose in 1970.
SMEUK is contesting the claim.
At the start of a trial on Tuesday, Simon Malynicz KC, for the estates of Redding and Mitchell, said in written submissions that the band was “one of the most commercially successful acts of its era”.
However, he said, the two musicians “were excluded early on in their lifetimes” and “died in relative poverty”, while the recordings continued to be a “lucrative source of revenue” in the streaming era.
The barrister added: “Since their passing, their successors, who might normally be entitled to a share of the revenue via these inheritable property rights, have also been excluded throughout.”
He said the musicians had not been marginalised by Hendrix himself, but by the administrators of his estate and “by a major multinational which refuses to recognise or remunerate their copyright and performers’ rights”.
Mr Malynicz said: “This court can now ensure not only that justice is done to the memory of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, but it can also give effect to James Marshall Hendrix’s wishes.
“For surely, he would have wanted his fellow musicians to receive everything to which they are entitled.”
Settlements paid in 1970s
Robert Howe KC, for SMEUK, said in written submissions that it was the producers of the albums who owned the original recording copyright, not the musicians, and the estates of Redding and Mitchell were therefore not entitled to it.
He also said that the predecessors to the musicians’ estates had relinquished their rights to the songs and noted that claims brought by Redding and Mitchell in the 1970s in New York had resulted in $100,000 and $247,500 being paid to each, respectively.
In asking the court to dismiss the claim, Mr Howe said: “In essence, what the claimants have done in this action is the equivalent of suing the sub-tenant of one room in a house for trespass, as a device to try to obtain a declaration as to their alleged ownership of the house.”
The trial, before Mr Justice Edwin Johnson, will conclude on Dec 18 with a judgment expected in writing at a later date.
2025-12-10T10:15:43Z