Jimi Hendrix Challenged Aretha Franklin to Sing Purple Haze Live — Nobody Was Prepared For THIS...

In September 1969, four weeks after Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix had quietly decided to play Purple Haze one last time and then retire it forever. He hadn't told his band, his manager, or even his oldest friend, Billy Cox. But when Aretha Franklin was added to a Harlem benefit at the Apollo Theater at the last minute, Jimi stopped his own biggest song before the first line and handed her the dare of a lifetime. What happened next left the Apollo in tears, changed the way Jimi heard his own song, and revealed what Purple Haze had been about all along. And the four words Aretha wrote on his set list that night? He carried them for the rest of his life. Disclaimer: This video is a dramatized narrative inspired by the life and career of Jimi Hendrix. The dialogue and certain events have been reimagined for the purpose of storytelling.