Jacqueline du Pré vs Jimi Hendrix
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Jacqueline du Pré | Jimi Hendrix | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Classical | Pop |
| Born | 1945 | 1942 |
| Died | 1987 | 1970 |
| Country of birth | United Kingdom | United States |
| Star sign | Aquarius | Sagittarius |
Who they are
Jacqueline du Pré
There is a recording made in 1965, when Jacqueline du Pré was nineteen years old, that classical musicians still use as a reference point for what the cello can express. She was performing Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor — a late, elegiac work that Elgar wrote in 1919, after the destruction of the First World War, and which had been considered a minor piece of his output until du Pré played it. Her performance — large-scaled, deeply personal, technically sovereign — transformed the concerto's reputation overnight. It is now considered one of the great…
Full biography of Jacqueline du Pré →
Jimi Hendrix
The first instrument Jimi Hendrix ever played was a ukulele with a single string. He found it while helping his father clean out a house in Seattle in 1957, and he spent weeks working out the melody to "Honky Tonk Women" on that single string before his father relented and bought him a five-dollar acoustic guitar. He was fifteen years old, completely self-taught, and he could already hear in his head sounds that no existing guitarist had yet produced. Within four years, by his own account, he had listened to every blues record he could…
Full biography of Jimi Hendrix →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Near contemporaries - 3 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: United Kingdom and United States.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Jacqueline du Pré or Jimi Hendrix?
- Jimi Hendrix. Jacqueline du Pré was born in 1945, Jimi Hendrix in 1942.
- What field is each of them in?
- Jacqueline du Pré is filed under Music (Classical). Jimi Hendrix is filed under Music (Pop).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.