Hendrix's meteoric rise to stardom was nothing short of astonishing. With little more than a change of clothes and his favorite Strat, Hendrix's sudden rise to fame kick-started on September 23, 1966 when he traveled to Britain under the watchful eyes of ex-Animals bassist, Chas Chandler who had just signed to manage Hendrix's career. To help clinch the move from New York, Chandler had to promise Hendrix that he would take him to meet Eric Clapton. It was a promise that he kept and it launched the career of one of rock's most celebrated young artists.

Jimi's journey from lone axe-slinger to the leader of Europe's most revered new super group culminated in a matter of three short weeks in the Fall of '66. Within that time frame, Hendrix managed to trade licks and jam with a who's who of London's hot club scene including Brian Auger's Trinity, the Clapton lead Cream, and radio-impresario Alexis Korner.

France's leading pop star, Johnny Hallyday even caught Hendrix in action during his first appearance on stage at Blaise's in London and was left more than suitably impressed. "I was there with Otis Redding that evening," explained Hallyday. "When I heard this totally-unknown guitar player, this fantastic black guy who even played very good guitar with his teeth, I got up and asked him to become part of my next show."

With an open offer to perform, Hendrix was forced to quickly form a band, practice a few songs and prepare for his big breakthrough opportunity on the other side of the English Channel. Hendrix successfully answered the call and formed his new power trio -- The Jimi Hendrix Experience -- featuring Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass and together, in a mere seven days, had rehearsed just enough to have a few polished songs under their belts before finding themselves whisked away for their premiere engagement in Novelty, Evreux (France) on October 13, 1966. That prophetic start was a mere four-song, 15-minute opening stint as part of one of Johnny Hallyday's packaged tours, but it did the job.

Despite local papers calling Hendrix, "a bad mixture of James Brown and Chuck Berry," his deft showmanship made him an instant hit. Over the course of the coming week, The Experience opened for Hallyday on four subsequent stops throughout France including a highly publicized event at the Olympia in Paris that was attended by more than 2,500 fans and was recorded by French radio station, Europe No. 1. Despite London being the intended place for Hendrix's big start, it was France that won claim to Hendrix's first official appearances.

The initial seed had now been planted -- Hendrix had been in Europe for merely three weeks and had already made waves in France and a stir back in London. It wouldn't be long before Hendrix would move from unknown guitar player to Europe's most talked about rising superstar. And the rest of the story is as they say, history.

Fast-forward 36 years and 7 days; and we once again find Jimi Hendrix striking a foothold in the nation of France. This past October 19th, the city of Paris welcomed Jimi Hendrix back to its historic city for a dazzling celebration of his life and music with the stunning debut of a special fourth month exhibition dubbed Jimi Hendrix Backstage.

With thousands in attendance, Cite de la Musique opened the doors to "Backstage" with a monumental showcase featuring hundreds of rare and previously unseen Jimi Hendrix artifacts, multimedia presentations, and special interactive programs that are surely to excite, intrigue, and enthuse fans of all ages.

Cite de la Musique is not your traditional music museum. Whereas traditional offerings in North America generally focus on specific artists, musical genres, artist development, and thematic audio development; the museum of music maintains is sole focus on the instruments used in creating music, and is described as "a museum of musical life where each instrument is set back in the context of its original form."

Much like the artifacts on display inside, the Cite de la Musique itself has a fabled history that points back to its own birth in January 1995 when former French President, Francois Mitterand inaugurated the property in what has been called one of his last "great projects." Inside, the unique "museumography" allows visits to see the instruments, hear their timbre, discover the concert halls in which they have been played, and understand their social function.

Nearly two years in the making, Jimi Hendrix Backstage is the first major project to highlight the collaborative efforts of Experience Hendrix and Experience Music Project. "We were very fortunate that the Cite de la Musique approached both us and EMP to help build this exhibition," explains Janie Hendrix. "The museum's focus in the past has really been on musical instruments. But they wanted to expand that vision and to brand out and get more people involved in coming to the museum.

"We are very fortunate that Cite de la Musique wanted to kick off this new vision with Jimi. Everyone that works there is really a big fan of Jimi's. And since Jimi's first concerts as The Experience were held in France, they thought he was the appropriate place to start off this new vision."

Backstage's more than 5,000 square feet of interactive displays provide a very unique representation of Jimi's life and music. "Because of the layout of the museum," describes Janie. "Backstage will be like walking down a winding road taking a musical journey through the life and music of Jimi Hendrix. It goes through his entire career and looks at all of the different aspects of his life including some of his major concert appearances both in Europe and back here in America."

Divided into three distinct areas, the journey through Backstage begins with an exploratory return to Jimi's "Childhood And Early Influences." Inside this large circular environment, visitors will have the opportunity to view a number of different items from Jimi's early years including his record collection, clothing, numerous previously unseen original sketches, drawings, and other personal works of art, plus a detailed examination of the many influences that helped to shape Jimi's penchant for music.

Following your journey through Jimi's early years you will enter the largest section of the exhibition, which focuses on "Festivals and The Music Scene." Here fans will see a multitude of displays featuring clothing, guitars, rare vintage concert posters, and numerous presentations highlighting a number of his different stage appearances from throughout his career. "It's a big celebration of everything in Jimi's life from both Europe and America," explains Janie. "EMP will be loaning a number of artifacts that have not previously been on display at their Seattle-based museum; and we will be providing a number of items including some items previously displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, plus a number of items that we have not previously displayed anywhere. Whether or not fans have had the opportunity to visit EMP or the Rock Hall, they will really enjoy this exhibition. The Cite de la Musique is really going to the extra effort to ensure that this new presentation is a truly unique and wonderful exhibit."

After viewing the music of Jimi Hendrix on stage, fans will continue their journey where they will witness the "Studio Experience" which presents a number of unique and one-of-a-kind displays showing how Jimi developed his music in the studio. In addition to the displays of artifacts, lyrics, instruments and the like, a number of interactive programs will be included here and elsewhere that help visitors to truly experience the magic that Hendrix unleashed in the studio.

In addition to the four-month celebration of Jimi's life and music, Cite de la Musique will be pairing the Jimi Hendrix Backstage exhibition alongside a special 60th Anniversary birthday celebration this November. Additionally, as has been the norm for the museum since its 1995 inception, a number of special programs dedicated to Jimi Hendrix will be scheduled throughout the exhibition including a special grand-opening celebration on October 19th. Making special appearances during the Grand Opening festivities included original studio engineer, Eddie Kramer and Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer, Mitch Mitchell.

In conjunction with the opening of Backstage, Cite de la Musique hosted a series of special showings of current and classic Jimi Hendrix films in their state of the art concert hall. Kicking off the Films Of Jimi Hendrix mini-festival on October 19 was the French premiere of Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live At The Isle Of Wight. This newly prepared, extended concert film features the most exhaustive representation of Hendrix's Isle Of Wight performance recorded a mere three weeks prior to his September 1970 passing. Featuring a special 12-minute documentary that leads viewers into the concert it, director Murray Lerner's original film footage has now been digitally remastered for this presentation and will feature a new Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround Sound mix prepared by Eddie Kramer.

In addition to Blue Wild Angel, Joe Boyd's original 1973 theatrical presentation Jimi Hendrix will be shown in its entirety and will be followed by a live concert by French-born fusion guitarist Nguyên Lê who will perform a musical tribute to Jimi Hendrix alongside Michel Alibo (bass), Terri Lyne Carrington and Assistan Dembélé (vocals) plus special guest Paolo Fresu (trumpet/bugle).

Rounding out the Films Of Jimi Hendrix will be presentations of Peter Neal's original Experience film from 1968, D.A. Pennebaker's critically acclaimed Jimi Plays Monterey plus the insightful documentary At Last The Beginning… The Making Of Electric Ladyland that details the production behind The Experience's stellar third studio release.

With Jimi Hendrix Backstage running for roughly four months, fans can expect to have the opportunity to take part in several special events scheduled throughout the exhibition. Press coverage of most events will be extensive as will coverage here on jimihendrix.com. Be sure to check back frequently for the latest news and updates as the event leads up to its culmination on January 12, 2003.

"Backstage is definitely going to be an exhibit that fans don't want to miss," says Hendrix. "Even thought it is a long way to go for fans not located in that part of Europe… Paris is a very romantic city and a wonderful place to visit. Even if you have been to Paris before, it will definitely be a worthy event to schedule some time to see."

Cite de la Musique's Jimi Hendrix Backstage exhibition runs through January 12, 2003. Located at 221, avenue Jean Jaures in the northeast part of the city of Paris, the exhibits will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information and ticketing information please contact Cite de la Musique at +33(0) 1 44 84 45 45 or visit them online at http://www.cite-musique.fr

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