Derek and the Dominos were an English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by singer-guitarist Eric Clapton, keyboardist-singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previously played together in Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, during and after Clapton's brief tenure with Blind Faith. Dave Mason supplied additional lead guitar on early studio sessions and played at their first live gig. Another participant at their first session as a band was George Harrison, the recording for whose album All Things Must Pass marked the formation of Derek and the Dominos. Following the deaths of Radle in 1980, Gordon in 2023, and Whitlock in 2025, Clapton is the last surviving member of the band's official line-up.
The band's only album release, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, was produced by Tom Dowd, and also featured extensive contributions on lead and slide guitar from Duane Allman. A double album, Layla did not immediately enjoy strong sales or receive widespread radio airplay, but went on to earn critical acclaim. Although released in 1970 it was not until March 1972 that the album's single "Layla" (a tale of unrequited love inspired by Clapton's infatuation with his friend George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd) made the top ten in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The album is often considered to be the defining achievement of Clapton's career.
History Background and formation
Derek and the Dominos came about through its four members' involvement in the American rock/soul revue Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. The group were anchored by the musical duo Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett with a rotating ensemble of supporting members. Delaney & Bonnie and Friends opened for Blind Faith, Eric Clapton's short-lived supergroup with Steve Winwood and Ginger Baker, on a US tour in the summer of 1969. While on that tour, Clapton was drawn to Delaney & Bonnie's relative anonymity, which he found more appealing than the excessive fan worship lavished on his own band.The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, pp. 88, 183, 254.
Together with his fellow future Dominos – Bobby Whitlock (vocals, keyboards), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums) – Clapton toured Europe and the United States again between November 1969 and March 1970, this time as a member of Delaney & Bonnie and Friends.Whitlock, pp. 52, 60. In addition, the entire band backed him on his debut solo album, Eric Clapton,Reid, pp. xiii, 29. recorded over the same period. Disagreements over money led several members to leave Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Whitlock, recalling other difficulties with Delaney and Bonnie, noted the couple's frequent fights and described Delaney as a demanding band leader in the manner of James Brown.The Layla Sessions liner notes, page 5.Santoro, p. 63. Gordon, Radle and other Friends personnel, including drummer Jim Keltner, immediately joined Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour with Leon Russell, but Whitlock remained with Delaney and Bonnie for a short time.
In April 1970, at the suggestion of his friend and mentor, former Stax session guitarist Steve Cropper,Whitlock, p. 65. Whitlock travelled to England to visit Clapton.Harris, p. 70. Whitlock subsequently lived in Hurtwood Edge, Clapton's house in Surrey, where the two musicians jammed and began to write the bulk of the Dominos' catalogue on acoustic guitars. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required). Many of the new songs reflected Clapton's deep infatuation with Pattie Boyd, the wife of his best friend George Harrison, who had joined Clapton as a guitarist on Delaney & Bonnie's European tour in December 1969.Clayson, pp. 275, 277–79.
Soon after Whitlock's arrival, he and Clapton were eager to form a new bandWhitlock, p. 73. and contacted Radle and Gordon in the United States. Although their first choice for a drummer was Keltner – like Radle and Russell, a native of TulsaReid, pp. 42, 47. – he was busy recording with jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó. Gordon, however, had been invited to London to work on Harrison's post-Beatles solo album All Things Must Pass. In May that year, Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon reunited in London at a session for P.P. Arnold,Harris, p. 72. before going on to serve as the backing band on much of Harrison's album. In a 1990 interview, Clapton said, "We made our bones, really, on that album with George", since the four musicians had "no game plan" other than living at Hurtwood Edge, "getting stoned, and playing and semi-writing songs".
Clapton biographer Harry Shapiro comments on the unprecedented aspect of Clapton's bond with his new bandmates, in that from the Blind Faith tour onwards, the guitarist "had been able to build a working relationship in a slow and natural fashion" for the first time. Among the friendships formed before the group officially came into existence, Shapiro continues, "the empathy ... outcropped most noticeably in Bobby Whitlock, in whom Eric found an accomplished and sympathetic songwriting partner and back-up vocalist."Shapiro, p. 118. Clapton and Whitlock considered adding the Delaney & Bonnie horn section to their new band, but this plan was abandoned. Whitlock later explained the ethos of Derek and the Dominos: "we didn't want any horns, we didn't want no chicks, we wanted a rock 'n' roll band. But my vocal concept was that we approach singing like Sam and Dave did: [Clapton] sings a line, I sing a line, we sing together."Santoro, p. 64.
Concert debut Towards the end of the sessions for the basic tracks on All Things Must Pass, Dave Mason – another former guitarist with Delaney & BonnieReid, p. 47. – joined the Dominos at Clapton's home.Shapiro, pp. 115, 116. With the lineup expanded to a five-piece band, Derek and the Dominos gave their debut live performance on 14 June 1970.Shapiro, p. 115. The event was a charity concert in aid of the Dr. Spock Civil Liberties Legal Defence Fund, held at London's Lyceum Theatre. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
The group had been billed as "Eric Clapton and Friends", but a discussion ensued backstage just before their appearance, with HarrisonClayson, p. 290. and pianist Tony Ashton among those involved, in an effort to find a proper band name. Clapton recalls that Ashton suggested "Del and the Dominos",Clapton, p. 133. having taken to calling the guitarist "Derek" or "Del" since the Delaney & Bonnie tour the previous year. Whitlock maintains that "the Dynamics" was the name chosen and that Ashton, following his opening set with Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, mispronounced it when introducing the band. Writing in 2013, Clapton and Whitlock biographer Marc Roberty quoted Jeff Dexter, the MC at the Lyceum show, who recalled that "Derek and the Dominos" had already been decided on before they went on stage. According to Dexter, Clapton was immediately taken with the name, but Whitlock, Radle and Gordon – all Americans – were concerned that they might be mistaken for a doo-wop act.
The reception afforded the band from critics and fans was mixed.Reid, pp. 104–05.Shapiro, pp. 115–16. Together with the unfavourable reviews for Clapton's first solo album, Eric Clapton released earlier in 1970, particularly in Britain, this reaction was reflective of a widespread reluctance to view Clapton as a singer and frontman, rather than as the virtuoso guitarist synonymous with his role in bands such as Cream, Blind Faith, and The Yardbirds.Sandford, pp. 112, 114, 116. In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton wrote that his main recollection of the Lyceum show was consulting New Orleans–born musician Dr. John, a self-styled practitioner of voodoo,The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, p. 276. and receiving a package made of straw that would serve as a means of winning Boyd's affection.Clapton, pp. 133–34.
Recording with Phil Spector In return for the Dominos' assistance on All Things Must Pass, Clapton and Harrison had agreed that the latter's co-producer, Phil Spector, would produce a single for the new group.Reid, pp. 92–93, 105. On 18 June, the five band members, together with Harrison on guitar, took part in a session for the single at the Beatles' Apple Studio in central London.Madinger & Easter, p. 427.Reid, pp. 104, 105. With Spector producing, two Clapton–Whitlock compositions were recorded that dayClapton, p. 132. – "Tell the Truth" and "Roll It Over" – along with two instrumental jams that would be included on the Apple Jam disc of Harrison's triple album.Whitlock, p. 82.
After this London session, Mason departed from the lineup; he later told Melody Maker that he was impatient to see the band start working full-time whereas Clapton was committed to helping Harrison complete All Things Must Pass.Clayson, pp. 289, 478. Clapton and Whitlock then contributed to the overdubbing phase of Harrison's album, including adding backing vocals with Harrison (as "the George O'Hara-Smith Singers") to tracks such as "All Things Must Pass" and "Awaiting on You All".Whitlock, p. 81. In addition, while continuing to rehearse at Hurtwood Edge,Shapiro, p. 116. all four band members participated in London sessions for Dr. John's album The Sun, Moon & Herbs (1971).Reid, p. 105.
UK summer tour Early in the summer of 1970, Clapton asked a former Apple Records acquaintance to find accommodation for Whitlock, Gordon and Radle in central London, telling him that they were "going bonkers" out in the Surrey countryside.O'Dell, p. 170. The band then moved into a two-storey flat at 33 Thurloe Place,Whitlock, p. 98. close to South Kensington tube station.O'Dell, pp. 170–71. The flat also served as a meeting place for Clapton and Boyd,O'Dell, p. 172. who found herself flattered by Clapton's attention in light of her husband's infidelities, and his preoccupation with Eastern spirituality.Boyd, pp. 119–20, 135, 138. In his autobiography, Clapton wrote that he was both inspired and "tormented" by his feelings for Boyd, which he channelled into his music, beginning with a UK tour by Derek and the Dominos.Clapton, p. 135.
For three weeks from 1 August, the group performed in clubs and other small venues in Britain,Reid, p. 107. where Clapton chose to play anonymously, still weary from the fame that he felt had plagued Cream and Blind Faith.The Layla Sessions liner notes, page 4. Admission for the shows was set at £1, and clauses in the contract with each venue stipulated that Clapton's name was not to be used as a crowd-puller. Shapiro writes that the band had "made great strides" since the Lyceum concert; their set list included "Tell the Truth",Sandford, p. 116. covers of Billy Myles' "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" and Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", and songs such as "Bottle of Red Wine" and "Don't Know Why", both from the Eric Clapton album. Clapton has said of this UK tour, "no one knew who we were, and I loved it. I loved the fact that we were this little quartet, playing in obscure places, sometimes to audiences of no more than fifty or sixty people."
Layla sessions
The band flew to Miami, Florida, on 23 August 1970 to begin recording with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd. Until early September,Santoro, p. 62. sessions took place at Criteria Studios for what became the double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Most of the material, particularly the track "Layla", was inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Boyd. After Clapton and Whitlock's initial experimentation with heroin while recording All Things Must Pass, the band's time in Miami was marked by all four members' excessive use of hard drugs.Shapiro, p. 120. According to Clapton, "We were staying in this hotel on the beach, and whatever drug you wanted, you could get it at the newsstand. The girl would just take your orders."