A memoir by Eric Barrett, Jimi Hendrix's roadie from 1968 to 1970, reveals the rock star's final words came amid a violent confrontation with the Hells Angels at a festival on Germany's Isle of Fehmarn in September 1970, shortly before Hendrix's death. Barrett's book, "Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond," recounts how the biker gang took over the festival venue, robbing and beating fans, before Hendrix played what became his final official concert to a hostile, booing crowd.

As Barrett shielded tour manager Gerry Stickells from a baton blow while escaping the chaos, Hendrix repeatedly asked him, "Are you OK, Eric?" — the last words Barrett recalls him saying. Days later, on 18 September 1970, Hendrix was found unresponsive at girlfriend Monika Dannemann's London flat and died aged 27; a post-mortem found he had asphyxiated after taking sleeping pills. Barrett, who went on to work with artists including Madonna, David Bowie and Aerosmith, dismissed conspiracy theories about the death, calling it a tragic accident.