Musician Bobby Whitlock has passed away following a “brief illness”.
Derek And The Dominos co-founder Bobby Whitlock has died at the age of 77.
The keyboard player formed the Layla group in 1970 alongside Eric Clapton, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon.
She told ABC Audio: “With profound sadness, the family of Bobby Whitlock announced his passing at 1:20am on Aug. 10 after a brief illness. He passed in his home in Texas, surrounded by family.”
The Dominos’ only album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, was a commercial flop up on its release in 1970, but became somewhat of a cult classic. Regarded as one of the greatest rock records of all time, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.
Whitlock’s manager Carol Kaye, confirmed the sad news of his passing.
He came to play with Clapton, Radle and Gordon after joining Delaney and Bonnie And Friends in the ’60s.
Soul duo Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett recruited huge names, including Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, George Harrison, Rita Coolidge, King Curtis and more, for the supergroup.
After Derek and The Dominos split in 1971, Whitlock played the organ and piano on tracks on late Beatles star George Harrison’s debut solo album All Things Must Pass.
Although uncredited, Bobby also played on The Rolling Stones’ 1972 LP Exile On Main St.
He later claimed he and Mick Taylor were the original co-writers of I Just Want to See His Face from the album.
Speaking to writer Bill Janovitz, Whitlock alleged: “There were two songs I was playing on, one of them was about: (starts singing) ‘I don’t want to talk about Jesus/I just wanna see his face.’… that happened in Olympic Studios… I was in England.”
Whitlock went on to make music with his wife CoCo Carmel, and his final record was their 2012 collection Esoteric.
The couple tied the knot on December 24, 2005 and moved to Austin, Texas.
The same year they released their last album, the pair renewed their wedding vows in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Kovalam, Kerala.
Whitlock is survived by CoCo, his three children, Ashley Brown, Beau Whitlock and Tim Whitlock Kelly, and sister Debbie Wade.
