San Francisco - Drummer Mitch Mitchell, who with Jimi Hendrix founded the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the 1960s, has died at the age of 61.

The last surviving member of the trio was found dead Wednesday in a hotel room in Portland in the north-western US state of Oregon, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

He died of natural causes, the local medical examiner said.

A week earlier, he had performed as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour, a tribute to Hendrix, in Seattle and Portland, where the West Coast leg of the tour ended.

The English-born Mitchell began playing with Hendrix in London in the mid-1960s. They formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966 with bassist Noel Redding and the next year issued their debut album, Are You Experienced?

The group had such hits as Foxy Lady, Purple Haze and All Along the Watchtower, performing until Hendrix's death in 1970.

Redding died in 2003.

Mitchell performed with other musical greats, including John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. (dpa)