{"id":72935,"date":"2025-08-10T19:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/72935\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T19:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:02:08","slug":"derek-and-the-dominos-co-founder-was-77","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/72935\/","title":{"rendered":"Derek and the Dominos Co-Founder Was 77"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBobby Whitlock<\/a>, the keyboard player and vocalist who co-founded Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton<\/a> and played on classic albums like George Harrison<\/a>\u2018s \u201cAll Things Must Pass,\u201d died Sunday at age 77.<\/p>\n

\n\tHis manager, Carol Kaye, confirmed to Variety that Whitlock died Sunday morning at 1:20 a.m. after a brief bout with cancer.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Memphis-born musician was signed to Stax Records at an early age and played with artists like Booker T. and the MG\u2019s and Sam & Dave on his way up before becoming an integral member of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, during which he forged an alliance on tour with Clapton.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe soon found himself working on \u201cAll Things Must Pass,\u201d and with three keyboard players credited on that all-time classic, who played what has been murky. But among the parts he is given credit for is the piano on the track \u201cBeware of Darkness\u201d \u2014 which millions of people are hearing play out this weekend as the opening music in the horror hit \u201cWeapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDerek and the Dominos turned out to be a one-album wonder, but what a \u201cone album\u201d \u2014 the 1971 double LP \u201cLayla and Other Assorted Love Songs\u201d is considered by many to be one of rock\u2019s greatest albums. Whitlock co-wrote seven of its tracks, including \u201cBell Bottom Blues\u201d and \u201cTell the Truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat thing was like lightning in a bottle,\u201d Whitlock told Best Classic Bands in 2015. \u201cWe did one club tour, we did one photo session, then we did a tour of a bit larger venues. Then we did one studio album in Miami. We did one American tour. Then we did one failed attempt at a second album.\u201d He blamed the usual suspects for the click burnout \u2014 \u201cEverybody was doing entirely too much drugs and alcohol,\u201d\u00a0and there were ego conflicts between other members of the band, he said \u2014 but Whitlock had some company in contending that, while they lasted, Derek and the Dominos were \u201cthe very best band on the planet\u2026 We were better than anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the breakup of that supergroup, he went on to release a series of solo albums in the 1970s, starting with \u201cBobby Whitlock\u201d in 1972, which included all the members of the recently split group, albeit not all on the same tracks.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also made an uncredited appearance on the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cExile on Main Street,\u201d and made the claim that he was cheated out of a rightful co-writing credit for the song \u201cI Just Want to See His Face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHis other credits as a guest musician include self-titled albums by Clapton and Doris Troy, Dr. John\u2019s \u201cThe Sun, Moon & Herbs\u201d and Stephen Stills & Manassas\u2019 \u201cDown the Road.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the early 2000s, he began doing club shows with his wife, CoCo Carmel Whitlock (who formerly was married to Delaney Bramlett), performing the \u201cLayla\u201d songs acoustically.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe songs on that album are as new today as they were then,\u201d he said in a 2006 interview with the Austin Chronicle. \u201cThey just never had anyone perform them that had anything to do with them.\u201d The shows resulted in a live album by the duo,\u00a0\u201cOther Assorted Love Songs,\u201d\u00a0in 2003. <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a brief sojourn in Tennessee (\u201cI was a little too soulful for Nashville,\u201d he laughed), Whitlock moved to Austin in 2006. \u201cIt reminds me of Memphis in 1965, when it was about the music, and everybody was supportive of everybody. Now I can\u2019t imagine living anyplace else.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2021, Whitlock and his wife moved away from Austin. He had been based in the small town of Ozona, Texas, according to his Facebook page.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2010, he released an autobiography, with a foreword by Clapton. Whitlock was inducted into Memphis\u2019 Beale Street Walk of Fame in 2024. <\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, speaking with the Everything Knoxville site in conjunction with his Memphis honor, Whitlock said, \u201cThere was a point in time where I really didn\u2019t think anybody cared. I knew they acknowledged my input on all those great records, you know, \u2018Layla\u2019 and\u00a0\u2018All Things Must Pass\u2019 \u2014 there\u2019s a list of them. \u2026 My business is to try to conduct myself as a decent person and a gentleman as much as I can, get through this world, navigate through this without making too many waves. But when you make them, make them big \u2013 ones to remember\u2026 All of the sudden, everything seems to have turned around, and I wasn\u2019t looking for it, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI knew my input and I was good with it. I was all right with myself whether anybody ever acknowledged anything I\u2019ve ever done or not,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019ve got a great life. I paint every day. I\u2019m really good with doing what I do. It\u2019s just another extension of who I am. And I\u2019ve been blessed in each and every way; everywhere I turn around, you know, it\u2019s just nothing but a blessing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent years, he had undertaken painting and had his artwork displayed in galleries.<\/p>\n

\n\tBesides his wife, he is survived by three children,\u00a0Ashley Brown,\u00a0Beau Whitlock\u00a0and\u00a0Tim Whitlock Kelly, and his sister Debbie Wade.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bobby Whitlock, the keyboard player and vocalist who co-founded Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton and played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[52175,88,10328,10330,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-72935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-bobby-whitlock","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-eric-clapton","11":"tag-george-harrison","12":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}