The Sad Tale of Jim Gordon
James Beck Gordon
was born on July 14th, 1945, in California. He began
playing the drums as a kid, and at the age of 17, he played drums for
the Everly Brothers, as a session drummer, of which he passed up a
scholarship to UCLA to do. Gordon gained a lot of traction, appearing
on many recordings for multiple bands and musicians, having been
recommended as a studio musician by Hal Blaine, a famous studio
musician, who was busy with more work than he knew what to do with.
Blaine stated, “When I didn’t have the time, I recommended Jim.
He was one hell of a drummer. I thought he was one of the real
comers.”. Soon enough, Gordon would be flooded with plenty of
studio work, having 2-3 recording sessions a day, sometimes up to 7
days a week. At the height of his studio musician career, he would
fly from Las Vegas to Los Angeles every day to do a session, then
back to Nevada to play the nightly show at Caesars Palace.
Near the
end of the 60’s Jim Gordon ended up on multiple recordings for big
acts such as ‘Pet Sounds’ by the Beach Boys, “Gene Clark with
the Gosdin Brothers” (Gene Clark), “The Notorious Byrd Brothers”
(the Byrds), and “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams.
Gordon later created
a band, which broke up after one album. In 1969, the music duo
Delaney and Bonnie were getting ready to tour in England when their
drummer Jim Keltner either pulled out of the band, or made the
agreement with Jim Gordon to switch Jim’s studio sessions with
Keltner’s tour, since Jim wanted to go on the tour to be part of
the backing band (I’ve seen different sources that say either
happened). Either way, Jim Gordon got to go on tour with the band,
and Keltner started doing more session drumming, later becoming an
extremely renown session musician.
At the time, the
backing band for Delaney and Bonnie included Eric Clapton, and George
Harrison. The tour was a huge success, with the band being more
popular in England that the U.S., even still, shows were sold out.
While it seemed that the combination would have been everlasting,
most left to join Leon Russel for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and ENGLISHMEN tour. “When they left,“we were the last to know, and it
broke out hearts.” one of the Bramletts said.
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| Delaney and Bonnie |
The tour with Joe
Crocker would include sex, drugs, forgetting lyrics, and sharing lots
of different women. There was heroin, mescaline, MDA, cocaine, and
acid. Jim Keltner, who appeared on the tour, said of it, “Sharing
girls. Screwing every chick in sight. Most were there for that
purpose. The drugs were just as easy to get. I wasn’t a stranger to
them myself. Now I feel like I’m just lucky to have survived them.”
Jim Gordon
participated in many of these drugs, even being able to power through
many of the affects of them, including on stage. Before a show in
Seattle one night, Gordon slipped some acid with Keltner, and later
while playing “Bird on the Wire”, Keltner couldn’t continue.
Gordon allegedly tried to coax Keltner on, but he couldn’t do it,
and left in tears. Apparently, Jim did many drugs during the tour,
virtually doing anything he could.
Gordon stated that,
during this time he felt like he was being watched but it was all in
the background.
It was around this
time that Jim would hear murmurs, but he ignored them.
Instead of
participating in groupies, Jim got into a relationship with fellow
musician, Rita Coolidge. They spent their spare time together, would
joke laugh, until one day he hit her. They were staying at the
Warwick Hotel in New York when he called her into the hall, and left
a black eye. She had a the bruise for the rest of the tour, and from
then on, wanted nothing to do with him. While he would leave books of
poetry and be apologetic, she wouldn’t budge.
Gordon continued on
with more incidents. It was seemingly the start of his paranoia.
After the tour
ended, Jim worked with George Harrison on the album “All Things
Must Pass”, and later joined Eric Clapton to create Derek and The
Dominoes. Gordon and Clapton would later create the hit song “Layla”
with Gordon adding the piano melody. The band also used drugs, heroin
being the one of choice.
After its only tour
in 1972, the group broke up. Even though they stated it had to do
with musical differences, drugs were a factor too. Allegedly, Gordon
wasn’t paid for the song “Layla”, because the producers “said
I would be dead in six months anyway.” Even still, Jim still did
drugs, mainly heroin.
Jim still had plenty
of work, from playing on Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”, John
Lennon’s “Imagine” album, to touring with the band Traffic for
their album “The
Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”.
Eventually,
Jim tired of all the drugs and work, and wanted to go home. He had
totaled his ferrari. Word had spread of his drug use, how he hit Rita
Coolidge, and how he even crashed his car. But this didn’t stop him
from finding work, and he was still in extreme demand. Jim still
ended up choosing dates to work with musicians. During this time, he
played on “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” for Steely Dan,
“Midnight At The
Oasis” for Maria Maldaur, and “L.A.” Reggae” for Johnny
Rivers.
During
this time, Jim also worked with Frank Zappa, and was part of his
“Petite Wazoo” and “Grand Wazoo” bands (10 piece and 20
piece). Jim played on the song “Apostrophe’” with Zappa and
Jack Bruce, of which both latter musicians received writing credit.
When Zappa would
introduce Gordon on stage, he would call him ‘Skippy’, because of
his youthful appearance.
While
there were rumors that he had lost his touch, these songs, among
others the worked on proved the rumors weren’t true.
In
1973, Jim’s father passed away, and he took a break from drugs. He
bought a house, saw his daughter, and married Renée Armand. He went
from drugs to alcohol, where he would end up drinking all day. He
said of the time, “Before, I was drinking every night, but I wasn’t
getting up in the morning for a drink; I would put a needle in my
arm. When I stopped taking the heroin, I began to drink all day.”.
Eventually
he went back to drugs, doing speedballs. Still, he had work, and even
played with acts that had no participation in drugs. Gordon never
stopped production or did drugs during his studio time.
Jim
was noticeably changing during this time period, becoming more
paranoid, less talkative, and even standing in the corner talking to
himself in between sessions. Gordon told a friend not to give out his
number, since he didn’t want to talk to anyone. He eventually
retreated into isolation more, became self doubtful, and was full
blown paranoid.
One
day, Jim’s wife Renee came home from grocery shopping, having
barely placed the groceries on the floor, when he came up to her with
a menacing glare. He said, “I know what you’re doing.”, though
she had no idea what he was talking about. Gordon then pointed at the
groceries, saying, “The Magic Triangle”. He then accused her of
being responsible for evil spirits in the house. To which she denied,
and then he punched her, cracking several of her ribs. Renee stated
that while she loved him so much, she couldn’t stay with him after
that. She had no idea what had happened to him. Their marriage ended
after 6 months.
When
Jim was completely sober, he heard the voices. They came back, and
were everywhere. There was a family of voices, with faces he could
see in his mind but whose names he did not know. The leader was a man
with a white beard, along with a young blonde woman. Some of the
others were his brother aunt and mother.
Originally
the voices started out friendly, telling him how to do things, and
giving pointers in his life. “How to take care of myself and the house.
How to shop. I was glad for the help. I was getting ready for the
rest of my life. I thought it was pretty strange, but there was
nothing I could do about it. I heard them all the time. They would
tell me if I was doing right or wrong. And I took it in like a fool.
They said I had some kind of responsibility to God and country. I was
the king of the universe, they said. I had to make sacrifices, and I
had to do what they said. That’s when my mother started making me
eat half my food.”
When
Jim would only eat half of his food, he would supplement the other
half with alcohol. He would consume a fifth of scotch or vodka, and
still work.
Eventually
he got into another relationship, this time with a woman named Stacey
Bailey. Jim would tell Bailey about the voices, while also
complaining about how his mother was trying to take over his life.
He’d complain that he would try to please his mother, but it was
never enough for her. One night, Stacey woke up unable to breath. Jim
was choking her. She tried to say whatever she could to get him to
stop, and when on the verge of passing out, he loosened his grip. He
repeated it over and over, and eventually fell back laughing, saying
that it was a joke. Bailey ran to the neighbors, hysterical, while
Gordon begged her to come back. He told her, “I just wanted to see
if you really cared about me”.
While
people heard and knew of his abuse to women, most didn’t say
anything.
Gordon
tried to cut back on drugs and alcohol, but only stayed off of them
for a short amount of time. The voices were getting worse, and he
later went back to drinking to try and quiet the voices.
In
1977, Gordon was in session recording with Johnny Rivers, when he
started to glare at the guitarist, Dean Parks. Jim apparently rose to
his feet, and said, “You’re messing with my time. You’re moving
my hands, I want you to stop it.” Parks told Jim that there was no
way he could be messing with him from across the room, and eventually
they went back to playing. Not long later, Jim tried to get at
another person.
Eventually,
it became known that Gordon was turning into a liability, and
producers didn’t want to hire him anymore. In turn, Jim started
taking lower paying work, such as TV and
commercials.
The
voices got worse, to the point that they would only allow him to eat
one bite of his food. His mother’s voice was the worst in his head,
never relenting. He called his mother, who didn’t know what was
even going on. His mother told him that he needed help, and so he
checked into the Van Nuys Psychiatric Hospital. This would be the
beginning of over 14 times he’d check himself into hospitals, over
the next 6 years.
When
with the doctors, he told them that he heard his mother’s voice,
among others. His mother, Osa, would visit, and he’d tell doctors that
she was the only friend that he had. He was able to get permission to
go home with her on weekends, but the voices would still torment him.
Eventually, Jim checked himself out of the hospital after two months,
against his doctor’s recommendations. Jim agreed to see a doctor
outpatient, but on his September 3rd
appointment, he didn’t show up.
Gordon’s
mother found him at home, unconscious, having attempted suicide. He
stated that the voices didn’t care if he killed himself. He refused
to continue therapy, and reluctantly went back to work. Gordon
went on tour with Jackson Browne in 1978, but ultimately, it didn’t
change things. When he came back from the tour, the industry was
slow, and he found it hard to get work. When he was out of work, he
would drink to drown out the voices, but it didn’t help.
Gordon
got a call to go on tour with Bob Dylan, but the voices made him say
no, which saddened him to have missed the opportunity. Later, he got
a call to do a job in Las Vegas, to which he initially agreed, but
the voices told him to leave, so he did. This was another blow, since
Gordon really wanted to perform.
When
he came back, he was severely depressed, and checked himself into
Valley Presbyterian Hospital. While there, he threatened to kill a
nurse, who he claimed, “Wouldn’t leave me alone.”. Once again
he checked out of the hospital, against the doctor’s orders.
By
the time the 80’s started, Jim Gordon was barely considered a
professional musician anymore. He stopped playing his drums, stopped
bathing at times, and would go days without shaving or changing his
clothes. He checked into a hospital on June 5th
of 1980, but left the next day. When he came to hospital, he had
already consumed two thirds of a bottle of cognac and half a gallon
of wine.
When
he would leave the hospital, he would always go back to Osa, his mom,
despite having the voice in his head of her. At times, he thought
that his mother wanted him to die. He felt that this purpose was
over.
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| Jim on the far left |
On
October 22nd,
1982, Jim checked himself into another hospital. He said that he felt
he was dying of “hate” and that his “world was falling apart.”
Having not seen her son in two years, Osa wrote Jim a letter.
He never opened it. The voices in his head told him not to. Her
letter stated that she thought of him, loved him, and was moving in
with his brother in Seattle in a month.
On
June 1st
of that year, at 9:30 pm, Gordon called his mother. He told her,
“You’re bugging me again. I’m going to kill you.” Osa
denied the accusations, and he hung up. She then called the Medical
Center of North Hollywood and asked if her son had been there. The
nurse told her that Jim was admitted that day, had been drinking, and
when he asked for the antipsychotic drug Thorazine, become agitated
that the doctor wasn’t in; so he left. His mother then called the
police, but they told her that there nothing they could do, and
suggested that she leave the lights on in her house, while also
wishing her luck. His mother called her other son, John, but no-one
was home.
Gordon
called her again, at 11:40 pm, with an essential repeat of the
previous conversation. Afterwards, she decided against calling John,
because it was too late in the night. The next day, she called the
city attorney’s office about a restraining her, but the process was
unsuccessful.
The
next day, Gordon appeared at her apartment.
Jim
hadn’t ever raised a hand to her before, and none of the doctors
ever warned her that he would either.
Neighbors heard screaming, and
called the police.
Law
enforcement went to Jim’s apartment the next morning to inform him
of his mother’s death, to find him face down on the living room
floor sobbing. He wasn't on any drugs when he killed his mother, then
afterwards went to a bar and consumed a large amount of different
types of alcohol after.
Gordon stated that he had no
interest in killing her, but her voice wanted him to do so. “Good
riddance to her” he stated. He
attacked her with a hammer, hitting
her in the head. Then he
stabbed her with a butcher
knife in
the chest three times.
Jim’s mother, Osa
Marie Gordon, was 72 years old at the time of her murder.
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| Recent Picture of him |
In
1984, he was sentenced to 16 years to life, and is still
incarcerated. As of 2016, he is serving his sentence at the
California Medical Facility, in Vacaville, CA. He
has been denied parole every time, most recently in 2018, for 3 years.
In March of 2019, there was an administrative review to advance the
his parole hearing date. On April 16th,
and July 16th,
the parole suitabilities were postponed until November 14th,
2019. On November
14th,
2019, Gordon was to have his latest parole hearing, but waived the
right to a hearing for 3 years. His next hearing was postponed, won’t
be until November of 2022.
Osa Marie Gordon is buried in Los Angeles National Cemetery, in California.
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| Courtesy of Find a Grave |
video: https://youtu.be/ZF34gLu7ntQ
[SOURCES]
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3712034/osa-marie-gordon
