Paris (AFP)

Jimi Hendrix was born in the United States, was revealed in England, but "France is his third country", tells AFP Yazid Manou, specialist of this guitar hero who received in his beginnings a boost from ... Johnny Hallyday.

The 50th anniversary of Hendrix's death - September 18, 1970 - is an opportunity to return to this page of little-known musical history.

On October 13, 1966, the first time The Jimi Hendrix Experience - a trio that will help change the face of rock - take the stage, it's in ... Evreux!

A plaque commemorates the event.

But how does the genius left-hander get to the Novelty, a convertible movie theater for concerts?

Johnny Hallyday is a good part of the answer.

On September 29, 1966, Johnny, in London to record "The Lost Generation", went out to one of the city's clubs, Blaise's.

The favorite rocker of the French takes full eyes and ears when Hendrix, come to "Swinging London" to break through, ignites the stage.

"Jimi has just arrived in London, + unknown from unknown +, and inevitably, on stage, he had to do the total, play with effects, with the teeth, to show himself", portrayed Yazid Manou, renowned speaker on the "Voodoo Child".

- "Grafted guitar" -

"I see a young man eating his guitar, literally. I was amazed (...) He seemed to have a guitar grafted to his body," Johnny told JDD in 2012.

"Johnny is captivated, and in full preparation for a French tour, sees it well among his first parts", details Yazid Manou.

Jimi's manager, Chas Chandler (ex-Animals) seizes the opportunity, when nothing is ready as he has just started auditioning musicians to surround his foal.

Two weeks later, Hendrix, accompanied by Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums, therefore joined the barnum Johnny.

The day after his landing in Paris, Hendrix "and the other musicians took to the road in a dilapidated bus to go to Evreux, the first stop on the tour of Johnny Hallyday who was traveling in a sports car", relates Jas Obrecht in his book "Stone Free" (Castor music).

After Evreux, there will be Nancy on 14th and Villerupt on 15th October.

And after a short break, it's the Olympia in Paris on October 18, still among the first parts of Johnny.

- "I like you very much" -

"The first times, we always remember, Jimi reports that playing in this room is stronger for him than the Apollo in Harlem, because it is Paris, in a place where the greatest have already been. (like Bob Dylan, whom Hendrix venerates, editor's note) It seals his link with France, "says Yazid Manou, who hosts a special day on September 18 on Radio Perfecto.

The French capital marks Hendrix.

"I would have liked to be able to stop time and explore these fantastic buildings for weeks. I loved every nook and cranny of this city", blurted the musician to Sharon Lawrence, journalist-confidant and author of the book "Jimi Hendrix , man, magic, truth "(Flammarion).

Two of the three pieces played that evening at the Olympia (the first parts are then very short), "Killing floor" and the emblematic "Hey Joe" (the third is "Wild Thing"), are in the famous purple velvet cover compilation, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience".

"There is a good reaction from the public, narrates Yazid Manou. And when he returns, this time in the spotlight, at the Olympia on October 9, 1967, Jimi will say to the public, in French, + I love you a lot +".

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