Bobby Whitlock, the musician who co-founded Derek and the Dominos with Eric Clapton, has died, according to his manager. He was 77.Whitlock died Sunday morning of cancer, manager Carol Kaye confirmed to CBS News.

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?” Whitlock’s wife, Coco Carmel Whitlock, said in a statement to CBS News.

Stax Records signed Whitlock as the first white artist to join singers like Otis Redding and Sam & Dave at the label.