Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in his grandparent's house in Surrey, England. Young Ricky (that's what his grandparent's called him) was a quiet and polite child, an above average student with an aptitude for art.
As an adolescent, Clapton glimpsed the future when he tuned in to a Jerry Lee Lewis appearance on British television. Lewis's explosive performance, coupled with young Eric's emerging love of the blues and American R&B, was powerful enough to ignite a desire to learn to play guitar. He commenced studies at the Kingston College of Art, but his intended career path in stained-glass design ended permanently when the blues-obsessed Clapton was expelled at seventeen for playing guitar in class. In time, Clapton joined a number of British blues bands, including the Roosters and Casey Jones, and eventually rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds, whose lineup would eventually include all three British guitar heroes of the sixties: Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. The group became a sensation for their blues-tinged rock, as did the budding guitar virtuoso Clapton, who earned the nickname "Slowhand" because his forceful string-bending often resulted in broken guitar strings, which he would replace onstage while the crowd engaged in a slow hand-clapping.
Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in his grandparent's house in Surrey, England. Young Ricky (that's what his grandparent's called him) was a quiet and polite child, an above average student with an aptitude for art.
As an adolescent, Clapton glimpsed the future when he tuned in to a Jerry Lee Lewis appearance on British television. Lewis's explosive performance, coupled with young Eric's emerging love of the blues and American R&B, was powerful enough to ignite a desire to learn to play guitar. He commenced studies at the Kingston College of Art, but his intended career path in stained-glass design ended permanently when the blues-obsessed Clapton was expelled at seventeen for playing guitar in class. In time, Clapton joined a number of British blues bands, including the Roosters and Casey Jones, and eventually rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds, whose lineup would eventually include all three British guitar heroes of the sixties: Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. The group became a sensation for their blues-tinged rock, as did the budding guitar virtuoso Clapton, who earned the nickname "Slowhand" because his forceful string-bending often resulted in broken guitar strings, which he would replace onstage while the crowd engaged in a slow hand-clapping.
Despite the popularity of the band's first two albums, Five Live Yardbirds and For Your Love, Clapton left in 1965, because he felt the band was veering away from its bluesy bent in favor of a more commercially viable pop focus.
Clapton kept busy for a time as an occasional guest player with Delaney & Bonnie, the husband-and-wife team that had been Blind Faith's opening act during their tour. A disappointing live album from that collaboration was released in 1970, as was Clapton's self-titled solo debut.
Clapton withdrew from the spotlight in the early seventies, wallowing in his addiction and then struggling to conquer it. Following the advice of the Who's Pete Townsend, he underwent a controversial but effective electro-acupuncture treatment and was fully rehabilitated. He rebounded creatively with a role in the film version of Townsend's rock opera, Tommy, and with a string of albums, including the reggae-influenced 461 Ocean Boulevard, which yielded a chart-topping single cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Some critics and fans were disappointed by Clapton's post-rehab efforts, feeling that he had abandoned his former guitar-heavy approach in favor of a more laid-back and vocal-conscious one.
Just One Night, Clapton's galvanizing 1980 live album, reminded devotees just exactly who their guitar hero was, but unfortunately, this period marked Clapton's critical slide into a serious drinking problem that eventually hospitalized him for a time in 1981.
In late 1990, the fates delivered Clapton a terrible blow when guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton road crew members Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne--all close friends of Clapton's--were killed in a helicopter crash. A few months later, he was dealt another cruel blow when Conor, his son by Italian model Lori Del Santo, fell forty-nine stories from Del Santo's Manhattan high-rise apartment to his death. Clapton channeled his shattering grief into writing the heart-wrenching 1992 Grammy-winning tribute to his son, "Tears in Heaven." (Clapton received a total of six Grammys that year for the single and for the album Unplugged.)
In 1994, he began once again to play traditional blues; the album, From the Cradle, marked a return to raw blues standards, and it hit with critics and fans. The fifty-one-year-old Clapton shows no signs of slowing down: in February of 1997 he picked up Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for "Change the World," from the soundtrack of the John Travolta movie Phenomenon.
Already a double inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream, a third nod as a solo artist is an inevitable honor for the legendary guitarist. The only triple inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of both The Yardbirds and Cream and as a solo artist), Eric Clapton continues to astonish and delight a vast spectrum of music lovers. It’s a legacy that continues with the release of Reptile, the latest journey in the lifelong musical odyssey of an authentic musical genius.