Kathy Etchingham

Kathleen Mary Etchingham (born 18 June 1946) is an English writer known from the Swinging London music scene of the 1960s and for her relationship with Jimi Hendrix.

Early life

Etchingham was born in Derby, the daughter of Charles Etchingham, an Irishman from Dublin. Her mother deserted the family when Kathy was 10 years old, and Kathy was sent to the Holy Faith convent boarding school in Skerries, County Dublin. 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 in Mason's Yard, She knew the up-and-coming musicians of the period including The Animals, The Who, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Move, and many others. These bands became known in the US in the mid-1960s as the British Invasion.

Etchingham met Jimi Hendrix in The Scotch of St. James nightclub, on the night of his arrival in London on 24 September 1966, when she was 20. In 1968, she and Hendrix drifted apart. In 1997, she was instrumental in the placement of an English Heritage blue plaque on the wall of Jimi Hendrix's home at 23 Brook Street, Mayfair. In 1998, she published a book, Through Gypsy Eyes, which Etchingham wrote with Andrew Crofts, about her life, the 1960s, and Jimi Hendrix.

In 2014, Etchingham criticised the biographical film which covered her relationship with Hendrix in the 1960s, Jimi: All Is by My Side, written and directed by John Ridley. Etchingham described the film depiction of her life with Hendrix as "absolute nonsense".