Jimi Hendrix had a lot of influences and that's part of why he sounds so unique, and ended up being so influential. However, he wasn't formed out of a vacuum.

Jimi Hendrix had a lot of influences and that's part of why he sounds so unique, and ended up being so influential. However, he wasn't formed out of a vacuum. :) If I had to pick "most influential style", I'd pick the blues, not rock. In particular, to my ears, there's a lot of Muddy Waters and especially Buddy Guy in Jimi's style.