According to a new report by Joe Bosso from Musicradar.com, "JIMI HENDRIX was not murdered," says Bob Levine, who was the US manager of the late guitarist at the time of his death in 1970. "Despite the allegations that have recently been made, I need to set the record straight once and for all. Jimi died an accidental death, but he definitely wasn't murdered – not by Michael Jeffrey, his UK manager, and certainly not by anybody connected to him. The whole thing is one giant lie."

Levine's statements counter a claim made by Hendrix's former roadie, James 'Tappy' Wright' in his 2009 book, Rock Roadie, that Jeffrey drunkenly confessed to him in 1971 that he murdered the guitar icon by stuffing his mouth full of pills and then washing them down with bottles of red wine.

"Tappy wrote that Jeffrey was afraid that Jimi was going to leave him for a new manager," says Levine. "He also said that Jeffrey had taken out an insurance policy on Jimi that was worth a couple of million dollars and that he wanted to collect on it." (Jeffrey would die himself in a place crash in 1973.)

"All of which is ridiculous," says Levine. "I was Jimi's US manager, and Michael Jeffrey was Jimi's UK manager. Michael also oversaw a lot in the US, but he was involved in other business enterprises. Michael wasn't always Jimi's manager - Chas Chandler, who was in THE ANIMALS, was managing and producing Jimi at first. The three of us, in fact - myself, Chas and Michael Jeffrey - all saw Jimi together in 1966 at the Café Wha in New York City. You could tell he was going to be a huge star even then.

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