JIMI HENDRIX' younger brother Leon Hendrix, who is now 64, has just published a book, Jimi Hendrix: A Brother's Story, which recounts a childhood with the icon who revolutionized the electric guitar. Excerpts from a chat with James Sullivan Rolling Stone reads as follows:

Rolling Stone: You've got stories about Jimi that nobody else has.

Leon Hendrix: "Exactly, and I've still got more. But I have to be coaxed into remembering them."

Rolling Stone: Tell me about the nickname "Buster." That's all you called him, right?

Leon Hendrix: "Yeah, because he was born Johnny Allen Hendrix. Everyone called him Little Johnny – 'Hey, Johnny. Come, Johnny.' He bonded with Johnny. Then our father came home [from the military] five years later – he'd never seen the kid – and he picked him up and said, 'I'm gonna change your name.' Daddy, why? 'Because that's the name of your mother's boyfriend.' Jimi would never answer to James. When we lived in the projects, there was a field house where every Saturday, if you brought a nickel, you could watch 15 minutes of Buster Crabbe in Flash Gordon. So one day he came home, put a cape on and said, 'My name is Buster.' We've been calling him Buster all our lives."

Rolling Stone: Where did Jimi's voice come from? It was so unique, so mellow.

Leon Hendrix: "That's because he was always told to shut up when he was a kid. My dad always said 'children should be seen and not heard.' Jimi was always introverted. My dad didn't like him playing music, and that hurt his feelings. He went inside with his art and music. But when he got onstage, that was his time to say 'Fuck you, motherfuckers.' That was his escape.

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