Jimi Hendrix was murdered by his manager as part of an insurance scam, according to the rock legend's former roadie.

Hendrix was 27 when he choked to death on his own vomit in a London hotel, but the exact circumstances of the tragedy have always been somewhat of a mystery. But now roadie James 'Tappy' Wright has come forward alleging Hendrix's manager Michael Jeffery admitted to killing the rocker after he learned he was about to be fired by the star.

Jeffery went to Hendrix's hotel room and "stuffed" him with him drugs and alcohol in revenge, Wright alleges in a new tell-all, titled Rock Roadie.

He says, "I can still hear that conversation, see the man I'd known for so much of my life, his face pale, hand clutching at his glass in sudden rage." He recalls Jeffery saying, "I had to do it, Tappy. You understand, don't you?" Jeffrey allegedly made the drunken confession in 1971 - two years before he was killed in a plane crash.

Wright also claims Jeffery had taken out a life insurance policy on Hendrix, worth $1.8 million, prior to his death - with the manager as beneficiary.

Wright quotes Jeffery as saying, "I was in London the night of Jimi's death and together with some old friends... we went round to (Hendrix's girlfriend) Monika's hotel room, got a handful of pills and stuffed them into his mouth... then poured a few bottles of red wine deep into his windpipe. I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive. That son of a b**ch was going to leave me. If I lost him, I'd lose everything." (CL/WNWCNM&WNWCTE/KL)

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