Stickells handled the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s gear, drove the band to gigs, fixed the van when it broke down and organized its tours.
Stickells soon became part of rock ’n’ roll history as the roadie, and then tour manager, for Hendrix, the transcendent electric guitarist who was about to release his first single, “Hey Joe,” in Britain. Chandler made him an offer: If he could get Hendrix’s gear out of customs at Heathrow Airport, he could join him on the road in Europe.
Gerry Stickells was a car mechanic in southeast England who drove local rock groups to their engagements in his van when, in 1966, he met Chas Chandler, Jimi Hendrix’s manager.
