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Bobby Whitlock was born Robert Stanley Whitlock on the 18th March 1948 in Memphis, Tennessee. His father had served as a Southern Baptist preacher, and Bobby grew up steeped in soul and blues, studying organ under the guidance of Memphis musicians like Booker T. Jones.
He began playing on sessions at Stax Records as a teenager, becoming the first white artist signed by the label. His career took off when Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett discovered him performing in a club and invited him to join their revue; there he met Eric Clapton and began performing and writing in earnest.
He collaborated closely with Clapton, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon, and together they formed Derek and the Dominos in 1970, contributing to George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. On the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, he co-wrote seven of the fourteen tracks, including such classics as “Tell the Truth,” “Bell Bottom Blues,” and “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?”, and authored “Thorn Tree in the Garden” entirely himself.
After the breakup of the Dominos in 1971, he released a series of solo albums including his self-titled Bobby Whitlock and Raw Velvet, but later temporarily withdrew from music, choosing to raise his family on a Mississippi farm.
He returned with It’s About Time in 1999 and subsequently recorded and performed alongside his wife and creative partner, CoCo Carmel. In all, he released more than a doxen solo albums, and was involved in many more including released by such names as Doris Troy, Dr John, John Simon and Manassas.
Bobby’s talent lay in his deep, gospel-inflected voice, his emotive keyboard playing, and his ability to blend the raw power of Southern soul with the lyrical intimacy of confessional songwriting.
While he never achieved the public fame of Clapton or Harrison, his work was vital to some of rock’s most enduring recordings. In musical history, he occupied a place as a consummate collaborator whose songs and performances helped define the sound of early 1970s blues-rock, leaving behind a body of work that remains both influential and yet oddly under-celebrated.
Bobby died at the age of 77, on the 10th August 2025, at his home outside Austin, Texas, USA, of cancer.
The above is just one of the many profiles of leading songwriters, singers, musicians and music industry personnel, published by the International Songwriters Association and "Songwriter Magazine". Please click HERE for more.
© Jim Liddane
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