Kathleen Mary Etchingham (born 18 June 1946) is an English writer known from the
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...
music scene of the 1960s and her relationship with
Jimi Hendrix.
Early life
Etchingham was born in
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...
, the daughter of Charles Etchingham, an Irishman from
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
. Her mother deserted the family when Kathy was 10 years old, and Kathy was sent to the Holy Faith convent boarding school in
Skerries, Dublin
Skerries () is a coastal town in Fingal, in the north of County Dublin, Ireland. Skerries was historically a fishing port and later a centre of hand embroidery. These industries declined in the early 20th century, however, and it became both a ...
. Returning to England, having been snatched from the convent by her mother, she eventually made her way to London.
1960s London
In London, Etchingham became a
DJ at
The Cromwellian in
Kensington and later at the
Scotch of St James
The Scotch of St. James is a nightclub situated at Mason's Yard, London.
Tucked away at the bottom of an alley it served as a prominent nightclub, live music venue and historically significant meeting place for London's rock elite in the 1960 ...
in
Mason's Yard
Mason's Yard is a street in London SW1, England.
Overview
Mason's Yard is a cul-de-sac east off Duke Street in the St James's area of London in the City of Westminster.
White Cube has one of its two London galleries locations here, which o ...
,
[ in addition to working as a hairdresser. She knew the up-and-coming musicians of the period including ]The Animals
The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound an ...
, The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are conside ...
, The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...
, The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The group c ...
, The Move
The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their car ...
, and many others. These bands became known in the US in the mid-1960s as the British Invasion
The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...
.
Etchingham, at age 20, met Jimi Hendrix in The Scotch of St. James nightclub, on the night of his arrival in London on 24 September 1966.[ They became a couple during the time of his rise to stardom. According to her personal web page, Etchingham was the inspiration for many of Hendrix's compositions including "]The Wind Cries Mary
"The Wind Cries Mary" is a rock ballad
written by Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix wrote the song as a reconciliatory love song for his girlfriend in London, Kathy Mary Etchingham. More recent biographical material indicated that some of the lyrics appeare ...
" (penned after an argument between Hendrix and Etchingham), " Foxy Lady" (during one of the first performances of this number Hendrix pointed her out from the stage), as the Katherina in " 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)" and in "Send My Love to Linda" (the original lyrics of which were "Send My Love to Kathy", until Etchingham objected to being named). In 1969, she and Hendrix drifted apart.
Later life
Etchingham's first marriage broke up, and she later remarried and had a family. In 1997, she was instrumental in the placement of an English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
on the wall of Jimi Hendrix’s home at 23 Brook Street, Mayfair.John Ridley
John Ridley IV (born 1965) is an American screenwriter, television director, novelist, and showrunner, known for ''12 Years a Slave'', for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also the creator and showrunner of the an ...
. Etchingham described the film depiction of her life with Hendrix as "absolute nonsense".
References
External links
* (als
archived
on Archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
)
About Kathy Etchingham: Handel & Hendrix in London
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etchingham, Kathy
1946 births
Living people
1960s in London
English expatriates in Australia
English women DJs
English people of Irish descent
English women writers
Jimi Hendrix
People from Derby