Jim Gordon, Eric Clapton drummer and convicted murderer, has passed away at age 77

Music

By means of Erin Keller

March 15, 2023 | 9:04 PM

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

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

The Post reached out to a Clapton representative for comment.

Born July 14, 1945, Gordon supported the Everly Brothers and played on The Beach Boys’ 1966 album ‘Pet Sounds’.

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

The group contributed to Beatles guitarist George Harrison’s 1970 solo album ‘All Things Must Pass’.

Gordon and Clapton also co-wrote Clapton’s 1971 smash hit “Layla.” Gordon picked up his first and only Grammy Award for that song.

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

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

After his arrest, he was rightly diagnosed with schizophrenia.

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

Despite his diagnosis of schizophrenia, a judge ruled that he could not be found innocent of insanity under then-current California insanity laws.

In March 2018, he was denied parole for the 10th time after reportedly refusing to attend parole hearings.