11 September 1946
Al Hendrix changes his sons name to James Marshall Hendrix.

13 January 1948
Jimi's brother Leon is born in Seattle.

Mid-1949
A third brother, Joseph Allen Hendrix, is also born in Seattle. Around this time, Jimi and Leon are sent to Vancouver to live with Al's sister and her husband. They return to Seattle in 1950.

27 September 1950
Jimi's sister Cathy Ira Hendrix is born in Seattle.

17 December 1951
Al and Lucille Hendrix are divorced. Jimi, Leon and Joseph live with their father, though Joseph soon moves elsewhere, and Leon is often fostered out during the 1950s.

2 February 1958
Jimi's mother Lucille dies in Seattle: neither he nor his father attend the funeral.

Autumn 1958
Al Hendrix gives Jimi a ukelele, inspiring him to buy a $5 guitar later in the year. Jimi soon joins his first group, The Velvetones, playing acoustic guitar.

Summer 1959
Al purchases an electric guitar for his son, allowing Jimi to join another band, The Rocking Kings - with whom he makes his live debut later that year.

Summer 1960
The Rocking Kings evolve into Thomas & The Tomcats.

31 October 1960
Jimi leaves high school without graduating.

31 May 1961
After several run-ins with the Seattle police, Jimi enlists in the US Army, and begins his basic training.

31 October 1961
Jimi joins the 101st Airborne Division, where he undergoes parachute training.

2 July 1962
After breaking his ankle in his 26th parachute jump, Jimi is invalid out of the army.

October 1962
With his army buddy Billy Cox, Jimi starts work as a musician-for-hire in Nashville clubs.

December 1962
Jimi joins the mixed-race R&B band Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers, who later sign to Motown.

March 1963
Back in Nashville, Hendrix and Cox form The King Kasuals.

Late 1963
Jimi journeys to New York via Philadelphia, where he plays some recording sessions - his first authenticated visit to a professional studio - with R&B performer Lonnie Youngblood.

Early 1964
In New York, Jimi joins The Isley Brothers' backing band, and begins to record and tour with them

October 1964
Jimi quits The Isleys' band and joins a touring group which supports musicians like Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke.

December 1964
Little Richard enlists Jimi for his touring band.

March 1965
Jimi and future Love vocalist Arthur Lee collaborate on a single by Rose Lee Brooks.

July 1965
Little Richard fires Jimi for missing the bus after a New York show.

27 July 1965
Hendrix signs a two-year recording deal with R&B label Sue Records in New York.

October 1965
In mid-town Manhattan, Jimi meets struggling R&B singer Curtis Knight, who invites him to join his band, The Squires.

15 October 1965
Jimi signs another exclusive recording deal, this time with Curtis Knight's recording manager, Ed Chalpin of PPX Records. Knight and Hendrix record several studio and live sessions over the next few months.

January 1966
Leaving Curtis Knight, Jimi begins to perform with King Curtis' band.

May 1966
Jimi rejoins The Squires for two weeks on New York gigs, but leaves at the end of the first week. He plays briefly with Carl Holmes and The Commanders, before inaugurating his own band, The Rainflowers.

June 1966
The Rainflowers become Jimmy James and The Blue Flames, with a line-up including future rock stars Randy California and Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter.

23 June 1966
Keith Richards' girlfriend, Linda Keith, watches a Hendrix show in Manhattan, and tries to interest Stones manager Andrew Oldham in the group.

5 July 1966
As Oldham isn't impressed, Linda Keith turns here attention to Animals' bassist Chas Chandler, who accompanies her to a Jimmy James and The Blue Flames performance at the Cafe Wah? in Greenwich Village.

9 September 1966
Jimi and Chas reach London: that night, Jimi plays in public for the first time in England.

29 September 1966
Bassist Noel Redding is enlisted for Hendrix's new band: they begin rehearsals with drummer Aynsley Dunbar. Chas Chandler's business partner, Mike Jeffery, begins to take a keen interest in Hendrix's career.

5 October 1966
Mitch Mitchell is appointed the permanent drummer in the band, now named The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

13 October 1966
The Experience play their first gig, in Evreux near Paris.

23 October 1966
Back in London, they record 'Hey Joe' with producer Chas Chandler and vocal support from The Breakaways.

2 November 1966
Jimi begins work on his debut album.

13 December 1966
The Experience make their TV debut on ITV's Ready, Steady, Go!

30 January 1967
The Experience perform three songs at their debut BBC Radio Session.

3 February 1967
They start to record their second single, 'Purple Haze', and work on its follow-up, 'The Wind Cries Mary'.

31 March 1967
The Experience begin a controversial UK tour supporting pop idols The Walker Brothers.

4 April 1967
The final day of recording for the 'Are You Experienced?' LP.

4 May 1967
Work begins at Olympic Studios on Jimi's second album.

18 June 1967
The Experience play their first American concert, at the Monterey Pop Festival in California.

8 July 1967
In another mismatch, Hendrix and The Experience begin their first US tour, supporting the world's No. 1 teen idols, The Monkees.

16 July 1967
By mutual consent, the Experience play their final date on The Monkees' tour. Their publicists subsequently claim that their early departure is sparked by protests from The Daughters of the American Revolution.

30 July 1967
Jimi jams with former boss Curtis Knight during a session at PPX Studios: the results of the reunion are later realised by Ed Chalpin, prompting a flurry of lawsuits.

30 October 1967
Work on 'Axis: Bold As Love', the second Experience album, is completed.

22 December 1967
The Jimi Hendrix Experience perform as part of the Christmas Pop Spectacular in London's Olympia Hall, on the same bill as The Who, Pink Floyd, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Soft Machine and The Move.

4 January 1968
Jimi is arrested in Gothenburg, Sweden, and charged with damaging his hotel room.

21 January 1968
He starts to record his version of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower', the first track attempted for his third album.

25 February 1968
Jimi and the other Experience members - in both senses of the word - are immortalised in plaster by the Plaster Casters of Chicago.

13 March 1968
At the Scene Club in New York, Jimi takes part in a drunken jam with Jim Morrison of The Doors.

18 April 1968
Works begins in earnest at the Record Plant in New York on what becomes the 'Electric Ladyland' album.

18 May 1968
Hendrix interrupts his sessions to perform at the Miami Pop Festival.

27 August 1968
The final day of recording for 'Electric Ladyland'.

10 October 1968
The Experience begin a short season of concerts at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.

November 1968
Jimi produces an album for Cat Mother & The All Nigh Newsboys in New York.

4 January 1969
The Experience commemorate the break-up of Cream by performing an unplanned 'Sunshine Of Your Love' on the live TV programme, The Lulu Show, forcing the host to abandon her closing number.

14 February 1969
The Experience regroup at Olympic Studios in London to work abortively on a fourth album.

24 February 1969
A chaotic, often splendid show at the Royal Albert Hall in London is taped and filmed for future release.

March 1969
Jimi produces several songs for an album by The Buddy Miles Express.

18 March 1969
Jimi tapes a studion rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner', which becomes a highlight of his subsequent live shows.

May 1969
Jimi is arrested for possession of illegal drugs on his arrival at Toronto International Airport.

9 June 1969
A performance at the Denver Pop Festival becomes the Experience's final show when Noel Redding discovers that Hendrix is planning to replace him with Billy Cox.

10 July 1969
Jimi debuts his new band, with Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox, on American TV's The Tonight Show.

14 August 1969
Jimi begins rehearsals with an extended line-up, adding a second guitarist, Larry Lee, plus percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez.

18 August 1969
The newly named Gypsy Sons & Rainbows Band headline the Woodstock festival in Bethel, New York.

28 August 1969
Jimi resumes work on another studio album, a year after completing 'Electric Ladyland'.

7 November 1969
After Mitch Mitchell returns to London to work on a solo project, Jimi enlists Billy Cox, Juma Sultan and drummer Buddy Miles to the Record Plant in New York, for sessions by what he comes to call The Band Of Gypsys.

10 December 1969
Despite effectively admitting his guilt, Jimi is found not guilty of his drug possession charges in Toronto.

31 December 1969
Jimi begins two nights of shows at the Fillmore East in New York, which are taped for the 'Band Of Gypsys' album - the rights to which are presented to Ed Chalpin in settlement of his outstanding contractual claim on Hendrix's services, dating back to 1965.

28 January 1970
Hendrix has to leave the stage after two songs of a New York performance with The Band Of Gypsys; the line-up is disbanded soon afterwards.

4 February 1970
Hendrix, Mitchell and Redding announce the reformation of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, though they never record or perform together again.

March 1970
In London, Hendrix guests on sessions by Arthur Lee and Stephen Stills.

23 March 1970
Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox are established as Jimi's rhythm section for the first of a series of sessions, intended to spawn a double-album called 'The First Rays Of The New Rising Sun'.

30 May 1970
The trio - now know as the Cry Of Love band - are taped and filmed during their performance at the Berkeley Community Theater in California.

15 June 1970
Jimi inaugurates his own Electric Lady Studios in New York, though they aren't officially opened for another two months.

30 July 1970
The Cry Of Love band perform two shows on the Hawaiian island of Maui, which are filmed for a documentary movie eventually released as Rainbow Bridge.

1 August 1970
Jimi performs his last US concert.

22 August 1970
Jimi's final recording session takes place at Electric Lady Studios, as he tapes his solo rendition of 'Belly Button Window'.

26 August 1970
The Electric Lady studio complex is officially opened.

27 August 1970
Hendrix flies to England.

30 August 1970
Jimi, Mitch and Billy perform an erratic show at the Isle Of Wight festival in England.

2 September 1970
Three songs into his performance in Aarhus, Denmark, Jimi has to leave the stage, suffering from too heavy a dose of sleeping pills.

6 September 1970
At the Fenham festival in Germany, Hendrix's last full live performance is greeted with sporatic booing by an ill-tempered crowd. Jimi the flies to London.

10 September 1970
Journalist Keith Altham conduct Jimi's last interview.

16/17 September 1970
Jimi makes his last appearance on stage at Ronnie Scott's club in London, jamming with Eric Burdon and War.

18 September 1970
Ambulances are called to the Samarkand Hotel in London, where Jimi is found unconscious, having vomited in his sleep. The ambulance-men are unable to revive him. He is taken to St. Mary Abbot's Hospital, where he is officially pronounced dead just after midday.

28 Septemer 1970
At a London inquest, the coroner instructs the jury to return an open verdict on Hendrix's death, which is blamed on "inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication".