A drummer who was found guilty of the murder of his own mother has died at the age of 77. Jim Gordon's passing was confirmed by his publicist Bob Merlis, who said in a statement that the musician died of natural causes at California Medical Facility - a prison medical facility in Vacaville, California, on Monday, March 13. His death comes "after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness," Merlis said, per the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2023-03-15/jim-gordon-famed-session-drummer-convicted-of-murdering-his-mother-dies-at-77">Los Angeles Times.</a> Gordon, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was serving a prison sentence for ending his mother's life in 1983. His own death comes 40 years after his mother's. He killed his mother, then-72-year-old Osa Marie, with a butcher knife and hammer at her Hollywood home, according to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/07/03/bang-the-drum-slowly/18987952-f600-4120-88f3-8f7920e63e3e/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1994 Washington Post profile</a> of Gordon. [[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10227078027083780]] Gordon - born James Beck Gordon - was sentenced 16 years to life in prison, having applied for parole multiple times since then, with the requests all being denied. Before his murder conviction, the accomplished drummer had performed with renowned artists such as Eric Clapton and George Harrison, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/jim-gordon-eric-clapton-drummer-dead-obituary-1234697705/">Rolling Stone</a> reports. The Grammy winner was a founding member of Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos and one of the drummers on George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass. <img class="size-full wp-image-1263200919" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/03/EJRP6J-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1776" />[[imagecaption|| George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass. Credit: CBW / Alamy]] He was a co-writer on Clapton's 1970 hit 'Layla' - a song about Clapton's infatuation with George Harrison's now-ex-wife Pattie Boyd. <img class="size-full wp-image-1263200918" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/03/2H5HYC6-1-e1678966607322.jpg" alt="" width="1285" height="1289" />[[imagecaption|| Vintage single record cover - Clapton, Eric alias Derek & The Dominos - Layla - D - 1970. Credit: Vinyls / Alamy]] Gordon is also heard playing the drums on various albums including Beach Boys Pet Sounds and tracks like Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain.' Other star collaborators of his include Steely Dan, Little Richard, Sonny and Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Glen Campbell, the Everly Brothers and The Byrd. Gordon had lived a troubled life, having endured declining mental health throughout his time in the spotlight. As reported by <a href="https://variety.com/2023/music/news/jim-gordon-drummer-layla-cowriter-dead-1235555775/">Variety</a>, his ex-girlfriend Rita Coolidge revealed in a biography for Leon Russell that when Gordon was on tour with Joe Cocker in 1970, he once hit her so hard that she "lifted off the floor and slammed against the wall on the other side of the hallway." He also battled drug addiction and alcoholism, telling <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/when-the-voices-took-over-52761/">Rolling Stone</a> in 1985: "I guess I was an alcoholic. Before, I was drinking every night, but I wasn’t getting up in the morning for a drink; I would put a needle in my arm. When I stopped taking the heroin, I began to drink all day." <h6>Featured image credit: Records / Alamy</h6>

Infamous musician dies aged 77 - 40 years after murdering his mother

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