Three Managers: an Historical Retrospective. Part 2: Michael Jeffrey
By Dawoud Kringle
Michael Jeffrey is remembered as the former manager of Eric Burton and the Animals and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Michael Jeffery was born in London in 1933. He was in the National Service from 1951. Despite rumors that Jeffery subsequently worked in the Intelligence Corps, available army records showed nothing to indicate that he was working for any other Government organization (such as MI6). He never rose above the rank of private. After leaving the army, Jeffery resumed his academic education, studying languages and sociology at Kings College (now Newcastle University).
At this time, Jeffery’s interest in both modern and traditional jazz led him to open the University Jazz Club at the Cordwainers Hall, Newcastle in 1957. Two years later, Jeffery opened the Marimba Coffee House on High Bridge, Newcastle, and later, the Club A’Gogo. It became Newcastle’s most celebrated venue, and hosted concerts by Cream, Fleetwood Mac, The Graham Bond Organization, John Lee Hooker, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, The Rolling Stones, the Who, the Yardbirds, and Jimi Hendrix.
Jeffery was contracted to manage The Animals (featuring Eric Burton) and obtained a recording contract with Columbia. After the success of their second single “The House of the Rising Sun,” the Animals embarked on a US tour. Despite this success, members of The Animals blamed Jeffery for the breakup of the band, and for stealing most of their profits.
In 1966, in the final months of the band’s existence, Animals’ bassist Chas Chandler discovered a talented American guitarist named Jimmy James at the Cafe Wha? in New York City who he wanted to take back to London and promote.
Jimmy James would subsequently be repackaged as Jimi Hendrix, arguably one of the greatest instrumentalists in the history of rock music.
Chandler lacked the finances to fund Hendrix in the UK, nor the resources to secure a recording contract for him. Needing a partner to help with the funds and connections, he approached Jeffery. Chandler was still under contract to Mike Jeffery, which meant that Jeffery would have a claim to part of any money he earned. Jeffery was truly impressed with Hendrix and agreed to the partnership.
A year earlier Hendrix had signed a recording contract with Ed Chalpin of PPX International and had a recording agreement with Sue Records. Sue Records was subsequently paid off but the issue with Ed Chalpin would have repercussions that survived the deaths of both Hendrix and Jeffery.
Once Hendrix had been flown to London, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were recruited as his backing band, and the trio was named the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
On October 11th, 1966, the band signed a contract with Anim Ltd. This was not a management contract and there was nothing in the contract to indicate a differential status between Hendrix and the other two musicians. It was a production deal whereby Jeffery and Chandler would be record producers. Jeffery and Chandler would take 20% plus further percentages of royalties and publishing. The band members would share 2.5% of royalties from record sales between them.
John Hillman, of Yameta Productions, and Jeffery presented Hendrix with a legal agreement exclusively for him as a performer. It gave Jeffery 40% of Jimi’s gross performance earnings. Jeffery explained that part of that percentage could pay for tour expenses. They convinced Hendrix that if he did well in America, the various Bahamas accounts under the Yameta tax shelter would save money on taxes and would eventually support him for the rest of his life. Jeffery didn’t offer Hendrix the opportunity to seek independent legal advice. Chandler hadn’t been present at the meeting, and Hendrix didn’t discuss the contract with him.
After the Jimi Hendrix Experience toured Europe, Jeffery and Chandler became concerned about expenses. They claimed their initial investments had not been recouped. Redding and Mitchell complained to Jeffery about their pitiful wages. But they had no contract and were treated as employees of Yameta.
Jeffery and Chandler signed with Track Records and Jeffery managed to get an advance of £1000.
After ‘Hey Joe’ was released on December 16th, 1966 on Polydor, Jeffery used whatever means he could to get ‘Hey Joe’ into the UK charts. He chart-rigged the release (this was done by sending employees to buy records from the record shops that chart compilers sampled to calculate record sales. This would give the appearance of greater sales and higher chart position. The records would then be delivered to record stores and sold again. This same method was successfully used to propel Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to world fame). Jeffery also made deals with pirate radio stations by trading part of Hendrix’s future publishing royalties to ensure that ‘Hey Joe’ would get plenty of radio exposure.
In 1967 Jeffery traveled to the US and hired a firm of lawyers to sort out Hendrix’ messy contracts and to try and secure a US record deal. The lawyers resolved some of the contractual issues by buying people off and by obtaining the rights to seven songs that Hendrix had recorded as a session musician in 1965.
One of the lawyers working on behalf of Jeffrey secured a record deal for the Jimi Hendrix Experience with Warner Brothers. The contract bypassed the band and was actually between Reprise Records and Yameta, who were required to provide recordings “embodying the performance of Jimi Hendrix or the Jimi Hendrix Experience.” As part of the agreement, Yameta was to retain the ownership of the master recordings. Jeffery walked away from these negotiations with a $150,000 deal, a royalty advance of $40,000, and a promotional budget of $20,000. Since Hendrix, Redding, and Mitchell were exclusively tied to Yameta, they were not actually signed to these deals.
The success of ‘Hey Joe’ convinced Polydor to finance Track Records. Jeffery and Chandler signed a contract with Chris Lambert and Kit Stamp’s production company New Action. Hendrix was obliged to provide four singles and two albums for every year of the contract. None of the band actually signed the New Action contract. The terms of the contract Jeffery and Chandler had with the musicians left them free to arrange any production or publishing deals they wanted. New Action paid Jeffery and Chandler an 8% royalty on record sales and nothing to the band. Jeffery also did a side deal with Polydor whereby all the rights to the Jimi Hendrix Experience work would revert back to him and Chandler once the Track deal had lapsed.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience was booked to make their American debut at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 18th, 1967. The band’s performance at Monterey was a resounding success, with a music journalist saying that Hendrix “Graduated from rumor to legend.” Following Monterey, the Jimi Hendrix Experience appeared at the Fillmore West (where they blew headliners Jefferson Airplane off the stage), San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and the Whiskey A’Gogo in Los Angeles.
Then Jeffery booked the Jimi Hendrix Experience on an American tour supporting The Monkees. Chandler, Hendrix, and the band’s new publicist, Michael Goldstein told Jeffery that pairing the band with the Monkees would be a disaster. The warnings were ignored and the tour was a disaster. After six performances they were taken off the tour.
In August of 1967, the band’s second single ‘Purple Haze’ and their first album ‘Are You Experienced’ were released in the USA. However, at the time the Jimi Hendrix Experience was touring Europe so it wasn’t possible to fully publicize the new releases in America. This was another bad management decision by Jeffery.
Hendrix’s second studio album ‘Axis, Bold As Love’ was released in the UK in December 1967.
At the beginning of 1968, Jeffery set up Jeffery and Chandler Inc. in New York and employed the services of Steven Weiss from the law firm of Steingarten, Wedeen and Weiss. Jeffery’s idea was to work with Weiss and handle concert promotion himself, saving up to 15% of concert revenues.
In 1968 ‘Axis, Bold As Love’ entered the Billboard album charts and within two weeks was in the top 20. Concerts at the Whiskey A’Gogo and Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles sold out. Jeffery and Chandler netted nearly $30,000. But by April 1968 Jeffery was worrying about cash flow. Hendrix had been in the studio for a few months. As a result, the revenue from tours decreased.
After April 1968 Hendrix’s lawyers had completed their negotiations with Chalpin / PPX Enterprises. Chalpin had been cashing in on Hendrix’s current success by releasing substandard material that he had recorded for PPX. He also owed Chalpin one more album. The lawyers negotiated a new recording contract which increased the royalty rate from 3% to 5%. Yameta received an immediate payment of $250,000 from Reprise with a further $200,000 to be paid in installments over the next four years.
In June 1968 Jeffery told Hendrix, Redding, and Mitchell that from that point, Hendrix would no longer be signed to Jeffrey and Chandler but directly to the Reprise label for production and recording. Hendrix would be responsible for royalty payments to all producers and musicians. A few months later Jeffery got them to sign a contract stating that all future money owed to them should be sent directly to Mike Jeffery and Chas Chandler, and not to Yameta.
Chandler was becoming increasingly disgruntled with Hendrix and Jeffery. He didn’t like the people Hendrix hung out with and thought that Hendrix’s drug use was creating problems. Chandler was also unhappy with Jeffrey who had also started using drugs excessively. Chandler’s patience finally ran out and arrangements were made for Mike Jeffery to buy out his share of the partnership for the sum of $300,000 with the promise of further considerations at a future date. Chandler retained financial interests in the affairs of the band. Redding and Mitchell knew nothing of the split.
Around November 1968, the Jimi Hendrix Experience almost broke up. The band was Jeffery’s main source of income, and a breakup would be a financial disaster. In December 1968 the band agreed to honor existing contracts after Jeffery threatened the trio with legal action.
On 3rd May 1969 Hendrix was arrested at Toronto airport for possession of drugs. Jeffery was in Hawaii at the time but when they spoke on the phone, Hendrix told him that the drugs had been planted.
Jeffrey had calculated Hendrix’s recording costs for 1968 and was alarmed to find that they totaled $250,000. A good solution to this was to build a recording studio of their own. Jeffery commissioned architect John Storyk to design the studio. Ultimately, the new studio, which Jimi Hendrix wanted to call Electric Lady, was supposed to save money. The budget allocation from his earnings was $350,000.
Hendrix and his journalist friend, Sharon Lawrence went to see Henry Steingarten (part of the firm of New York attorneys that represented Hendrix and Jeffery). Hendrix told Steingarten he wanted to be released from his contract. Steingarten asked Hendrix to gather as much evidence as he could to demonstrate that Jeffery had acted in ways that showed he didn’t have Hendrix’s or the Experience’s best interests at heart. It was impossible for Steingarten to be unaware that there was a conflict of interest for his own firm which represented both Mike Jeffery and Hendrix.
In an effort to gather evidence against Jeffrey, Hendrix had someone take documents from Mike Jeffery’s New York office. The documents showed, among other things, that one of his performances, which he was told grossed $10,000, actually grossed $50,000.
On 29th June 1969, the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed at the Denver Pop Festival at Mile High Stadium. The concert ended in a riot. It turned out to be Redding’s last gig with the Experience.
After the disaster in Denver, Jeffery rented a house for Hendrix in Shokan, NY, near Woodstock. Hendrix was rehearsing with Mitchell, Billy Cox on bass, and various other musicians for a new band to be known as ‘Gypsy Suns and Rainbows.’ Jeffery disliked the primarily African-American band members and the freeloaders Hendrix was sharing his house with. Despite being correct about the freeloaders, Jeffrey had no appreciation of the creative process. Nor could he understand that the direction Hendrix was going would prove to be an integral part of the future of music. His only interest in Hendrix was in generating revenues.
Hendrix was due to appear at the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair on Sunday, July 17th, 1969, which was officially the last day of the festival. Hendrix was billed as the headliner and commanded the highest pay of all performers; $18,000 (the equivalent of about $125,000 today). There was also a clause in his contract stipulating that no one could perform after Jimi Hendrix at the festival. When he arrived, he was tired and stressed out because he didn’t think the band knew the songs well enough. His appearance was delayed until the following morning,
In September 1969, Hendrix began speaking with jazz producer Alan Douglas. Hendrix was drawn to Douglas because, unlike Jeffery, he knew a lot about music. Douglas advised Hendrix about the business and tried teaming him up with Miles Davis. Hendrix found himself in the middle of a feud between Jeffrey and Douglas. Jeffrey was not happy about Hendrix’ new musical direction and was fearful that he was going to lose Hendrix to Douglas.
On December 8th, 1969, Hendrix was found not guilty of the drug charges in Toronto. The jury believed the evidence of Sharon Lawrence who testified that she had seen drugs being planted in Hendrix’s luggage.
On 12th December 1969, Jeffery told Hendrix of his plans to give Ed Chalpin a live album, which was to be recorded at Bill Graham’s Fillmore East auditorium in New York on New Year’s Eve 1969-70. Hendrix was unhappy that Chalpin would be making more money out of the performance than he would. As far as Jeffery was concerned the Band of Gypsies was just a means of paying off Ed Chalpin.
Jeffrey, still unhappy about Hendrix’s musical direction, had contacted Redding and offered him a place on Hendrix’s next tour. Redding was willing for the Experience to reform. Jeffery presented Hendrix with a written agreement for US, European, and Japanese tours. According to the agreement, the tours would gross up to a million dollars and the band’s share would be split between Hendrix, Redding, and Mitchell on a 50-25-25 basis. Redding’s personal problems (including marital breakup and drug use) were affecting him so badly that he was kicked out of his own band, Fat Mattress. Neither Hendrix nor Mitchell wanted to work with him. Hendrix told Mike Jeffery that he had no problem with Mitchell on drums but that he wanted Billy Cox and not Redding to play bass, and refused to sign the contract.
On 28th January 28th, 1970 the Band of Gypsies appeared at a Vietnam Moratorium Committee benefit concert at Madison Square Gardens. Hendrix took some impure LSD before the performance and couldn’t complete the show. Some said that Jeffery deliberately gave Hendrix the bad acid in order to sabotage the performance and put an end to the Band of Gypsies. Jeffery gleefully fired Miles immediately after the show, and later told Hendrix that the Experience was being reformed whether he liked it or not.
At another meeting with Hendrix, Jeffery said that he owed Reprise four albums plus a $250,000 cash advance paid by Reprise for the purpose of building Electric Lady Studios. There were also other debts including a $15,000 bill for studio time at the Record Plant studio; accumulated bills of $5,000 per month for limousines plus outstanding lawyers’ bills in respect of the drugs trial, and the possibility of unpaid taxes.
Hendrix met with two lawyers without Jeffery’s knowledge to see if he could break his contract with Jeffrey and have either Chandler or Douglas take over as his manager. Unfortunately, Hendrix didn’t have copies of the paperwork relating to his own contracts and was told that Jeffery had made the contracts ironclad.
In May 1970 the Jimi Hendrix Experience began an American tour which would include a filmed concert at the Berkeley Community Theatre (later released as Jimi Plays Berkeley). Jeffery was not present at the show.
In July 1970 Jeffrey founded Antah Kar Ana Incorporated, which he owned and controlled. This was the springboard for him to produce a film in Hawaii entitled Rainbow Bridge. Jeffery contributed $500,000 to the project and Mo Ostin, the president of Reprise, a further $450,000. Warner Brothers would distribute the film. At Jeffrey’s behest, Hendrix had already committed himself to Rainbow Bridge by signing a contract with Warner Brothers which also involved an advance of money for the completion of the Electric Lady Studio. The film was to be directed by Chuck Wein, a former Andy Warhol associate.
Jeffery’s strategy was that Hendrix’s appearance in the film would recoup some of his losses. He also used the soundtrack album to release new music. Warner Brothers thought that the film would be successful on the strength of Hendrix’s soundtrack and live performance in the film, and that album sales would recoup the money they loaned Jeffrey and Hendrix to build Electric Lady. However, the contract Jeffery negotiated with Warner Brothers stipulated that revenues from soundtrack releases were not applicable as a recoupable against loans. This meant that Warner Brothers would only get a relatively small percentage of the album’s sales. They were furious but could do nothing.
Wein and his crew returned to Hollywood with over forty hours of film. Warner Brothers were concerned because another $500,000 would be needed to complete the film. Because of Jeffrey’s slippery deal, Warner Brothers refused any more advances. This forced Jeffery to put his own money into the project, in the hopes it would rescue his own desperate financial situation.
The result was a cinematic disaster. Rainbow Bridge was a collage of meaningless post-psychedelic vignettes directed by an irresponsible acid burnout occultist with more money than any sane person should have allowed him to have. Hendrix had retaliated against Jeffery by showing up to the only scene where he was speaking loaded to the gills. The only redeeming feature of the movie is a poorly edited montage of Hendrix’s last American performance.
Hendrix had been recording in Electric Lady Studios since June 15th, 1970, while the final phases of construction were still being done. His last studio recording, “Belly Button Window,” was recorded on August 22nd, 1970. The last mix session with Eddie Kramer took place on August 24th. Two days later, a lavish party was held to mark the official opening of the studio. Hendrix was disgusted by the mess the party-goers made in his studio and left early.
On September 10th, 1970, Hendrix was back in London following a run of concerts at the Isle of Wight, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. His management contract with Jeffery was due to expire on December 1st, 1970 but he was still tied to Jeffery for another two years through the contracts with Warner Brothers.
While in London Hendrix was spending time with Douglas and his wife. Douglas was due to fly back to New York on September 15th to meet with Steingarten and tell him of Hendrix’s wish to extricate himself from his contracts with Jeffery.
On September 18th, while Jeffery was in Mallorca, Spain, 1970, Hendrix died.
There are countless theories relating to his death; everything from accidental overdose to political assassination. Conflicting testimonies of the circumstances leading to his death make clarification difficult at best. A thorough investigation was not conducted at the time because the death was not thought to be suspicious. The coroner’s report shows that Hendrix died as a result of “inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication.”
In 2009 ex-Animals road manager, James “Tappy” Wright published his memoirs in a book titled “Rock Roadie.” He claimed that in 1973 Jeffrey had come to his apartment while drunk and confessed to him that he’d murdered Hendrix. He said Jeffery was better off financially with Hendrix dead.
There is no available evidence that Mike Jeffery received a payout on an insurance policy that he’d taken out on Jimi Hendrix’s life, or even that he’d taken out a policy in the first place (Warner Brothers did receive a substantial death settlement from Lloyds of London). Hendrix was tied to Jeffery until at least 1972 through agreements with Warner Brothers, including the contract relating to the movie Rainbow Bridge. There were also dozens of concerts booked with average fees of up to $75,000. Singles were charting in the UK and US, with ‘Electric Ladyland’ the number one album. In spite of Hendrix’s heavy (and irresponsible) spending, there was money available, and Hendrix’ earning potential was still lucrative. Jeffrey had also been approached by producers about making a feature film about the Jimi Hendrix Experience. While it’s not impossible that Jeffery had Hendrix killed, the timing was not such that it would have produced the most lucrative results.
The weekend before the verdict on the Chalpin case was due to be announced, Jeffrey had gone to Mallorca. On March 5th 1973, Jeffery boarded a London-bound Iberian Airways plane. An air traffic control miscommunication caused the plane Jeffery was traveling on to travel on the same flight path as another plane. The two planes collided in mid-air near Nantes, France. The plane exploded in mid-air, killing all sixty-three passengers. Jeffery’s body was so damaged it could only be identified through the jewelry he was wearing.
The litigation around Hendrix’s finances survived his death for decades, and in some cases remains unresolved to this day.
Michael Jeffrey was, to be brutally honest, unsympathetic to his clients, ignorant of music, and a reckless scoundrel. Nonetheless, he was undoubtedly a shrewd businessman. Examination of his career contains many valuable lessons.
