Happy Birthday to Billy Cox (pictured on left) who was born in Wheeling in 1941. Cox is best known as the bassist for Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys. The extent to which Cox lived in Wheeling is beyond my knowledge. Possibly like Pirates great Bill Mazeroski, he could have just been born there but raised in neighboring Ohio or Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, Cox was born in West Virginia so we will claim him.
It was in the early 1960s in the Army that Cox and Hendrix met. Hendrix invited Cox to play with him in England as part of the Experience, but Cox delcined, later re-uniting with Jimi in 1969 for Band Of Gypsys. As a lifelong Hendrix fan, and believer that the Band of Gypsys live record was his most interesting work, I was elated to find out Cox had ties to the Mountain State. Below, watch Hendrix, Cox and the incredible Buddy Miles together as Band Of Gypsys. The band was Hendrix's final project before his death in March 1970.
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