Rare Jimi Hendrix note found in man’s late wife’s autograph book

By Douglas Whitbread via SWNS

A lifelong Jimi Hendrix fan was "shocked" to discover a rare note from the legend in his late wife’s autograph book - which may be worth more than £3,000 ($3,779).

Shirley Hicks would often tell off her husband John, 76, for playing the guitar hero's songs 'too loud' at their home during their 47-year marriage.

But he was stunned to find the handwritten message reading ‘Love always and forever, Jimi Hendrix’ in his loft as he prepared to move house four years after her death at 68.

And while he first thought one of Shirley's friends had written it as a joke, experts confirmed the rock icon's signature was genuine and could be worth thousands.

John, who thinks Shirley unwittingly collected the signature as a teen, said: “One of the ironic things was that she didn’t actually like Jimi Hendrix, but I was a big Jimi Hendrix fan.

"I would put Jimi Hendrix on, which is something that needs to be listened to at volume, and she would say, ‘can you turn that down a bit?'"

John was initially left bewildered at how his wife had managed to snag the signature, considered a rarity by collectors due to Hendrix's untimely death at the age 27.

But when he looked through her book, he found signatures from The Californians, a Wolverhampton group that supported the Walker Brothers UK Tour in 1967.

Other support acts included Englebert Humperdink, Cat Stevens and Hendrix, then a relatively unknown guitarist who had recently arrived from America.

The tour hit the ABC Cinema in Lincoln on April 20, where 15-year-old Shirley had been screaming for Scott Walker, the pop heartthrob adored by young women.

But while she failed to bag his autograph, it seems she did manage to bag that of Hendrix without realizing its significance.

John came across the autograph while clearing out the loft of their marital home in Scunthorpe, Lincs., as he prepared to move to a new address ten miles away.

He added: "It was in a box in the loft with bits and pieces - and in there was the autograph book. To be honest I was close to throwing it away.

“But it was quite freaky as when Shirley and I met, which was some years after this, there were a lot of people who we would bump into who we both happened to know.

“That’s what turned me to flick through this - to see if Shirley had autographs from people that I will have talked to. I had seen the book before but not this autograph.

"I don’t think she would have known who he was. It was very, very early in his career.

“She went to the concert to see the Walker Brothers. That’s what she had gone for. I don’t think she would have realized who he was.

“His career really took off about a year after that when the Electric Ladyland album was released. That had 'All Along the Watch Tower' on it."

John is now selling the autograph at auction, where he hopes it fetches more than the £3,000 he turned down from a private collector.

As Hendrix only spent four years in the limelight before dying at 27, his signature is thought to be worth thousands.

And auctioneer Paul Potter said Shirley's decision to get his autograph could now prove very lucrative.

He said: “In the post-show fight for autographs Shirley failed to get either of the Walker brothers but as something of a consolation prize she did end up with a couple of the support acts - The Californians and Jimi Hendrix.

“She never realized how lucky she was. Walker Brothers autographs today sell at auction for less than a hundred pounds.

“Hendrix on the other hand is top ten rock star royalty rare - and his autograph, very early in what was the briefest of careers, is expected to make comfortably into four figures.”

About learning of its value, John said: “I was very shocked.

"I thought it would make a little bit as there are people who collect this, but I was surprised at how much when I did my research.

"In the States, they have been going for around $10,000, which is an unbelievable amount of money.

“His career was very short. He’s very much a cult figure for people that have got into his music. And by all accounts, he didn’t sign many autographs.”

The autograph book goes under the hammer in the first auction of the year at Potters Auction Saleroom in Scunthorpe on Friday, February 23.