Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

`Foxy Lady' is winner over Hendrix slur

Nicole Veash
Wednesday 03 April 1996 17:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

NICOLE VEASH

The girlfriend who inspired guitarist Jimi Hendrix's song "Foxy Lady" claimed victory yesterday over her Sixties rival who was found guilty of contempt by a High Court judge.

Kathy Etchingham, now a 49-year old doctor's wife and mother of two sons, said she hoped her battle with German-born Monika Danneman, was over.

Miss Danneman, 48, in whose London flat Hendrix was found dead from a drugs overdose in 1970, was found to be in contempt because she breached an undertaking that she would never repeat an allegation that Mrs Etchingham was an "inveterate liar" about her life with the rock star.

Miss Etchingham said Miss Danneman's book, The Inner Life of Jimi Hendrix, broke the undertaking by painting her as an "inveterate liar"

She said: "This is a victory for common sense and I am absolutely delighted. This has been an ongoing problem for me but I hope this is an end to it now.

"I was fed up that someone who only had a relationship with Jimi for three days claims she was engaged to him. It is absolutely bizarre that this has been going on for 26 years."

Mr Justice French, who described Miss Etchingham as being "for two and a half years the girlfriend, in the modern sense of the word, of Jimi Hendrix", awarded her costs, estimated at pounds 30,000.

But he made no order to commit Miss Danneman to prison or pay a fine after hearing she was in poor health and living on very little money from selling her paintings of Hendrix.

The battle between the two women goes back to the Seventies. In a series of News of the World articles, Miss Etchingham claimed that Miss Danneman did not do enough to save Hendrix after he died from an overdose of sleeping tablets. Miss Danneman, of Seaford, East Sussex, wrote her libellous book in which she quoted Hendrix as saying that Mrs Etchingham was a girl "who will cheat and lie for money".

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in