High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Thomas Richard "Tommy" Bolin (August 1, 1951, Sioux City, Iowa - December 4, 1976) was an American-born guitarist who played with Zephyr (from 1969 to 1971), The James Gang (from 1973 through 1974), and Deep Purple (from 1975 to 1976), in addition to doing solo work. He was found dead on December 4, 1976, at the age of 25, from a heroin overdose in Miami, Florida (the day after opening a show for Jeff Beck).