LOS ANGELES — Jim Gordon, the prolific session drummer who played with some of rock’s biggest stars — including the Beach Boys, several Beatles and Eric Clapton, whose classic “Layla” he’s credited with co-writing — before he was sentenced to prison for killing his mother, died Monday at the state-run California Medical Facility in Vacaville. He was 77.
His death was confirmed by a publicist, Bob Merlis, who said Gordon died of natural causes “after a long incarceration and lifelong battle with mental illness.”
A Los Angeles native, Gordon was a member of the so-called Wrecking Crew of studio musicians who shaped the sound of countless pop hits in the late 1960s; among the records he appeared on were Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on My Mind,” Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” and the Beach Boys’ influential “Pet Sounds” LP. In the ’70s, he played on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100; Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains in Southern California” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” by Steely Dan, in addition to songs and albums by John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Traffic, Van Dyke Parks, Seals & Crofts, Art Garfunkel and many others.
