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Jim Gordon, the rock 'n' roll drummer who played on classic records by Eric Clapton, George Harrison and the Beach Boys but suffered from increasing mental problems and spent the second half of his life in prison for murdering his mother, has died aged 77, reports BTA.

Gordon died Monday at California Medical Center in Vacaville of natural causes.

He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent the last four decades of his life in prison.

A great jazz musician has died

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, few studio drummers were more in demand than Gordon.

He played on the Beach Boys' landmark experimental album Pet Sounds, the Byrds' The Notorious Byrd Brothers, George Harrison's post-Beatles triple album, All Things Music Pass and jazz rock Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic album.

He has worked with a wide range of leading artists, from Joan Baez and Jackson Browne to Merle Haggard and Tom Petty.

Gordon also toured with Clapton and Derek and the Dominos, one of the great rock bands.

In June 1983, Gordon attacked his 71-year-old mother Osa Gordon with a hammer, then fatally stabbed her with a butcher knife.

He claims a voice told him to do it.

It wasn't until his arrest for second-degree murder that Gordon was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

His sentence is 16 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

However, he was denied parole several times after failing to appear at any of the hearings, and remained in prison until his death.

deceased musician