Singer, actress, author and now playwright Marsha Hunt takes to the boards next month in Brown Sugar On Jimi Hendrix… His Untold Story.
Accompanied by ex-The Incredible String Band guitarist Graham Forbes, Hunt promises to “revise our view of Hendrix, the ‘60s and ourselves, through images, nudity, music and story.”
Originally from Philadelphia but now living in Wicklow, Marsha was a Track Records labelmate of Hendrix’s.
“We arrived in England the same year, although I beat Jimi by about six months!” she laughs. “When I got signed in 1968 straight from the stage of Hair the musical, Track’s only other acts were The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, Thunderclap Newman and Arthur Brown. It was a very small label with only a handful of people working for it, so everybody knew what everybody else was up to!”
Although it wasn’t until 1969 that they met properly – “I’m not going to tell you about that because it’s part of my show!” – Marsha first gigged with Jimi in 1967, and ran into Hendrix’s entourage regularly after that.
“It was a business back then, but not an industry. Touring wasn’t the slick, professional machine it is now – everybody was flying by the seat of their pants and making the rules up as they went along. It didn’t necessarily make things easy, but it was interesting!”
Hunt also had a relationship – and a child – with Mick Jagger, which was the inspiration for the Rolling Stones’ ‘Brown Sugar’.
Described recently by a critic as “original… thought provoking… poignant”, the show runs from November 2 to 7 in The New Theatre, which can be found in Temple Bar’s East Essex Street. Tickets priced €15 are available from the box-office at (01) 670 3361.