Rock ‘N’ Roll Icon Dead At 77

Bobby Whitlock, co-founder of Derek and the Dominoes, passed away at 77 this week.

News of his passing came from “heartbroken” manager Carole Kaye, who said he died at approximately 1:20 a.m. Sunday morning at his home in Texas, following an extended battle with cancer. Kaye said the iconic rock ‘n’ roll star was surrounded by loved ones as he drew his final breath.

“How do you express in but a few words the grandness of one man who came from abject poverty in the south to heights unimagined in such a short time?” his wife, CoCo Carmel Whitlock, said in a statement to TMZ.

“My love Bobby looked at life as an adventure taking me by the hand leading me through a world of wonderment from music to poetry and painting,’ she continued. ‘I feel his hands that were so intensely expressive and warm on my face and the small of my back whenever I close my eyes, he is there,” she continued.

Whitlock, who wrote most of Derek and the Dominoes’ lyrics while contributing keyboard and guitar, was foundational to three studio albums — “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs,” “All Things Must Pass,” and “Exile on Main Street.”

He and CoCo married on Christmas Eve in 2005 before moving to Austin, Texas, from Nashville, Tenn.

Born March 18, 1948, in Memphis, Whitlock broke barriers by becoming the first white artist to sign with legendary Stax Records, the home of blues cornerstones such as Albert King, Wilson Pickett, Booker T. Jones, and Otis Redding. Whitlock left his impression on executives as a teenager while recording with Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

Whitlock got his big break in 1969 after performing on “Accept No Substitute” with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett and Friends. He became acquainted with Eric Clapton and George Harrison, who both joined the band on the road.

The trio ultimately spun off in 1970 to record the seminal “All Things Must Pass,” leading to the creation of Derek and the Dominoes.

Assisted by Carl Radle and Jim Gordon, the supergroup went on to record “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs,” an album ranked by Rolling Stone as the 117th greatest of all time in its 2003 listing of the genre’s 500 greatest albums.

Whitlock wrote half of the group’s first album, including its breakout hits “Tell the Truth” and “Bell Bottom Blues.”

After the group disbanded in 1971, Whitlock went on to contribute to other projects, including the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street,” but often without credit on the albums.

In 2024, he was honored by his hometown by being inducted into Memphis’ Beale Street Walk of Fame.

He is survived by his wife, his sister Debbie Wade, and his children, Ashley Brown, Beau Whitlock, and Tim Whitlock Kelly, the Daily Mail reported.