Monika Dannemann

Monika Dannemann (June 24, 1945 – April 5, 1996) was a German figure skater and painter and was the last girlfriend of American rock guitarist/singer Jimi Hendrix.

Figure skating

In 1965 she participated in the German Figure Skating Championships representing the club Düsseldorfer EG. She came in 16th position. She never participated in Europeans or Worlds.

Hendrix and his death

Dannemann was first introduced to Hendrix after being invited to one of his concerts. After that meeting, a relationship blossomed. She would later claim that Hendrix had asked her to marry him and would have done so had he not died. Dannemann is known for being the last person to have seen Jimi Hendrix alive. On the morning of September 18, 1970, he was found dead in the basement apartment of the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, London, where Dannemann and Hendrix spent the night together. Hendrix died in a bed after taking a reported nine Vesperax sleeping pills and drowned in his own vomit.

Police and ambulance reports from the time reveal that Hendrix was dead when they arrived on the scene, the apartment's front door was wide open, and the apartment itself empty. Dannemann claimed Hendrix was alive when he was placed in the back of the ambulance, however her comments about that morning were often contradictory and confused, varying from interview to interview. The case was re-examined by UK police and Dannemann was never blamed for Hendrix's death, although she was held under a cloud of suspicion by others close to Hendrix.

In the book, The Final Days of Jimi Hendrix, author Tony Brown theorizes that Dannemann was directly or indirectly involved in the death of Jimi Hendrix. David Henderson, author of the biography Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix, claims that Dannemann waited several hours before she called an ambulance, and that the ambulance driver noticed a scarf tied tightly around Hendrix's neck when he arrived.

Another of Hendrix's girlfriends, Kathy Etchingham, continued with more suggestions that blame should be put on Dannemann.

After Hendrix

After Hendrix's death, Dannemann became romantically involved with German rock guitarist Ulrich Roth, formerly of the Scorpions, with whom she collaborated on several songs (notably "We'll Burn the Sky") and album cover designs and artwork. Roth also wrote the foreword to Dannemann's 1995 book about her experiences living and working with Hendrix, entitled The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix. The front cover featured a photo of Hendrix taken by Dannemann on the afternoon of his death.

After his death Dannemann held onto Hendrix's famous black Stratocaster (nicknamed Black Beauty by Hendrix). It was kept in its case until 1993, when it was examined by Len Jones. It only saw daylight for 3 hours until it was fitted back into its case. Dannemann then disappeared with it.

Death

In 1996 Dannemann was convicted of breaking a British High Court order not to repeat allegations that Kathy Etchingham was an "inveterate liar" for accusing her of playing a role in Hendrix's death. Etchingham asked the judge to jail Dannemann but she was released. Two days later Dannemann was found dead in a fume-filled Mercedes-Benz near her cottage in Seaford, East Sussex, aged 50. Her death was ruled a suicide, though Uli Jon Roth suggested that foul play may have been involved, as Dannemann had received numerous death threats following Hendrix's death.

It is rumoured that Hendrix's black Stratocaster is now kept in storage by Roth. But no one knows for sure where it is hidden.

Book

• Inner World of Jimi Hendrix (1995) hey

External links

• Collected press reports
• Monika Dannemann shrine, 10 pages by Uli Jon Roth
• German newspaper report