Jim Gordon

American rock drummer.
Born: 14th July 1945 Los Angeles, California, USA
Died: 13th March 2023 Vacaville, California, USA

Note: Not to be confused with multi-instrumentalist To Bonnie From Delaney" after Jim Gordon had left the ensemble.

Jim Gordon began as a professional drummer with the Derek & The Dominos band during the early 1970s, and for co-writing the band's hit single "Layla" with Clapton.

During much of the 1970s, Gordon remained a first-call studio musician in Los Angeles, appearing on albums by top-selling artists of the period including Daryl Hall & John Oates, and others.

He was featured on the 1973 recording "Apache" by The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band.

Gordon began to suffer serious mental health issues in the late 1970's. This included hearing voices in his head, part of what was later determined to be schizophrenia. He was also indulging heavily in alcohol and recreational drug-use, which exacerbated his poor mental health. Tragically, on June 3rd 1983, he killed his mother with a hammer, believing her to be some form of devil taking over his life. Gordon was sentenced to second-degree murder and given sixteen years to life in California's Atascadero State Hospital (ASH) in Atascadero, a town just north of San Luis Obispo. Gordon spent the rest of his life in mental health institutions, and died in March, 2023 in the California Medical Facility (CMF) in Vacaville.