It was forty years ago, September 18, that arguably the greatest electric guitarist to ever live, Jimi Hendrix, passed away. His legacy as an innovative genius is not in question. But when Hendrix archivist-author Steven Roby offered me the chance to co-write a biography of Jimi's developmental years, 1962-66, I was surprised what I learned. Becoming Jimi Hendrix, published by Da Capo/Perseus this month, gave me the opportunity to discover how Jimi actually changed the perception of race in popular music, although he lived through the humiliation of institutional racism in the 1960s.

Most fans of Jimi's music are generally unfamiliar with the crushing poverty and uncertainty of Jimi's life when he grew up in Seattle. His mother Lucille was sexually promiscuous, alcoholic and died at 33. Jimi's father Al barely made a living and Jimi was responsible for taking care of his younger brother, Leon. The boys sometimes woke up alone in their home with either no food or no electricity. Jimi and Leon barely survived, relying on the generous donations of neighbors and the parents of their friends.

But one thing Jimi did not have to contend with in Seattle was racism.