Hey, what's the latest with this? I heard that there's a dispute between the family members over the estate since Al Hendrix's Death...

OK, I found It:

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Battle over estate of Jimi Hendrix heads to court

By MIKE LEWIS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

If Jimi Hendrix were a fragrance, what fragrance would he be?

Turns out, it's vanilla. This is not, perhaps, the aroma rock critics would have picked to represent the late legendary guitarist, who in his short life was anything but as he overhauled the way musicians play rock guitar. But there Jimi is, embossed on an air freshener sold by the company controlled by his stepsister, Janie Hendrix.

On the Experience Hendrix Web site, fans can buy the Seattle native's image on cell phone covers, shorts, jackets, incense and albums featuring nearly every recorded moment of his brief but prolific career. While the use of the image has spurred some criticism and the albums some praise, it's the money both earn that is the source of a legal fight headed to trial Monday.

Written out of the living trust under circumstances he deems suspicious, Jimi's younger brother, Leon Hendrix, 56, wants a share of the cash and the companies that his late father, Al, helped start and that his stepsister Janie and cousin Robert now control. At issue in the petition filed in King County Superior Court is the last will his father wrote before his death in April 2002. It left Leon and his family without a dime of the estate's money.

"Me and my father always did have a great relationship," Leon Hendrix said in an interview. "I was always in his will. This is my father. He provided for (me and my children) all of this time, for some reason ... everything became changed."

Additionally, the petition asserts that other trustees named as beneficiaries didn't receive payments the trust should provide. Broadly, the plaintiffs accuse Janie (and to a lesser degree Robert) of manipulating an infirm Al to take control of the family money. The estate is valued at about $80 million and reportedly pulls in several million annually.

"What was the reason to carve Leon out?" asked Robert Curran, Leon's attorney. "Al said he would provide for Leon and his children and included them in the original will. We want the court to look at Al's stated history and then what happened with the estate plan."

Defending the estate trust, and her role as the company boss and defender of the Hendrix legacy, is Janie Hendrix, 43. Her attorneys say Janie, who was adopted by Al in 1968 when he married her mother, June Jinka, helped Al regain the rights to his son's music and then helped manage the disorganized, debt-ridden estate into financial health.

In an interview, Janie said she's done a good job protecting the Hendrix legacy and making the trust financially sound. "Basically we were put in charge to run this business and we're running the companies to the best of our abilities," she said.



Leon, the defense says in court documents, is a former drunk, drug addict and freeloader who siphoned money from the family until a dying Al cut him off on his own.

"In his own sworn testimony (Leon) said he's been estranged from Al most of his life," Janie's attorney John Wilson said. "So why the change now?"

The fight, already nasty, could get worse when the trial begins.

Janie has questioned Leon's parentage, implying that Al isn't his real father. (The truth is sealed in court records.) Her attorneys cite past depositions in which Leon professed not to care whether he was in the will at all. And Leon's legal complaint, Janie's attorneys note, has been bankrolled by local developer Craig Dieffenbach.

Wilson has asked what Dieffenbach stands to gain by this, implying that he's cut a hidden, profitable deal. Dieffenbach said he's only trying to help a friend.

"I'm already into this for $3.5 million," he said.

Leon's attorneys say Janie, as a 7-year-old, met Jimi two or three times briefly before he died in 1970. Since taking over the estate, she and Robert Hendrix (her first cousin and second-in command in Experience Hendrix) have lived a jet-set lifestyle while others in the family go broke, Curran said.

"What we are trying to accomplish is to have Janie removed from (control of the Hendrix estate) where she's lived the life of a rock star while other people live in poverty," Curran said.

Leon's legal fight is two-tiered. First, he seeks to remove Janie from control of the estate. Then he wants a complete restructuring of the estate plan to grant him an ownership share, as he had in a will drawn up for his father in 1995. If successful, he wants unspecified damages for the time he spent cut off from the family money. A trial for damages could happen as soon as October.

Joining Leon's complaint are seven beneficiaries whom Al Hendrix did include in a later, modified will and the 10 trusts contained within. They accuse Janie and Robert of lavish personal spending and corporate money games that keep the pair wealthy with salaries while hiding the profits earmarked for beneficiaries.

For example, the breakaway group of seven family members who are listed as beneficiaries of Hendrix trusts say they have not seen any of the promised profits. Janie counters that the beneficiaries will see the money when the companies are profitable. These include Experience Hendrix, Authentic Hendrix LLC, Bodacious Hendrix LP and Axis Inc., Purple Haze Inc. and Stay Experienced Inc.

But that hasn't happened yet after the lengthy legal battle to reacquire song rights and produce new albums. The company, she said, remains millions of dollars in debt.

"We started out close to $30 million in debt," Janie said. "So there have been profits, yes, but they have paid off debt and have gone toward acquisitions to build the business."

She cited Experience Hendrix's involvement in the 2000 Grammy-winning DVD, "Band of Gypsys -- Live at the Fillmore East," as an example of the company's improved direction.

The companies' books, to be made public during the trial, show a different story, said David Osgood, who is representing the group of beneficiaries.

"It's safe to say (Janie and Robert) pay themselves in the hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said. "They've had grossly excessive personal expenses. We're seeking Janie's removal" as trustee.

Unlike Leon's case, however, the beneficiaries do not want the living trust rewritten -- they just want Janie out of power. As 17 percent owners of Experience Hendrix, they mainly want a share of the profits.

As for Leon, he doesn't deserve a cent, the defense says. "Leon isn't in the (living trust) because Leon and his children alienated Al," Wilson said. "It's that clear."

Actually, according to the court documents, nothing about the Hendrix estate is clear at all. As shown by the legal battles over Nirvana song rights after Kurt Cobain's death, fights over legacy control can turn bitter when millions of dollars are at stake and personal, familial relationships get prodded, weighed and measured.

Is a brother closer than a dad? Is a stepsister entitled to more than a cousin? Does blood matter more than adoption? Because Jimi left home at a young age, and according to biographers didn't stay in regular close contact with his family, who should have a claim to his legacy and, with it, the money it collects?

Or is it simply a case of too many people putting their straws in a drink they didn't buy?

Jimi Hendrix was born in Seattle on Nov. 27, 1942, to Lucille and Al Hendrix. Originally named Johnny Allen Hendrix -- after a former boyfriend of Lucille's -- he was renamed James Marshall when his dad returned from military service. Six years later, Leon Hendrix was born. The family lived in Rainier Valley.

The boys' upbringing was tough, poor and unstable, according to Hendrix biographers. Close as children (and at times as adults), Jimi and Leon often were sent to live in foster and relatives' homes. Lucille drank. Al gambled. Both boys wondered whether Al was their real dad.

Working as a session musician in the early 1960s, Hendrix first rose to fame in Great Britain and then in the United States later in the decade. His albums, "Axis: Bold as Love," "Electric Ladyland" and "Are You Experienced" are considered rock classics, with some songs hailed as genius by fans, critics and musicians.

When Hendrix died in 1970 at the age of 27 by choking on his own vomit after an overdose of sleeping pills in a London flat, a judge in New York awarded his possessions and song rights to his father, Al.

At the height of his fame, Jimi didn't have tremendous sums of money, as his contracts funneled much of his earnings to managers and record companies. But he did have an extensive song catalog and hundreds of hours of unreleased recordings. Throughout the 1970s, Al received royalties from the music. The estate was managed by California attorney Leo Branton.

According to court records, Al was generous with the money, helping Janie, Leon and other members of the family to buy homes and live comfortable lifestyles. Al reportedly received a $50,000 annual stipend.

But by the 1990s, the family became embroiled in a dispute with Branton, whom they accused of mismanaging the money and bilking song rights from an unsuspecting Al. Leon, who now says he was acting upon the wishes of his father, sold his share of the copyrights to Branton for several hundred thousand dollars. After consulting a private attorney, Janie declined a similar deal.

Then she and her father decided to sue Branton to re-establish copyright control. After protracted litigation -- bankrolled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen -- the Hendrix family reached a settlement with Branton in 1995 that re-established the family's ownership of the estate.

Al Hendrix and Allen had talked about creating a Jimi Hendrix museum. But after the settlement, the two parted ways in a dispute. This prompted Allen to go solo with the Experience Music Project at Seattle Center. The project has a gallery of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia.

It was at this time that Janie began amassing control of the estate, the complaint alleges. Through the course of the next several years, she began asserting more and more dominance over Al, Leon contends -- first by establishing several companies to promote records, concerts and merchandise, and later by assuming control of the trusts and companies she helped create.

Central to the dispute is Al's last will. Al, who was in poor health for most of his final years, died on April 17, 2002. In the months before he died, he met with estate planning attorneys and switched much of the control of the companies and governing trusts to Janie.

"He did that on his own," Janie said. But Leon's complaint says that Janie had painted him as a traitor to the family because he sold the song rights. Janie wanted Al to dump him from the will, Leon maintains.

The fight isn't limited to the pair of siblings. Much of the Hendrix family is involved, each choosing sides. While some support Janie, others say she has not used her power fairly.

Her father, she said, wanted a debt-free estate before paying beneficiaries. And he wanted Leon out. "We're honoring his wishes in that."

In his final will, Al eliminated Leon's inheritance -- a dramatic change from the prior will that granted Leon 24 percent ownership in the estate. Curran says Janie manipulated an infirm, unsophisticated Al in the same way Branton had years earlier. (Al reportedly had only an eighth-grade education.) Wilson said the trial will show exactly why Al pushed Leon aside, including Leon's constant and unreasonable demands for money and a pattern of felony crimes by his children.The trial is expected to last six to seven weeks. At this point, both sides concede, it appears unlikely that the scent it produces will have even a whiff of vanilla.

Thanx for posting this.There is also an article about this in the recent "Tracks" mag w/Prince on the cover.

Jimi's "It's Too Bad" is allegedly about Leon.

damn. money realy is the ROOT of all EVIL.

Ugly mess.....

This development is also mentioned on the official Hendrix site.Surviving bandmates Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox offer their support of Janie Hendrix ,claiming that she has asked for their input regarding Hendrix releases and has paid them (finally) for their contributions,something that NEVER happened when Alan Douglas was in charge.
Eddie Kramer(Jimi's engineer) is also much happier with Expirience Hendrix's handling of Jimi's legacy.

Personnally, I can understand Leon's resentment at being cut off ,but how can he ask for something he never had anything to do with?While I might question some of Janie's decisions regarding recent Hendrix releases,I honsetly dont know what they have to work with,and she seems to be making a genuine effort to right the wrongs of the past.Each rerelease of Hendrix since Al & Janie took over has been acclaimed by critic's and fans alike.

Hopefully ,this wont slow them down,as several recordings are in limbo at the moment,just waiting for a proper release.

There is a mag I recently bought tha breaks it all down.Crazy!!!Some people ought to be ashamed of themselves!!And I didn't know Jimi had a guitarist brother!!

MrTation said:

Actually this isn't true. Most hardcore Hendrix collectors & fans have quite a bit of complaints regarding the Janie-supervised releases. The best people usually have to say is "at least it's better than Alan Douglas' handling of the catalog", which isn't saying much if you're familiar with the Alan Douglas years. Eddie Kramer's endorsement of Janie doesn't mean much either as he is a big part of the problem with the current releases. And as little as you might feel that Leon had to do with Jimi's music, well, Janie had even less to do with it. Regarding Mitch and Billy, it seems they have received selective favor with Janie because they play ball a little bit: consider that when the Hendrix boxset was put out three or four years ago Noel Redding, who was on 3 out of the 4 cds, was not only not paid royalties but couldn't even get a free copy of the boxset! He had to buy his own copy! He had pending litagation at the time of his death which will now go unresolved & no Redding heir will be getting any of Noel's owed royalties you can bet. Overall I think at best you could say Janie's releases are barely worthwhile with a few exceptions. As a long time fan and follower of the saga of Jimi's legacy I had such high hopes when the family originally won back the rights to the music. Then it was just another case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." It would be nice to see one of these golden olden days Jimi's music treated in the fashion it deserves.


That's my rant for the evening!


stormbringer