Jimi Hendrix – Deadly Secrets Uncovered

In a blog last year about the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix’s manager, Mike Jeffery, I mentioned that an author friend of mine was researching the life and death of Jeffery. I also said that the research would lead to the publication of a book on the subject. My friend Ian Wright is now almost ready to publish the long awaited book which is entitled “Uncovering Deadly Secrets – Jimi Hendrix & Mike Jeffery”.

Jimi Hendrix died young. He was just 27 years old when his lifeless body was removed from a seedy London flat on the 18th of September 1970. Michael Jeffery, Hendrix’s manager also died prematurely on the 5th of March 1973. He was aged 39 when a plane en route from Mallorca to London in which he was travelling exploded in midair over France.

The death of Jimi Hendrix has been the subject of speculation for a long time. Was it suicide, murder or just a mishap resulting from an overdose of sleeping pills as was reported back in 1970? Many people have put forward theories as to the cause of Hendrix’s demise. Some vehemently claim that Jimi Hendrix was murdered whilst others say with some certainty the death was no more than an unfortunate accident. Both sides of the murder/accident divide put forward compelling evidence to support their points of view. You will need look no further than this website to see what some have said about Hendrix’s death and their supporting evidence. You can check out the various arguments by looking at the comment sections on these two Ready Steady Gone articles: Flights of Fantasy and Remembering Mike Jeffery – 50 Years On.

Jimi Hendrix and his manager Mike Jeffery

Mike Jeffery’s death has also been the subject of conspiracy theories over the years. Was Jeffery actually on board the ill-fated plane that exploded over France? Was the explosion part of a plot to kill Mike Jeffrey, either by the CIA or the mafia? There was an even more outrageous theory put forward that Jeffrey parachuted to safety minutes before the explosion. In his book – “Uncovering Deadly Secrets – Jimi Hendrix & Mike Jeffery”, author/photographer/journalist Ian Wright attempts to lift the lid on both the death of Jimi Hendrix and that of Mike Jeffery.

Ian Wright is a native northeasterner who now lives in Reno, Nevada. Ian has had a varied career a photographer, author, journalist and lecturer. Back in the 60s as a young press photographer he played an important part in the UK’s pop music industry.

From around 1962 as part of his job, Ian Wright began photographing rock, pop, Soul, R&B bands and jazz artists who were on tour in the northeast at that time. Ian’s photos were different to contemporary photos of well known musicians because most of the artists and bands he photographed were in the early stages of their careers. They had not yet become household names. Many were on tour promoting early singles so the photos were taken on the hoof rather than at planned sessions in a studio. In 2008 Ian’s book On The Brink Of Fame containing lots of his early photos was published.

Some of the artists/bands he photographed were: –

Beatles, Chuck Berry, Cilla Black, Cliff Richard, Gene Pitney, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Ike & Tina Turner, Long John Baldry, Manfred Mann, Peter & Gordon, Rolling Stones, Ronettes, Roy Orbison, The Animals, Tom Jones and the Walker Brothers.

Ian Wright’s pictures of some of the stars he photographed on the brink of their fame in the sixties

I first got to know Ian Wright through this website around 2009. In 2011 I met him in person at a gathering of Newcastle club owners and personnel which he had arranged. At this stage Ian had started researching the lives and deaths of Mike Jeffrey and Jimi Hendrix for the book he intended to write and used the gathering as a tool to conduct interviews with some of the key players involved in the lives of Hendrix and Jeffery. Since 2011 Ian and I have kept in touch, sharing our knowledge and research.

Ian’s solid 15 year investigations have now come to fruition in the book. The list of people he interviewed during his exhaustive research is truly impressive. They range from a fellow guitarist who served with Jimi Hendrix in the US army and then became a session guitarist for Motown through to Mike Jeffery’s secretary Trixie Sullivan, and Mike Jeffery’s wife who he married in 1965 when he was managing The Animals.

The book covers topics other than the mysteries that surround the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Mike Jeffery. Here are some of the subjects Ian Wright has written about : –

• His own early career as a press photographer.
• How Newcastle clubs evolved and thrived in the sixties following changes to gambling laws. How Newcastle club owners at the time travelled to Los Vegas in order to learn all the tricks of the trade used in American casinos.
• Mike Jeffery’s early life and how he became a soldier specialising in intelligence and covert operations. His army life including service in conflicts at Trieste and the Suez
• The Club a’ Gogo in Newcastle – a club that Mike Jeffery owned in the 60s.
• How Mike Jeffery’s entertainment agency “MJ Promotions” narrowly missed out on managing folk singer Paul Simon (before he teamed up with Art Garfunkel).
• Mike Jeffery’s marriage to actress Gillian French.
• Mike Jeffery’s role as the manager of The Animals, Jimi Hendrix and others and how he set up the Yameta tax haven in the Bahamas, initially for The Animals and then Hendrix. Millions of pounds of the artists’ earnings went into Yameta never to be seen again by The Animals or Hendrix. Attempts by The Animals to recover money owed to them and held by Yameta were unsuccessful. Ian Wright’s own investigations, including a visit to the bank in the Bahamas that administered the Yameta account also failed to yield conclusive evidence that Mike Jeffery was withholding money from his acts. However, reliable hearsay information obtained by Ian suggests the Yameta account holding substantial funds is still in existence. What’s more, money from various sources is still trickling into the account.
• Jimi Hendrix’s early life in the US Army through to his death in 1970.

Much of the material mentioned above has already been covered in other books. However, some of the information, in particular about Mike Jeffrey has never been published before. Although much of the book’s content isn’t new, it’s Ian’s revelations about the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Mike Jeffery that make the book groundbreaking.

As mentioned above the arguments about how Hendrix died have been going on for years. Ian Wright’s research has led him to believe that there was a different explanation for Hendrix’s death – something that, as far as I am aware, has not previously been put forward – manslaughter. Furthermore, Ian has firmly pointed a finger at a perpetrator responsible for the death. All is revealed in the book.

As far as the death of Mike Jeffrey is concerned there is little doubt that he died in an air crash over France in 1970 when two Spanish passenger planes seemingly collided, one of which exploded killing all the 68 passengers and crew. Since the crash there has been a lot of speculation as to who was responsible for the collision. Was it the Spanish pilot of the second plane, which managed to land safely with no loss of life? Was it military air traffic controllers standing in for civilian air traffic controllers who were on strike at the time? At the time of the accident there were some unanswered questions connected to the debris found on the ground. How did traces of paint used by the French military find their way onto the fuselage of the crashed plane. Why was there fragments of wreckage belonging to another plane found?

Ian Wright and co-author Oliver Wright (a French citizen) spent many frustrating years trying to gain access to transcripts of the “black box” flight recorders from the planes. Although limited access to records was eventually granted to Oliver, their experience of trying to obtain information about the crash has led Ian to the conclusion that there’s still a lot that the French authorities don’t want people to know.

Ian’s research has come up with confirmation that a third plane was involved in the collision something, that the French government has kept under wraps for five decades.

The book answers a lot of previously unanswered questions but it will no doubt lead to more speculation about what really happened in London on 17th and 18th September 1970 but in particular concerning the mystery surrounding the air crash that killed Mike Jeffery. For instance: there were 68 passengers and crew aboard the ill fated plane. However, it was reported that a 69th body was found at the crash site – someone who wasn’t on the plane’s manifest. French secret agents from the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire were sent to the site to recover the body but were not specifically told by their superiors who they were looking for. Could it have been the pilot of the “third” plane mentioned above?

Ian Wright’s book – “Uncovering Deadly Secrets – Jimi Hendrix and Mike Jeffery” will be available available on Amazon on 18th September 2024 (the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death).