Noel Redding

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Noel David Redding
Born	July 9, 1945 Folkstone, England
Died	May 11, 2003 (aged 57) County Cork, Ireland
Genre(s)	Rock Psychedelic Rock Hard Rock
Affiliation(s)	The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Noel Redding Band Gypsy Sun Experience
Years active	1966 - 2003

Noel David Redding (25 December 1945 – 11 May 2003) was a rock & roll guitarist best known as the bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

[edit] Biography

Born in Folkestone, England, as Noel David Redding, he was selected by Chas Chandler to join Hendrix's band in 1966, and left in 1969. Although he appeared in other bands before and after Hendrix's death, he never achieved a similar level of success, and retired to Clonakilty, Ireland in 1972.

At nine, Noel played violin at school and then mandolin at about 12 and guitar at 14 years old. His first public appearances were at the Hythe Youth Club then at Harvey Grammar School where he was a student due to take his GCEs.

His first local bands were:

• The Strangers: with John "Andy" Andrews (bass)
• The Lonely Ones: 1961 - John Andrews (bass) Bob Hiscocks (rhythm guitar); Mick Wibley (drums); Pete Kircher (vocals and in '63. drums). The Lonely Ones made (45 EP vinyl, private record) at the Hayton Manor Studio in Stanford, Kent, in 1963, with Derek Knight on vocals, Trevor Sutton on drums, Noel Redding on lead guitar and John Andrews on bass. First recordings: Some Other Guy; Money; Talking About You; Anna.
• The Loving Kind: 1966 with Pete (Kircher) Carter (drums); Jim Leverton (bass); and Derek Knight (vocals).

At 17 Noel went professional and toured in Scotland and Germany, in the clubs with The Burnettes and The Loving Kind.

Noel was the first person to join the Experience and that was by accident. He thought he was going to be auditioned for the Animals because Chas Chandler was setting up the audition. When he got there it was explained that it was an audition for a "fantastic" black American guitarist that Chas had found and he got the job as Jimi's bassist.

Noel went on to form Fat Mattress with another Kent musician Neil Landon (the former Burnettes-singer) on vocals, Jim Leverton from Dover and Eric Dillon, the drummer, from Swindon. Later, Martin Barre played for a short time before he joined Jethro Tull.

One more contrived effort by Hendrix manager, Michael Jeffery was attempted to reunite the Jimi Hendrix Experience months after the Woodstock event in an attempt to revive Jimi's diminishing (compared to his peak popularity) status on the charts. This basically consisted of an interview with Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell by Rolling Stone magazine. No shows or recordings resulted. He soon left the Jimi Hendrix Experience for the last time and went on to other projects.

While living in Los Angeles. Noel joined Road, a heavy metal outfit. They released one album, Road (1972).

Noel moved to Ireland in 1972. He formed The Noel Redding Band with Eric Bell from Thin Lizzy, Dave Clark and Les Samson. They did two albums for RCA, three tours of the Netherlands, two tours of England, one tour of Ireland and a 10-week tour in America. The band dissolved after a dispute with their management company.

In his book Are You Experienced? (co-authored with Carol Appleby) and publicly he spoke openly about his disappointment in his being cut off from the profits of the continued sale of the Hendrix recordings. He was forced to sign away his royalties in 1974, and later had to sell the bass guitar he used during that time.

Noel Redding recorded and toured sporadically through the years, occasionally doing session work on other artists' albums. He performed with the rock band Phish in 1993.

He died at his home in Ireland at the age of 57. In the local of village of Ardfield, local people have erected a plaque to his memory.

[edit] Discography

Noel has featured in many recordings over the years including:

• The Loving Kind
  • 45s/Singles:
    • "Accidental Love"/"Nothing Can Change This Love" (Piccadilly 7N 35299) 1966.
    • "I Love The Things You Do"/"Treat Me Nice" (Piccadilly 7N 35318) 1966.
    • "Ain't That Peculiar"/"With Rhyme And Reason" (Piccadilly 7N 35342) 1966.

• The Jimi Hendrix Experience
  • Are You Experienced (1967) Polydor.
  • Axis: Bold as Love (1967) Polydor.
  • Electric Ladyland (1968) Polydor.
  • Smash Hits (1968) Polydor.
  • Radio One (1989) Castle Communications.

• Fat Mattress
  • Fat Mattress (1969) Polydor.
  • Fat Mattress II (1970) Polydor.
  • 45s/Singles:
    • "Naturally"/"Iridescent Butterfly" (Polydor 56352) 1969.
    • "Magic Lanterns"/"Bright New Way" (Polydor 56367) 1970.
    • "Highway"/"Black Sheep Of The Family" (Polydor 2058 053) 1970.

• Road
  • Road (1972) Kama Sutra.

• Noel Redding Band (AKA The Clonakilty Cowboys)
  • Clonakilty Cowboys (1975) RCA.
  • Blowin (1976) RCA.
  • 45s/Singles:
    • "Roller Coaster Kids"/"Snowstorm" ( RCA 2662).
    • "Take It Easy"/"Back On The Road Again" (RCA PB 9026).