MusicRadar

18 September is the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's death. Hendrix is still universally regarded as the greatest electric guitarist ever, and 39 years on from his premature passing his legend shows no sign of fading.

Even in 2009, deluxe reissues of the Hendrix back-catalogue are being prepared for 2010, a biopic is in production by the makers of It Might Get Loud, and the existing Hendrix albums already out there still sell over 1.2 million copies a year.

Why is Hendrix, a man who made only three studio albums, still so revered? To The Who's Pete Townshend, "When he started to play, something changed: colours changed, everything changed."

Current blues-rock guitar star Joe Bonamassa even tells MusicRadar, "I don't think there's any music that you hear on the radio today that would be possible without Jimi Hendrix."

Part Cherokee, part African-American, pure genius. Jimi Hendrix photographed off-guard at the Monterey Pop festival, June 1967. IMAGE Michael Ochs Archives/Corbis

In a visual tribute to an enduring guitar and songwriting talent, here is MusicRadar's succinct timeline of the life of Jimi Hendrix - via classic photos and rare videos.

Next page: Jimi Hendrix - a life in photos and videos