Wright with Hendrix

In a story that rocketed round the web and traditional media last month, Rock Radio told how James ‘Tappy’ Wright was the only witness when Jimi Hendrix manager admitted to having murdered the guitarist.

Wright, who worked with the Animals, Hendrix, Herman’s Hermits and others, has told how businessman Mike Jeffrey, who later died in a plane crash, spilled the beans over a drink in his office.

In his book Rock Roadie, published on July 2, Wright says: “Mike told me: 'I had to do it, Tappy. You understand, don't you? You know damn well what I'm talking about. We went round to the hotel room, got a handful of pulls and stuffed them into his mouth, then poured a few bottles of red wine deep into his windpipe. That son of a bitch was going to leave me. If I lost him, I'd lose everything.'"

While the revelations don’t form a complete case against Jeffrey, Wright supplies more circumstantial evidence in his background material. He explains: “The truth was that Mike Jeffrey was ex-Secret Service and hadn’t forgotten his training.

“’You get used to it,’ Mike told me. ‘Combat gets to be almost fun when you’re good at it. Just firing them off – pop, pop, pop and they all fall down. It’s like an arcade or something.

“’You forget they’re people, Tappy. When they’re coming over a ridge at you, they’re just targets. The only time it gets difficult is when you have to go up close. There were times in North Africa when I had to creep right into the tents and knife them where they lay sleeping. You could hear the bayonet scrap against their ribs as the blade was pushed in. There was always that squeal and that grind of the knife against the bone.’

“Mike had stopped laughing. He was staring into his glass, but I doubted that he was seeing anything but those violent memories. Then he smiled. Mike Jeffrey was definitely not a man you wanted to get on the wrong side of.”

But that’s exactly what Hendrix did, according to Wright. As well as falling out with previous co-manager Chas Chandler, the guitarist had wound Jeffrey up and was preparing to sign up with a rival organisation.

Jeffrey had evaded tax for years and had run up huge debts in attempting to settle with the government. He was reduced to borrowing money from employees. But he had an insurance deal in place for Hendrix’ business earnings – and it would be worthless a few months later when the management agreement expired.

In the book, Wright also explains his time with Hendrix and exactly what he'd done to upset his managers, his time working with Ike and Tina Turner, and his life of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll touring with the Animals.

Take our poll on the right: Do you think Hendrix was murdered?

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