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In June 1983, Jim Gordon was tired of the voices in his head.
One night, the musician drove to his mother’s Los Angeles home, picked up a hammer and hit his 71-year-old mother four times in the head. Osa-Gordon collapsed to the floor, but was conscious. When Gordon realized this, he grabbed a knife and stabbed her four times in the heart. The head of the family died instantly.
“Jim Gordon has been deteriorating for a long time,” author Joel Selvin told FOX News Digital. “He was really struggling to function. At the same time, he was playing in a band with a bunch of young musicians. They had no idea there was anything wrong with Jim. ”
Eric Clapton’s drummer Jim Gordon, convicted of murdering his mother, dies at 77
Jim Gordon was a rock and roll session drummer who played with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and the Beach Boys. (Jim McCrary/Red Ferns)
Gordon, a rock and roll session drummer who played on records by Eric Clapton, George Harrison and the Beach Boys, died in 2023 at the age of 77. He is now the subject of Selbin’s new book. “Drums & Demons: The Tragic Story of Jim Gordon” The piece examines his decades-long musical career and his struggles with mental health that led to his mother’s murder.
Selvin admitted it was a story no one wanted to talk about.
“I talked to several people and they all said the same thing: That’s definitely not the case,” Selvin said. “‘This is trauma and we don’t talk about it. It doesn’t benefit us.'”
Joel Selvin’s book “Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon” is now available. (Diversion book)
But eventually, many of the people who had known Gordon for years came forward and spoke for the first time.
“For many people, the gym was a two-legged nightmare,” Selvin said. “Frankly, looking back on his life was something many people didn’t want to do. But for me it was important to discuss the mental health side of his story. We It doesn’t really treat mental illness honestly, and as we looked into Jim’s story, we realized that this is a really big theme.”
From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, few drummers were more in demand than Gordon, a Los Angeles native and protégé of the ever-versatile session man Hal Blaine. Gordon has been playing drums since he was a teenager, and early in his career was part of Phil Spector’s famous studio ensemble, The Wrecking Crew, which featured Blaine.
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Young Jim Gordon playing drums. (Amy Gordon)
Gordon ended up working on the Beach Boys’ groundbreaking and experimental “Pet Sounds,” the Byrds’ “Notorious Bird Brothers,” and Harrison’s post-Beatles triple album “All Things Must Pass.” , and played on Steely Dan’s jazz-rock song “Pretzel Logic.” He worked with a wide range of top artists, from Joan Baez and Jackson Browne to Merle Haggard and Tom Petty.
One of his notable credits is the drum break on the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache,” which is frequently sampled by rap music artists such as Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, and Kool Mo Dee.
Gordon also toured with Clapton, bassist Carl Radle, and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, who in 1970 formed one of rock’s greatest one-shot groups, Derek and the Dominos. He became a central figure.
George Harrison (right) and Jim Gordon of the Beatles, circa 1969. (Birmingham Post Office/Mirror Pix/Mirror Pix)
Clapton and Gordon also co-wrote the 1971 hit “Layla,” for which Gordon won his first and only Grammy Award.
Selvin said it was unclear when Gordon began experiencing symptoms of schizophrenia.
“We know he was very embarrassed and embarrassed,” Selvin explained. “He felt that he was a smart person and could have taken better care of himself. Everything seems to indicate that this started in childhood. He was in another world when he was…he was able to do that.”
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Drummer Jim Gordon backstage at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, August 8, 1973. (Sherry Lane Burnett/Michael Ochs Archive)
Osa, an obstetric nurse, suspected something was wrong with her son. Her husband, Peter Gordon, joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1958. She believed Gordon was struggling with drugs and alcohol. Osa recommended that Gordon see a psychiatrist, but Gordon rejected her suggestion. Gordon felt he could push the voices in his head away. And when he finally asked for help, he was left with more questions than answers.
“There were a lot of hospitalizations,” Selvin explained. “They all thought he might have depression or a mood disorder. No one suspected that he was suffering from a disease, and he was extremely talented.”He kept it a secret for a very long time. ”
But cracks began to show. Those who worked with Gordon described how he imagined things that weren’t there and heard voices that others couldn’t hear. He would yell at people and “get scared.” However, Selvin pointed out that this world had “no shortage of drug addicts, alcoholics, sexual deviants. No one thought he was mentally ill.”
Rita Coolidge, circa 1960. The singer later spoke at length about her relationship with Jim Gordon. (Jim McCrary/Michael Ochs Archive)
By the early 1970s, Gordon was already a danger to others. His girlfriend, singer Rita Coolidge, later wrote in her memoir that Gordon attacked her in the hallway of her hotel one night while the couple was on tour with Joe Cocker. Gordon punched her in the eye, so much so that she was “lifted off the floor and slammed against the wall across the hallway,” she wrote. She momentarily lost consciousness.
As his sudden “outbursts” increased, Gordon began seeing a psychiatrist in 1975. Selvin claimed Gordon was “not being honest” about his symptoms. He also wrote that doctors prescribed “tranquilizers and antipsychotics” and combined them with illegal drugs. It wasn’t until 1978 that Gordon began receiving regular treatment.
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Jim Gordon’s only Grammy win was for Eric Clapton’s “Layla.” (Brian Cook/Red Ferns)
“My paranoia got stronger and stronger,” Selvin said. “The voices became increasingly cruel and manipulative. It became increasingly difficult for him to just leave the apartment. …The voices demanded that he throw away all his gold records and oil drums. He piled them up by the trash can and went back to his apartment.” He drank mindlessly until his voice disappeared, then went back to get the gold records and drums, a cycle that lasted several months until the night before he killed his mother. It continued.
“There were several suicide attempts,” Selvin continued. “He was in a mental hospital, broke, and then he heard a voice that sounded like his mother’s, saying, ‘You have to kill me.’ He had never thought about it. He had even considered suicide, but now his mother’s voice was the chief tormentor. His “mother” kept him from eating and sleeping. , who also stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. “Play the drum. There were many voices, but hers was the loudest. That voice took over.”
On the night of Osa’s death, Mr Selvin said Mr Gordon had consumed “a large amount of alcohol”. He thought that if he hit her matriarch with a hammer, she would escape without feeling any pain. But it didn’t work.
Joel Selvin claimed Jim Gordon never expressed remorse for killing his mother. (Keith Morris Estate/Red Ferns)
“The stabbing was so brutal that the knife stuck to the floor,” Mr Selvin said. “He went to a gas station, washed, and went to a Mexican restaurant. … When the cops showed up at his apartment in the morning, he was in a fetal position under the coffee table. He was stuck when we broke in. He said, “I killed my mother. I’m sorry for what I did, but she tortured me for years.”
“I had no regrets,” Selvin insisted. “He believed that his mother was torturing and controlling him. Until then, he had no idea how severely mentally ill he had become. He lived in a completely different reality. He was alive inside.”
Osa was portrayed as a beloved patriarch who was close to his granddaughter, Gordon’s daughter Amy. Selvin said Gordon’s family was horrified by her murder and her brother wanted her executed.
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Jim Gordon passed away in 2023 at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. (Brian Cook/Red Ferns)
Gordon was diagnosed with schizophrenia after he was arrested on charges of second-degree murder. Gordon was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. However, he never attended any hearings and was denied parole several times.
Gordon wrote a letter to his daughter every week. There was no reply from him.
“When Jim first started seeking psychiatric help in 1975, there were few tools available to deal with schizophrenia,” Selvin explained. “A lot of the drugs back then were like sledgehammers. It felt like your ribcage was constricting. Can you imagine taking that and playing the drums? He also drank alcohol and took cocaine. He was ingesting it, but it just amplified all the voices he could hear.” He thought that would make them go away…he did try to call for help. ”
Jim Gordon was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole. However, he was denied parole several times. (Brian Cook/Red Ferns)
Gordon remained in prison until his death.
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“Jim’s contributions to music were remarkable and sublime,” Selvin said. “His life shows us how important it is for us as a society to address mental illness and to face it honestly and with compassion. I realized that I was lacking in the way I handled it.”
“He was only seen as the person who killed his mother. No one thought to look into his mind and see what would make him do something so horrible. Until that point. All the footprints were there. It was a gruesome, grizzly bear trail.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
