Jim Gordon, Eric Clapton drummer and convicted murderer, dead at 77

Music

By Erin Keller

March 15, 2023 | 9:04 p.m.

Jim Gordon – the Grammy-winning rock drummer for Eric Clapton and George Harrison – who was convicted of murdering his mother in 1983 while suffering from schizophrenia, has died. He was 77 years old.

His publicist, Bob Merlis, confirmed to the Post on Wednesday that Gordon died Monday at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville of natural causes “after a long incarceration and a lifelong battle with mental illness.”

The Post has reached out to a representative for Clapton for comment.

Born July 14, 1945, Gordon supported the Everly Brothers and performed on the Beach Boys’ 1966 album “Pet Sounds.”

He toured with Clapton in 1969 and 1970 as part of the Delaney & Bonnie band. Clapton briefly formed a new band, Derek and the Dominos, which also included Gordon.

The band worked on Beatles guitarist George Harrison’s 1970 solo album, “All Things Must Pass.”

Gordon and Clapton also co-wrote Clapton’s 1971 hit “Layla”. Gordon won his first and only Grammy Award for this song.

Gordon eventually began to show signs of mental illness and he allegedly punched his then-girlfriend, singer-songwriter Rita Coolidge, in a hotel in 1970.

Gordon fatally attacked his 72-year-old mother, Osa Gordon, with a hammer and then a knife on June 3, 1983. He confessed, saying a voice in his head told him to kill her.

He was correctly diagnosed with schizophrenia after his arrest.

Gordon was sentenced in 1984 to 16 years to life in prison, where he died on Monday.

Despite his diagnosis of schizophrenia, a judge ruled that he could not be declared innocent by reason of insanity under California’s insanity laws at the time.

He was denied parole, for the 10th time, in March 2018 after apparently refusing to attend parole hearings.