Originally Posted by
Lionel Ritchie
I've read 'Are You Experienced' by the late Noel Redding (Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist) a couple of times ...the second time with a notepad and pencil to hand as there's a couple of chapters that are unavoidably heavy on legalese, business law and a trail of puppet companies set up to hide Hendrix Experience money.
It's a facinating insight into what actually can and I'm sure still does go on in rock'n'roll.
There's some terrible injustices and sadness in it - after taking his legal battles as far as he could he settled for a relatively paltry thirty odd thousand quid in the mid 1970's -when in reality he was owed millions.
He rebuilt his life in Ireland and his partner and co-writer Carol Appleby helped him write the book. Sadly shortly before the book was published in 1991, Carol was killed in a car crash down near Mallow.
There's some very funny stuff in it as well though and some victories too. He tells how the drummer from the Dave Clarke Five suffered similar problems but managed to put enough money together to go back to college, got a degree in business law, sued the holes off everyone and got every penny due to him back ...now that's how you save on your legal expenses.