Derek and The Dominos Drummer Jim Gordon Passed Away At 77

Derek and The Dominos Drummer Jim Gordon Passed Away At 77 | Society Of Rock Videos

via New York Post / Youtube

The well-known session musician, Jim Gordon, who was also the drummer for Derek and the Dominos, passed away at the age of 77.

The passing of Gordon was confirmed in an official statement wherein it stated that his death was due to “natural causes” following “a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness.”

Gordon was born and raised in Los Angeles. Looking back, he rejected a scholarship to attend UCLA’s music school when he was 17 years old, in order to join the Everly Brothers.

From that moment on, he started playing drums for some of rock’s most renowned albums. The Notorious Byrd Brothers by the Byrds and Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys to name some. By the time Gordon met Eric Clapton, he later joined Clapton’s new band, Derek and the Dominos. Unfortunately, the second album that Derek and the Dominos were working on when they split up in 1971 was never completed.

For many years, Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Traffic, Harry Nilsson, and Frank Zappa all hired Gordon as their drummer. Not to mention that he has also worked with Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, Neil Diamond, Hall & Oates, Randy Newman, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and John Lennon.

Gordon’s career was undoubtedly spectacular, but his life had a tragic side. On June 3, 1983, Gordon stabbed and killed his 72-year-old mother and was then sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. Later on, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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