Rock drummer with Eric Clapton and George Harrison and Grammy winner Jim Gordon has passed away at the age of 77. Please provide additional information about him.
When did Jim Gordon pass away?
Gordon, who was doing time for the murder of his mother, passed away on Monday at the state-run California Medical Facility in Vacaville. After a long incarceration and lifelong fight with mental illness,” Bob Merlis, Gordon’s spokesman, said Gordon passed away naturally. This was reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The pinnacle of Gordon’s career coincided with the time he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Because of his mental health and drug addiction issues, he was no longer safe to hold his current position. Gordon allegedly attacked singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge in a hotel in 1970, when he was first showing signs of mental illness. Gordon was described by Coolidge as “an great person, really really very charming,” but he displayed little symptoms of mental illness in front of his bandmates. Gordon went to the doctor at least 15 times beginning in 1978, per court filings.
In June 1983, he fatally stabbed and tortured his 72-year-old mother, Osa Gordon, claiming that spirits told him to do it. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1984 and sentenced to 16 years to life in jail, where he eventually passed away. He had requested parole several times, but it was always denied.
Reason for passing away
At age 77, Jim Gordon lost his fight against mental illness on Monday. The artist, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was doing time for the 1983 murder of his mother, passed away at a Vacaville, California, state-run medical institution. According to Gordon’s publicist Bob Merlis’ statement to the Los Angeles Times, Gordon passed away of natural causes.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/jim-gordon-031623-2-96ab57300e2a4ea5965742f3d537e756.jpg)
Source: People
Sad ending to the life of one of the best rock and soul drummers, Jim Gordon. After a lengthy prison sentence and a prolonged struggle with mental illness, “Jim Gordon, one of rock’s all-time best drummers, died Monday (March 13, 2023) from natural causes in California Medical Center in Vacaville, California. Bob Merlis, a longtime publicist in the music industry, confirmed his no more at age 77.
Who was Jim Gordon?
Gordon, a prominent drummer in the rock scene in the early 1970s, was also notorious as a particularly ominous figure in that era’s music. James Beck Gordon, a California native born in 1945, began playing the drums at a young age.
By the end of the 1960s, he had established himself as one of Los Angeles’ top drummers, having played with the likes of the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Andy Williams, and Glen Campbell, as reported by Drummer globe.
Gordon is well known for his co-writing credit with Eric Clapton on “Layla,” for which he is widely recognized for composing the song’s iconic piano coda. (Organist Bobby Whitlock has made the allegation that Gordon stole the role from a piece written by Gordon’s ex-girlfriend, Rita Coolidge. As for Coolidge, he alleged that Gordon had abused him physically as well.
Read Also: Is Christina Ricci Related To Lionel Richie?
