Jimi Hendrix drummer dies

Buddy Miles, the drummer in Jimi Hendrix’s group Band of Gypsys, has died aged 60.

The musician, who had congestive heart failure, passed away at his home in Austin, Texas, although an official cause of death is not known, reports BBC News.

Miles initially worked with the guitarist’s British-based band The Experience, playing on ’Electric Ladyland’, before he joined the trio and released a live album in 1970.

The drummer was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1948 and, after playing with his father’s jazz band aged 11, he went on to work with the likes of Wilson Pickett, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Barry White and David Bowie.

He also became well known in the US in the 1980s as the vocalist for the California Raisins commercials, leading him to record three albums as the singing fruit.