Jimi Hendrix Estate Battle - The Will: Family Secrets Revealed - S03 EP08 - Reality TV

foreign considered by many to be the greatest  guitar player in music history is found dead at the age of 27. with no will to be found the  rights to his music and image are up for grabs it's the single most expensive uh estate  battle in the history of rock and roll other than the Beatles a battle erupts that  spans over four decades and leaves a family divided he starts yelling at her calling in  Ames and and assist Leon you've got to stop this stuff but when the stakes are worth an  estimated

80 million dollars emotions can run high it was like a slap in the face I wasn't  angry but I almost wanted some Revenge [Music] guitar legend Jimi Hendrix is found dead in the  London hotel room Jimmy dies in 1970 from mixing alcohol and sleeping pills he had shacked up with  a woman a groupie type woman that he had just met and uh she had sleeping pills that were in German  and they were much more powerful than American sleeping pills Jimmy in all likelihood thought  the otherwise thought the

y were weaker and took a handful of them took what would have been about 30  times the recommended dose and happened to drink that down with a significant portion of red wine  emergency service workers find the Superstar alone in his room Jimmy's management team calls his  father Al in Seattle Washington to break the news Jimmy Williams was Jimi hendrix's best  friend growing up in Seattle I got a phone call from my sister and she's turned on  the radio you know Jimi Hendrix just died in London

or something and I said oh no you know  that's not true and so I turn on the radio and they were doing the announcement and I said I  gotta go over and see Al so she said I'll go with you so I went over there and Al was pretty I mean  he was just broken Jimmy's younger brother Leon has been behind bars at the Monroe Reformatory for  just over six months on the morning of September 18th he's awoken with the bad news everybody's got  a radio it said Jimi Hendrix dies of drug overdose um and then e

verybody said turn that radio  off that's that's his brother upstairs you know so everybody turn their radios off and  then the chaplain came over a lot of speakers said Leon Hendricks four one five six one seven report  to the chaplain and then that's when I knew that it was true there's a phone call for Leon my  dad was on the phone he said Jimmy died and you know and we were both crying and  but then the whole prison seemed to have this this respect for some reason when I came back  the whole

prison was silent Leon is devastated they put me in a sergeant confinement because  they thought that I might want to commit suicide for Leon Jimi Hendrix was more than just  an older brother Jimmy was in charge of me I mean anything that happened to him I had to  go when he went to play you know band practice he dragged me along their relationship it was  special because it wasn't just a brother to Leon he was he was like a father and they  kind of lived in an impoverished life so it was kind

of Leon and Jimmy against the world  I didn't know we were poor you know what time there was no reason for me to ever think  that because I always had a sandwich or you know something you know and Jimmy used to  provide it for that Jimmy and Leon's upbringing has been Rife with struggle their parents  Alan Lucille divorced in 1951. my mom was uh we didn't get to see her much because after my dad  and her split up he took custody of me and Jimmy there was a lot of troubling things between  Lucill

e and Al that I think Jimmy you know hid you know from his friends and stuff an  alcoholic with a gambling addiction Al has difficulty paying the bills my father  did the best he could with what he had uh we wake up early in the morning and summertime  and he'd drag us out and we'd go recycle cans and bottles and glass and copper wiring and every  now and then he'd send us down with my little wagon my little you know red flower wagon with  a big five gallon diesel can from the Army and we go get

diesel we bring it back to the house  and that's that was our heat for like three days often Al is forced to work nights though there  are other times when he just doesn't come home well Al was definitely a heavy drinker um  during Jimmy's childhood there were stories that neighbors told me of Al literally  knocking or not even knocking on the door just walking in to a house laying  down and falling asleep on the sofa Al thought that was his house when his house was  a block away he went to wor

k at three o'clock when me and Jimmy got out of school and  he didn't come home until 12 or 1 o'clock at night you know so it was hard for him but he  he did it you know I love that old guy he's cool Social Services received tips from neighbors  saying the boys are being left home alone the welfare people were trying to take me and  Jimmy from my father every day they park outside and wait for us to come out and try to capture  us you know my dad said don't answer the door you know well they man

aged to avoid the Social  Service agents for a while Leon is eventually taken into foster care fortunately he is not too  far away Leon tells stories of often leaving the foster home he was at and going to find Jimmy  there was definitely a very strong bond between these two boys but it's not the first time  Al hendricks's family is broken up back in 1948 Lucille and Al have a third child Joe who  was born with health issues that include a club foot a cleft palate and one leg shorter than the  o

ther she was born with a number of birth defects and they raised him they loved him and they seem  to be doing relatively well with his upbringing he would go a couple times a week to this place  called Children's Hospital in Seattle for therapy after Joe a daughter Kathy is born blind while  another daughter Pamela and a son Albert have minor health issues they all become Wards of  the state and are put into foster care for three years Lucille and I'll try to keep Joe but  the financial strain

is too great that's the part that's heartbreaking is that Joe had been around  for a while Joe is old enough to have had memories of it some say that Pharrell and Lucille's  relationship it's the straw that broke the camel's back there got to be a point though where  Al Hendricks thought it was too much uh it was one of the biggest points between Al and Lucille  Lucille wanted Joe to stay with them Al wanted Joe to be given away to the state for foster care and  eventually I won that argument th

ey dropped Joe off at the hospital though divorced Alan Lucille  maintain an on-again off-again relationship when she dies in 1958 it hits the family hard you  know one of the most heartbreaking story of Jimmy's childhood is that his mother dies when  Jimmy's just a young teenager when he's 15 years old and she died of uh cirrhosis of the liver in  all likelihood or spleen ruptured my dad said that Mama had passed and we're gonna go to the funeral  but then he he had gotten so drunk that he miss

ed a funeral by like eight hours you know we went to  the funeral home and they said oh that was at two o'clock and we went there at eight you know at  night and so Jimmy is pretty upset about that Jimmy becomes introspective and turns  to music he idolizes Elvis Presley Elmore James and Little Richard and practices  playing guitar first on a broom then on other stand-ins first guitar was actually a ukulele  and he was you know he played Peter Gunn on it and then he would he would turn it up to

get to  the next key and he played over and over again yeah that's how he started playing guitar  soon after Jimmy finds a used guitar he likes for five dollars but initially his  father refuses to buy it for him he said no I'm not giving you five dollars for a guitar  are you crazy you need to work with your hands Jimmy actually we were having dinner at our  Auntie's house Jimmy said Aunt Ernestine there's a guitar for five dollars but my dad won't buy it  and my my aunt went crazy over my dad

slapped him he said if you don't buy that guitar I buy it  when you see the skill that he showed when the world discovered Jimmy at 21 it appears that Jimmy  at that point had been playing for decades and the truth was he'd only been playing for a few years  on very very crude instruments the guitar is an obsession for Jimmy some point Jimmy was showing  up with his guitar strapped to his back neck you know downward and didn't have an amplifier but  he went around and played uh you know for anyb

ody who would ask in a plan that guitar went every  place with him I mean he played it constantive Seattle Washington 1967. Leon is working in his  father's landscaping business for five years Jimmy has been chasing his dream of becoming a  professional musician preoccupied with life on the road Jimmy hasn't communicated much with his  father and brother one day during a lunch break Alan Leon hear loud music coming from a neighbor's  apartment these people downstairs are playing this loud rock a

nd roll music all the time and for some  reason my dad said you know that sounds like Jimmy Leon discovers they are listening to a record by  the Jimi Hendrix experience it's the first time Leon's seen the album and he takes the record over  to show his father they're floored it's like wow just a year earlier Jimmy was playing six dollar  gigs at small clubs in Greenwich Village it was very different for an African-American to suddenly  be in white people's land in Folk Music Land but Jimmy bega

n playing some of the exact same  songs he'd played in Harlem but they played very differently in the village they were exotic Jimmy  combined that with playing the guitar with his team playing behind his head playing with one hand  those things to a white audience in the village seemed extraordinary he is soon discovered by  animals basis turned music producer Chaz Chandler one day at a club in the village called The Cafe  wa Chas Chandler who had been the bass player in the band the animals an

d saw Jimmy doing that  Chas infamously spilled a milkshake on himself he was so impressed by what Jimmy was doing Jazz  becomes Jimmy's manager and takes him to England uh Jimmy packed up one suitcase that was  all he owned got on a plane and flew to London in 1966 within 10 days of arriving in  London he was a star it truly is one of the most extraordinary rise to Fame in music history  ever he forms a band The Jimi Hendrix experience his career took off like a snowball at  that point it went

just out of control Hendricks went to London to launch his career he  kind of did this reverse British Invasion thing where he went overseas to to get things started  and then came back to America as a rock and roll hero he's a guy who defined the Psychedelic era  and did a tremendous amount of groundbreaking work in a very very short amount of time in less than  two years the Jimi Hendrix experience is looking for their big break in North America after  landing gigs at Monterey International Po

p Festival in Woodstock and with two more albums  under their belt the band's popularity explodes but during the hippie movement of Love psychedelic  music went almost hand in hand with a psychedelic lifestyle drugs really only came into his life  once Fame happened and once money happened this lifestyle along with an almost obsessive  work ethic and non-stop touring schedule eventually catches up with Jimmy is he  got more famous he became more unhappy because uh the demands were different than

going  to the cafe wall on Friday night that began this downward spiral thing they booked Jimmy like two  gigs a day in Europe so they it was like killing him by attrition by wearing him out he clearly  did eventually develop a bit of a problem with drugs towards the last year of his life and  in some ways that did lead to the lifestyle choices that eventually led to his death in 1970.  many believe when he took the handful of sleeping pills the night he died he was just trying to get  a good n

ight's sleep the alcohol that he drank and the alcohol are in his body eventually led to  his death he did not overdose intentionally it was not an overdose from let me take a bunch of  stuff and feel really great it was I'm exhausted I need to sleep I'm taking a ton of these sleeping  pills and I'm going to drink it down with red wine and he died Jimmy doesn't leave a will Jimmy's  father Alice considered his next of kin and is in line to inherit the rights to his son's musical  Legacy until a

paternity suit threatens to take everything away if you look at a photograph of  this child and you look at a photograph of Jimi Hendrix even though his mother was a blonde Nordic  woman you go this is clearly Jimi hendrix's child guitar Superstar Jimi Hendrix dies without  a will Suddenly at the age of 27 everyone assumes his father Al will inherit his son's  estate but his claim is about to be challenged Jimmy had at least two children that we know  of um one of them was a woman with with a wo

man named Diana Carpenter who he had met in New  York she had been a prostitute during that era um and uh Jimmy hooked up with her Harlem New  York 1966. Jimmy and Diana Carpenter are living together when Diana discovers she is pregnant at  Jimmy's insistence she stops working the streets for a while but it's not long before she starts up  again she soon gets arrested and the two-part ways Diana's daughter Tamika is born in February 1967.  nearly four decades later Jimmy's childhood friend Jimmy

Williams runs into Diana in Seattle in 2004.  I just happened to meet a Woman by the name of Diane Carpenter and she said that she was Jimmy's  ex-girlfriend and she had a daughter by Jimmy and I said oh wow her lawyers launch a paternity  suit in 1970 before Jimmy's death they send letters instructing him to do a blood test but it  never happens a year before he dies Diana tracks Jimmy down after one of his concerts she clearly  approached Jimmy at one point in San Francisco and Berkeley and t

old him I've had a kid by you and  Jimmy hung out with her at least in the airport it will be their last encounter Jimmy never  officially recognizes Tamika as his though he does carry a photo of her and in the unreleased  song Red Velvet room he sings a line how's Tammy after Jimmy's death Diana challenges  Al's claim to Jimmy's estate she says well I'm here with my  daughter to put a claim in for some of the estate Whenever there is no  will present Estates go to the next of kin but her case i

sn't convincing enough and in 1972  the Court's rule against Diana's claim saying that because no blood test was taken while Jimmy was  alive paternity cannot be established that child's DNA has never been tested against Jimmy and uh so  we're only taking Diana Carpenter's word for that if Jimmy is her dad it's got to be the worst  feeling in the world that you can't get your family to acknowledge that you're you know  his kid this leaves out with the rights to the entirety of his son's estate n

ot knowing  much about the music Biz though he hires attorney Leo Branton and producer Alan Douglas  to manage his son's Legacy shortly after Jimmy died and this is as I understand from the court  records I wasn't an attorney on it Leo Branton basically sent something to Al that said you  know sign here and I'll take care of everything ship with Al Hendricks was  a very warm relationship he trusted me completely he was very uh responsive  to whatever advice I would give him he always indicated t

hat he appreciated what I was doing  for him Leo soon discovers that Jimmy was in debt I found out that he had about twenty a thousand  dollars and he had loads of debt uh he owed his manager uh over three hundred thousand dollars uh  he owed money to Warner Brothers that they gave him as a loan to build a studio he would finish a  concert and go out to a club and jam all hours of the night but all the business dealings he didn't  care about and he frankly was very bad at he was a very popular p

erformer he made more money at  Woodstock than anyone else and yet a week later he played for free on a Harlem Street and that cost  him money he made decisions that were primarily based on his desire to play music not on what was  smart business sense in short Jimmy doesn't leave much but he does leave an extensive song catalog  and hundreds of hours of unreleased recordings Alan and I went all over the world trying to find  pieces that Jimmy had done and had never been made into a record and h

ad never been uh uh produced or  distributed and from this we made six post-death albums it generate millions of dollars for him  Leo Branton then went on to manage the estate while paying some royalties to Al Hendricks along  with occasional lump sums Al receives around 75 000 a year in royalties and to him it's more money  than he's ever seen in his lifetime he was given half of that to me and I didn't know I thought  he was making way more money than that but he was he never told me that Al i

s just happy to be  able to provide for his family for the first time Seattle 1966 eight years after the death  of his first wife Al Hendrix meets iaco Jun jinka a mother of five including a  daughter named Janie they marry soon after Jimmy never lives with them and only  meets his step family a couple of times that woman had a couple of children of her  own including one young girl who lived with her at that point who would have been  about seven at that time in 1967 and that was Janie Hendrick

s Al eventually marries  the mother and adopts Janie Hendricks so Janie Hendricks is not related to Jimi Hendrix  by Blood she is his adopted stepsister Leon is living off and on with his father still  and he sometimes looks after his new sister my relationship with Jenny was a a big brother  to little sister relationship I took her to the bus stop to go to school I picked her up  you know I babysitted her wrote her the Bible uh did all the things that big brothers should  do for a little kid co

ntent with his family and his royalties Al thinks all the dust has settled  but in the early 70s another woman comes forward claiming to have Jimmy's love child Jimmy had  many many girlfriends was very free with sexuality um he was not worried about birth control in that  era um and uh may have several other children that we don't know that have never come forward when  Jimmy plays concerts in Stockholm Sweden he has flings with Eva sundquist between the years of  1967 and 1969. she claims that

she became pregnant with their son James Daniel sundquist in 1969.  a few years later Eva launches a paternity case in Swedish Court Leo Branton Al's lawyer tells  the Swedish courts that the claim is baseless I researched the law and found  out that in the United States one could not bring a paternity cause of  action after the death of the alleged father it must be brought during his lifetime and the  reason for this is there is no way for the last father to contest the claim because she's no

  longer around nevertheless in 1975 the Swedish Courtside was sundquist and declared her son  to be Jimmy's rightful heir so I rejected the claim because I knew that there was no way she  could ever collect on this in the United States childhood friend Jimmy Williams is surprised to  hear about the case I picked up a paper one day and I saw this picture of this kid in La that  was suing the Jimi Hendrix estate because he was Jimmy's son the attorney for the kid he was  just looking for any way

to try to get somebody to recognize this claim if you look at a photograph  of this child and you look at a photograph of Jimi Hendrix even though his mother was a blonde Nordic  woman you go this is clearly Jimi hendrix's child Jimmy Williams who's become good friends  with Jimmy's dad Al is upset that he has denounced James claim he confronts Al  when I says Al um is this your grandson uh probably and I said well what percentage  do you think to touch your grandson and he said oh probably 150

percent so he just trapped  himself with me right there and I said so you are denying this kid you know and you got all of  these other people part of the estate and you're denying him and I said um you know uh I've  been your friend since I was eight years old but this friendship's gonna end it if you don't  do something for that kid and I walked out in 1978 Al appears to settle things with sundquist  he showed up at one of our favorite drinking halls and he backing me over to the table and I s

aid  yeah what's up and he said Jimmy I want to let you know I gave a kid a million dollars and I  said that's the old owl that I know you know it wasn't funny if these children really are the  children of Jimi Hendrix it seems like they should publicly be acknowledged as that and as far as  I know neither Tamika nor James sundquist has ever gotten that kind of public acknowledgment  from Jimmy's estate or heirs by 1997 with both paternity suits finally handled things once again  appear to have

settled down when a letter arrives offering Jimmy siblings Leon and Jamie Hendrix  one million dollars each and changes everything you find a lot of people influencing Leon  and explaining things in ways to him that he might not be able to understand he's being  scammed essentially certain people claimed that I was robbing the estate which was a lie after  inheriting his rock star son Jimi hendrix's estate Al Hendricks hands off the management Reigns  to his lawyer Leo Branton Leo is licensed ou

t the rights to Jimmy's music entitling out to  royalties but the contract is about to expire in 1991 Leo and Janie Jimmy's younger siblings  receive a letter from Leo Branton that will change both of their lives the reason for the offer  from the Albritton was because the copyrights were coming up and de la was that the next of  can would have to sign off on it in order for him to renew the copyrights for himself that is a  quirken the law concerning musical conversations that when Mr Hendricks

who got all of the income  from these things when he died the income would go to his children and Al wanted to be able to  control those things and so I conceived to the idea of his buying out the children's rights the  letter offers Leo and Janie one million dollars each to sign away their rights as inheritors to  Jimmy's works and I told them that before I have them sign off on this million dollar sign they had  the opportunity of going and Consulting with their own lawyer and to see whether

or not that it was  a deal that they should take while he is now in his early 40s Leon doesn't have a steady job and  his income is unstable lured by the instant riches as well as wanting to set up trust funds for his  own children Leon blindly signs on the dotted line I said I need 10 of it now you know  and they gave me a hundred grand you find a lot of people influencing Leon  and explaining things in ways to him that would at Leon's age that he might not be able  to understand he's being sca

mmed essentially Janie however does hire a lawyer her lawyer claims  that Branton is giving the hendrixes a raw deal by feeding the misinformation and how much Jimmy's  music is actually worth certain people claimed that I was robbing the estate which was a lie they  claimed that I was getting nothing uh but uh 75 000 a year uh it's true that he was only getting  seventy five thousand dollars a year but that's because of of the fact that Al said that's all he  wanted to live off of and the rest

of it would be generated and saved for in his trust he said  I trust Leo Branton and and I said but Dad every day in the news I see Jimmy so like 10  million dollars worth of Records this year and he said well I don't know about all those kind  of details I just know that you know I trust Leo Bratton and think he's doing a good job I made  him a multi-millionaire if I hadn't come into the picture we don't know whether he had ever would  ever earned the kind of money that I was able to generate f

or him uh I don't I'm not sure that  other lawyers would have been able to get rid of all of the deaths like I did Janie relays this  information to her father Al and convinces him that they should go after Leo and Alan to win back  the rights to Jimmy's music it's the beginning of a partnership that will later shut Leon out they  live together you know she lived in his house you know and uh and I live way across town with  Janie's help Al Sever's ties with Leo and hires a new lawyer in 1993. he

files a lawsuit against Leo  Brenton producer Alan Douglas and two distribution companies the next thing I know I am served  with a complaint charging me with fraud theft uh unfair dealing and uh along with a letter  that this lawyer now represented Al Henderson and under no circumstances was I had to  communicate with Al Henderson in any way Hal and the family decided in the 90s that they'd  kind of had enough filthy Jimmy's Legacy wasn't being well dealt with he wasn't being preserved  it jus

t wasn't a fair deal in the first place and definitely wasn't being managed as a fair deal  [Music] they go back and forth with lawyers until 1995 but the case doesn't go to trial my father  won this all the music rights to the Jimmy state back to him by claiming incompetence he didn't  know what he was signing there's no reason for him to give away you know 25 million dollars  a year for his little 75 000 a year salary Al's team eventually settles with the two  distribution companies giving him

back control over the rights to license Jimmy's music with this  new power Janie and Al create a new company whose sole purpose will be to manage Jimmy's Legacy  and they formed experience Hendrix authentic Hendricks and that's when Jamie Hendricks  came to come start working on the estate they make a deal to authorize Jimmy's music  to MCA for 40 million dollars despite being able to live even more comfortably Al  continues working for his landscaping business and appoints Janie whom he now tr

usts  deeply as experience Hendricks president Leon is given a chance to step in but he's not  interested my dad said I didn't have to work there because I was doing my own thing I was doing  my all right I had my own nice little job place and stuff like that Al Hendrix tells Leon that he  has established a trust for him entitling him to 25 of the estate by this time Leon has divorced  his first wife and is the father of six kids he is grateful my dad always told me he said don't  worry about an

ything Leona I take care of your your whole thing your whole family and everything  trust fun and everything's fine so I said okay cool [Music] around this time Al starts having  some problems with congestive heart failure Janie is awarded power of attorney and Al gets moved  back and forth between his home and an assisted living facility Leon isn't happy about it I had  to go take him out of the hospital put him in a a private facility and he came back to life and when  I come come and visit he

thought turn that turn that channel rub my feet you know you know scratch  my head back you know he was back to a life but a few years later on April 17 2002 Al  dies in his sleep at his home in Seattle at the time Leon is in LA and he flies home  for the funeral but tensions are growing between him and his stepsister for one thing  um all the seats were taken up by her family and so I was upset with that so I said hey you  guys got moved back you know come on uh we're here for the funeral and

then when they when  the military came up and gave her the flag that should have went to me as a son you  know and I'm also a military man you know and that kind of hurt me Leon got emotional  when you know they read the sermon at the site and um Janie wasn't too far away and he starts  yelling at her calling and names and and I says Leon you've got to stop this stuff you  know and so I grabbed him and pushed him and everybody was saying Leon don't do this  you're disrespecting your dad's funera

l Things become even more heated when Al's will  is read the next morning and Leon isn't even invited he doesn't know that he's about to be  completely disinherited I just got a letter to my attorney from their attorney saying here's  your inheritance and that was it one gold record it was like a slap in the face Al Hendricks  father of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix and heir to his estate dies in 2002. his younger son Leon  is immediately suspicious after he isn't invited to the reading of his fath

er's will Leon's lawyer  gains access to the will after a few days and tells him to come over to collect his inheritance  a single gold record of Jimmy's as shocking as it seems tension has been building between  his stepsister Janie and Leon for some time 1996 Seattle Washington Leon is living a Hustler's  life one he's LED since he was a teenager Leon it's probably safe to say was somewhat the  black sheep of the Hendricks family I was like a straight kid you know and the only relief  I ever e

ver got from that is when Jimmy's came home and took me on tour with him otherwise  back on the streets doing my hustle you know uh you know doing the thing you know selling weed  and you know messing around getting in trouble he also has a debilitating crack habit and smokes it  every day Al attempts to step in to make his son go get treatment but Leon is unable to control  his addictions I had I had some problems with addiction alcoholism uh you know cocaine addiction  and I had uh you know I

had a problem with that I didn't think I had a problem but evidently my  kids did it because they intervened and got me sent to uh a treatment center run by musicians he  eventually completes a two-month stand in rehab at the impact drug and alcohol treatment center  in the late 1990s after his release he's close to once again falling off the wagon until he meets  Jasmine Rogue and she actually is a drug counselor so putting him with her in a good element actually  keeps him on a day-to-day basi

s you know sober we're still together so I appreciate her it's  all because of her that I'm successful today despite getting his life back on track Leon was  still left out of the last will Al signed in 1998. Cheney's legal team maintains that Al cut  Leon out of the will because of his lifestyle I just got a letter to my attorney from  their attorney saying here's your inheritance that was it one gold record it wasn't  even an original one you know it was just a copy that she took off her walle

t to give to me it was like a slap in the face I wasn't angry but  I almost wanted some Revenge Leon had a bad record Leon had a record of drugs he surrounded himself  with irresponsible people and Janie's defense team argued that he would go for the fast buck and  get rid of the estate rather than Let It Grow his lawyer explains that Leon appeared in all  his dad's Wills except for the last one which Al revised 1998. my dad wrote several wills and every  one of them I was named as the only bene

ficiary Al's will gives the bulk of the estate estimated  to be worth 80 million dollars to someone else who's been waiting in the wings when Al Hendricks  died in 2002 he left the bulk of his estate to Janie Hendricks the daughter that he had adopted  from his second marriage who was not related to Jimi Hendrix by Blood after he died uh I was cut  out of the will and the whole Hendricks family in fact Leon doesn't have enough funds to sue for  his right to inheritance alone but real estate deve

loper and friend Craig dieffenbach offers to  help when I was left out of the way I was really upset at first but then I had some crazy people  that decided to spend millions of dollars on soon my sister in August 2002 they filed a lawsuit  contesting the validity of Al's will what Leon was trying to show was an undue influence and  why there was a codicil signed in Al's will basically cutting him out of his inheritance and  his position was that it was Janie and that Janie didn't want him to ha

ve anything there's no way  in the world my father would have cut his whole grandkids out of the Jimi Hendrix state Leon had  a great case going in Al made a lot of efforts to take care of Leon all through his life so it  becomes questionable to me why he would at the end at the same time Leon launches a second lawsuit  joined by other family members claiming that Janie and vice president Bobby Hendricks have grossly  mishandled experience hendricks's finances they want Janie removed as trustee

the case goes  to trial in June of 2004. Leon's defense team allege that Janie has spent 1.7 million dollars on  her corporate credit card taking out no interest loans from the trust fund to buy herself Cars 3  million dollars to produce three of her husband's gospel albums and has failed to distribute  any funds to other listed beneficiaries with respects of the money she gets as a beneficiary  she can do absolutely anything that she wants with it she can do my gospel album your gospel  album s

he's entitled to do it it's her money Janie's legal team fights back saying that the  past lawsuit against Leo Branton and the current case against Leon have drained the trusts of their  funds they also argue that Al's will is valid and that they approve there was a videotape in this  case and the video tape shows the signing of the will and there's a dialogue going on between Al  and other people on the videotape and with the videotape shows is that you know facility who's  doing I specifically

asked her why don't you just simply settle with Leon why don't you you  know find some way wouldn't that be much more inexpensive and an easier way out of this and she  claimed that what she was doing was following Al's wishes and she had a duty to do that Al clearly  thought Janie had the best head for business and had a very close relationship with her and he  wanted to reward her presumably for the work that she had done to help him get the estate back it's  a very high failure rate in this

business she's in a place where very very sophisticated businessmen  in the music world have gone under I think she's done a good job I'll live with Janie I live with  Leon he had lived with Jimi Hendrix he knew the situation he made a decision it's a decision that  seems absolutely correct in an even bigger twist during the seven week trial the issue gets raised  whether Leon is actually Al's biological son in court Janie's legal team state  that announced 1999 autobiography he wrote that Jimmy

was his only son  I was quite shocked what I heard later that uh Al had in his will left nothing to  Leah and claimed that Leon was not his son he also writes that Lucille had  a history of sleeping around mom was very young she was someone who liked to  go out in 1942 Lucille is barely 17 years old when she marries Al and is pregnant with Jimmy  Al gets drafted into the army less than a week into the marriage and instead of playing The Good  Wife at home she passes Jimmy off to other friends a

nd family when Al returns home from the war in  1945 he has to travel to California to claim his son Jimmy was born Johnny Allen Hendricks on the  birth certificate and when my dad came home from the war five years later he goes and gets him  from California and brings him to Seattle and he says I'm changing her name and he goes why I'm  a little I'm little Johnny everybody's calling me Johnny for five years you know he said well  Justin that's the name of your mother's boyfriend he and Lucille

reunite soon after though  Lucille is still unable to settle down in 1947 she becomes pregnant again this time  with Leon in many ways she was very ill prepared to be a mom I remember like on my fifth birthday  party you know she was through a big party for me and uh all the neighbor kids came and stuff  like that and and she brought her boyfriend did it upset my dad despite being uncertain if  he's the father when Leon is born Al is thrilled Leon and his dad over the years had a  good relations

hip it was a dysfunctional relationship but nonetheless they were  very loving and cared about each other a lot but during the 2004 trial just five years  later Leon is ordered to undergo a DNA test Jenny had me DNA tested to prove that  I was that Al hinders was not my father meanwhile Janie's legal team is ready to  present the findings from Leon's DNA test it doesn't match didn't surprise me when it  came back that he wasn't my father but he was my father me and my dad knew this all all our 

lives you know I said how come I got straight hair he goes wow you got your mama's hair I don't  want to hear none I go with Dad he said listen I'm your dad you know and I'm only dad you know  forget about I don't want to hear no more about it so I never brought it up again because he  was my dad I love him you know he loved me I he was my father you know the court threw that out  because Al accepted Leon is his son so it didn't matter what the DNA said but there's another bomb  about to drop so

meone else comes forward to claim his rightful spot in the Jimi Hendrix Legacy I  remember walking in a courtroom and I saw this kid that I said God that's a clone of owls  Leon Hendricks and his adopted sister Janie are fighting over their brother's guitar legend Jimi  hendrix's estate in the midst of all this legal drama a new air suddenly comes forward saying that  he too should have a piece of what is rightfully his Joe Hendricks whose custody was taken over by  the state in 1952 enters the

courtroom asking to be included in his father's estate he came out  of nowhere to make himself part of the Legacy most of the Hendricks family has not seen Joe for  decades after Al and Lucille gave him up when they could no longer afford to pay for his health care  I remember walking in a courtroom and I saw this kid that I said God that's a clone of owls and  they said that's Joe Hendricks that's Al's son I said how's that possible I never knew this  kid they said well he adopted him out like

Leon the court orders Joe to take a DNA test  many are shocked by the result she did a DNA test on Joe and it came back that he was not  Al's I said whatever manifestation of the DNA that came up when Joe Hendricks was born he  is clearly Al hendrix's child in my opinion but that's just with my eyes the judge dismisses  Joe's claim on September 24 2004 the judge delivers the verdict on the Hendricks estate in  the end it was ruled that Al's will was the final will that he signed was a legal docu

ment and Al  was given essentially the right to give the estate to whoever he wanted and Leon was disinherited  from the Jimi Hendrix estate the judge also rules to have Janie removed as trustee for some of the  trusts instructing that an independent party is to be appointed she lost a few titles she had which  are insignificant and checks had to be written to cover the places where it was charged off to  the wrong place but there's there's no pattern here of any conscious pattern of Reckless or

  wrongdoing or any kind of criminality and there has been no criminal proceedings of course at  least 20 to 30 million dollars has been spent on legal bills battling over who owns Jimi  Hendrix it's the single most expensive estate battle in the history of rock and roll other  than the Beatles seemed to me that they could have settled this out of court for not much money  so it was really a battle of spite to some degree some fans wish that the maternal side of Jimmy's  family or Leon Hendricks

or some of his other relatives profited that when you buy a Jimi  Hendrix CD at Target now that money doesn't go to anyone on his maternal side it doesn't go  to Leon Hendricks it doesn't go to his children um it goes primarily to this family thing  controlled by Janie Hendricks some argue that without Janie at the helm of Jimmy's Legacy his  music would have been lost they brought in Eddie Kramer who was one of the original engineers  and producers of Jimmy and the sound of those re-recordings

are are fantastic some of the  previous Estates before Janie Hendricks took over had done some just musical bastardization  where they brought in other musicians to play on some of those albums and some of the first  albums that came out after Jimmy's death were just simply horrible and and were awful most of  that has been correct now and better versions of those releases have come out so there have  been some great musical things that they've done I know Al would have been appalled because he

died  just before this battle really took place and my thinking is that Jimmy would have wanted all of  his family taken care of the best that he could my children are angry because  they got really cut out they feel as though they were entitled and  they got ripped off and they're still you know anger about it I let it go even worse  for Leon are the rumors that Jimi Hendrix did drop a will and that if it had been found  the outcome would have been very different there were a number of people

who were Jimmy's  friends including one of his girlfriends that he was with for a long time who who said that he  had a will but it was never found never filed Leon does win a legal battle in 2011 granting  him and his company Rock and artwork the right to use Jimmy's image and name publicly  every time you see his face on some you know that's Jimi Hendrix right so we won that  right that's the only thing we won in court the most important thing we won is we  gave Leon a stake in Jimmy's Legacy

again his uh the really is the patriarch of  the Hendricks family as his blood brother as the only guy left running around that knew  what it was like to be in a house with Jimmy now when people are buying you know Jimmy stuff  wanting to look at Jimmy and think about Jimmy they're getting the input and views from Leon  on that she got the money it's fine you know I got the Legacy and the heritage in my heart and  my soul and in my brain and that's all I need Leon also carries on his brother's L

egacy in  a way that Jimmy would relate to through music he's a very talented individual because  he didn't start playing Guitar till later later in his life so for someone at his age to  learn the guitar and he would tell me sometimes when he's on stage he'll be playing and he'll  feel like he's about to mess up and he just he closes eyes and he says oh Jimmy please please  help me please help me and and he feels him despite all the legal drama Jimi Hendrix  will still be remembered most for hi

s music when we're talking about the greatest  guitarists of all time Jimi Hendrix has to be in that conversation his music is both  Timeless influential and if you can really try to pull yourself back as someone that works  with music and everything and think about nobody was doing what Jimmy did before Jimmy did it he's  still looking out for me because I got a job now playing music I travel around the world  I'm not done I'm getting offers every day to go back go here go there so I'm  like I'

m very blessed thank you Jimmy [Music] foreign foreign foreign