DECEMBER 26, 1966 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience played two shows at The Uppercut Club in London, England as the opening act for The Pretty Things. Hendrix also wrote the lyrics to Purple Haze in the dressing room on the same day.
When producer Chas Chandler heard Hendrix tinkering with the song’s opening riff, he said, “That’s the next single!” A truer prediction has never been spoken. With Chandler’s encouragement, Hendrix worked out the final version of the song in the dressing room that afternoon between sets. Later that day, Hendrix would play a set, billed as “The American Top Soul Singer.” The site was later commemorated by Newham Council with the erection of a memorial plaque on gates outside the site of the former club.
