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Case file s238 · Music and sport · 1970
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1970
Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Hendrix (1967) (cropped)
Jimi Hendrix. Original photographer unknown. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
18 September 1970
Place
Samarkand Hotel, Notting Hill, London · United Kingdom
Field
music · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
English law at death; Washington State law for the family estate · Common law
Historical event
The 1990s recovery of rock catalogues as long-term assets
Religion
Jimi Hendrix: Catholic (recorded as lapsed Catholic on Wikidata)
Music and sportDied without a willPostwarEuropeUnited Kingdom

Jimi Hendrix died with no will, and his father's will later cut his brother out of an $80 million estate

Jimi Hendrix died in London aged 27; the inquest returned an open verdict. He had no will. His father, Al Hendrix, was his sole heir. The estate was worth about $500,000 in 1970. For two decades the recordings were controlled by others, led by lawyer Leo Branton and producer Alan Douglas. Al sued them in 1993 with nearly $6 million lent by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and settled on 26 July 1995 on confidential terms. He formed Experience Hendrix LLC, with himself as chairman and his adopted daughter Janie, Jimi's stepsister, as president. A 1998 trust made Janie his main heir. Jimi's brother Leon was left one gold record. Al died on 17 April 2002. Leon sued. On 24 September 2004 King County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell upheld Al's will: Leon got nothing from an estate then put at about $80 million. The judge removed Janie as trustee for some beneficiaries and noted legal fees over $4 million. In London, the estates of the band's drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding sued Sony over the band's recordings. On 28 April 2026 the High Court dismissed their claims. In 2026 Experience Hendrix, run by Janie, controls the catalogue.

What the law took from it

Dying without a will sends everything to the nearest relative, and that relative's own will then decides who in the next generation is cut out.

Family version vs. the record

Janie said Al cut Leon out over "chronic requests for money"; Leon said Janie "schemed"; Judge Ramsdell found "Janie Hendrix did not want Leon involved in the family business."

The Seattle Times
Sources
  1. The Seattle TimesPress
  2. The Seattle TimesPress
  3. ultimateclassicrock.comPress
  4. musicbusinessworldwide.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Jimi Hendrix died with no will, and his father's will later cut his brother out of an $80 million estate,” story s238, https://www.celebrity.estate/jimi-hendrix-1970, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportDied without a willPostwarEuropeCommon lawUnited Kingdom