PIANIST and co-founder of Derek and the Dominos, Bobby Whitlock, has died at the age 77.
The rock icon died of cancer after a short battle with the illness as his heartbroken wife leads the tributes.
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His manager, Carole Kaye, confirmed his death this morning saying he died at home in Texas at 1:20am.
The legendary rockstar was surrounded by his loved ones when he passed.
Whitlock was best known for founding the English-American blues rock band Derek and the Dominos in 1970 alongside his three bandmates.
He was the keyboardist and singer and made his mark on the music industry alongside guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon.
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He had met Clapton, one of the most decorated British rockers, in the years prior to the band’s creation.
The pair had grown close during smalltown tours of the US and even worked together alongside George Harrison.
Memphis-born Whitlock played a vital role in helping to record one of rock’s biggest albums in Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
The band would later split in 1971 as Whitlock went his own way but remained a key figure in the rock world.
He went on to release a series of solo albums throughout the 1970s including Bobby Whitlock in 1972.
One of his greatest successes came with an uncredited appearance on the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street hit.
Then in the 2000s, he started to work alongside his wife CoCo Carmel after the pair wedded in 2005.
The pair would often perform songs from the Layla album acoustically.
A devastated CoCo paid tribute with a loving statement to her long-term partner.
She told TMZ: “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?
“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,.
“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.”
Whitlock was recently inducted into Memphis’ Beale Street Walk of Fame in 2024 for his contributions to music.
In the years before his death, he had started to paint with some of his artwork even being displayed in galleries in his hometown.
He is survived by his wife, sister Debbie Wade and children Ashley Brown, Beau Whitlock and Tim Whitlock Kelly.
Eric Clapton is now the sole surviving member of the Derek and the Dominos.
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