Randy Hansen

Randy Hansen

Randy Hansen (born December 8, 1954 in Seattle, Washington) is a U.S. guitarist, best known for his emulation of Jimi Hendrix. He clearly has a bit of physical resemblance to Hendrix in his facial features. Hendrix was very well known for being able to play the guitar with his teeth and Hansen resemblance in this particular attribute certainly may contribute to his ability to do the same as it is a quite difficult task. His music appeared in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, and his debut album was released in 1980 on Capitol Records. Hansen's high energy guitar work has been of a high-enough quality and inspiration to earn him words of praise from fellow Californian, legendary guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.

Hansen has continued on in his musical career throughout the years up to this day. After his debut album, his emphasis continued to be on original releases emulating the Jimi Hendrix style of composition in addition to including large numbers of Hendrix compositions in his live shows. He had a brief stint in the 80's with a band that played a more contemporary style (compared to Hendrix's) of that decade (which did not gain a record contract of note) but quickly returned to his main source of success as a Hendrix imitator. Clearly one of the high points of Hansen's career was when he played a short series of concerts with a band that included the original Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer, Mitch Mitchell. In the 90's and into the post 2000 years Hansen has increasingly turned to Europe for his live show tour dates due to greater interest from that market.