Eric Clapton

Members: Eric Clapton, Doyle Bramhall, Andy Fairweather Low, Paulinho Da Costa, Nathan East, Steve Gadd, Dave Sancious, Chris Stainton, Billy Preston

Active: 1972-1980; 1994-present

Eric Patrick Clapton CBE (born March 30, 1945) is a Grammy winning British guitarist and composer. Nicknamed Slowhand, Clapton became one of the most respected and influential artists of the rock era, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Clapton's musical style has undergone multiple changes during his career, but has always remained rooted in the blues. Clapton is credited as an innovator in several phases of his career, which have included blues-rock (with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds), hard rock (with Cream), and work as a sideman and as a solo artist.

BEGINNINGS

Clapton was born in The Green, Ripley, Surrey, England, UK, as an illegitimate son of the 16 year old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 24 year old Canadian pilot. Clapton's father returned to his wife in Canada before he was born. Young Clapton grew up with his grandparents, believing they were his parents, and that his mother was his older sister. Years later his mother married another Canadian soldier, moved to Canada and left Eric with his grandparents. When Clapton was 9 years old he discovered this family secret, and the experience became a defining moment in his life.

Clapton grew up a self-confessed "nasty kid." He studied stained-glass design at Kingston Art School, started teaching himself to play guitar at 15, and joined his first band at age 17. He stayed with his first band, the early British R&B outfit The Roosters from January to August 1963 and frequently jammed in London clubs with future members of the Rolling Stones. Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones and the Engineers, a Top Forty band, in September 1963.

Clapton was influenced by the blues from an early age, growing up listening to blues recordings by the likes of Robert Johnson.

THE YARDBIRDS AND JOHN MAYALL AND THE BLUESBREAKERS

Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll band in 1963 and stayed with them until 1965. Synthesising influences from Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as B.B. King and Freddie King, Clapton forged a distinctive style and rapidly became one of the most talked-about guitarists in the British music scene. The band initially played all strict blues covers of Chess/Checker/Vee-Jay material and began to attract a large cult following when they took over the Rolling Stones' residency at the Crawdaddy club in Richmond. They soon toured Europe with American bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson; a joint LP under both their names was issued in 1966. In August 1965, the band's first solo album For Your Love yielded the pop eponymous hit "For Your Love."

Still obstinately dedicated to his blues roots, Clapton took strong exception to the Yardbirds' new 'pop' direction, partly because "For Your Love" had been written by pop songwriter-for-hire Graham Gouldman, who had also written hits for teen pop outfit Herman's Hermits and harmony pop band The Hollies. He reportedly refused to play on the single and quit the band as soon as it had been recorded in 1965. He recommended his friend Jimmy Page as his replacement, but Page was at that time unwilling to relinquish his lucrative career as a freelance studio musician, and Page in turn recommended Clapton's successor, Jeff Beck, although Page would eventually get the position.

After a spell working in a laboring job and months of intensive practice, Clapton joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. His emotional playing on their hugely influential first album (which features Clapton reading a copy of the Beano on the cover) established his name as a blues player par excellence, and it inspired a short-lived craze of graffiti that deified him with the famous slogan "Clapton is God".

CREAM

Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in mid-1966 (to be replaced by Peter Green ) and then formed Cream, one of the earliest examples of a supergroup. Cream was also one of the earliest "power trios", with Jack Bruce (also of Bluesbreakers and Manfred Mann) and Ginger Baker (of the Graham Bond Organisation). During his time with Cream he began to develop as a singer as well as guitarist, though Bruce, one of rock's most powerful singers, took most of the lead vocals and wrote most of their songs along with lyricist Pete Brown. Debuting at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival, Cream established an enduring legend on the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of its live shows but its studio work was more sophisticated original rock.

In early 1967, Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was shaken by the arrival of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix attended a performance by Clapton's newly formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on October 1, 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a shattering double-timed version of Killing Floor. Clapton immediately realized that he had a new and almost unbeatable competitor, whose dazzling showmanship was matched by his staggering ability as a guitarist. Hendrix's early club performances were avidly attended by top UK stars including Clapton, Pete Townshend and The Beatles. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career.

Cream's repertoire varied from pop soul ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful") and featured Clapton's searing psychedelic guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming.

In a mere three years Cream had immense commercial success and sold 15 million records and played to SRO crowds throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one the first bands to emphasize virtuosity, skill and flash. Their U.S. hit singles include "Sunshine Of Your Love" (#5, 1968) from the Disraeli Gears album, "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28,1969) which was a live version cover of Robert Johnson's country blues "Crossroads", both those songs from Wheels of Fire album. The lurid psychedelic covers of both these albums were created by Australian artist Martin Sharp, who lived in the same building as Clapton at the time of the Chelsea artists colony The Pheasantry. At their first meeting in a London club, Clapton mentioned that he had some music that needed lyrics, so Sharp wrote out a poem he had composed on a napkin and gave it to Clapton, who recorded it as Tales Of Brave Ulysses.

Although Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as guitar hero reached new heights, the band was destined to be shortlived. The legendary in-fighting; especially between Bruce and Baker; and growing tensions between all three members eventually led to Cream's demise. Another significant factor was a strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining U.S. tour, which affected Clapton profoundly. By this time he had also deeply fallen under the spell of the music of The Band after they had released the album Music From Big Pink and began to believe that rock music was heading in a new direction. He was so infatuated with them to even so much as to ask to join them but Clapton was turned down.

The valedictory Goodbye album featured live performances from Cream's farewell performance at the Royal Albert Hall; it was released shortly after Cream disbanded in 1968, and also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and his friend, Beatle George Harrison. "Badge" served as the basis for Harrison's later Beatles composition, "Here Comes the Sun", which Harrison reportedly composed in Clapton's back garden.

Since their 1968 breakup, Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Clapton is a three-time inductee, for his work with Cream, the Yardbirds and for his solo career). A full-scale reunion of the legendary trio took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce and Baker playing 4 sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall, scene of their 1968 farewell shows, and 3 more at New York's Madison Square Garden that October. The London shows were released on DVD in September 2005.

The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in Clapton playing on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album; a tactic by Harrison to make the other band members take his song seriously during a particularly difficult period in the group's career. But the Clapton-Harrison friendship was later sorely tested when Clapton fell in love with Harrison's wife, model Pattie Boyd-Harrison, and she eventually left him for Clapton. Clapton's love for Pattie, who had turned him down at first, was his inspiration for the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs and most notably the hit single "Layla". He got the concept from the Persian classical poet Nizami Ganjavi's masterpiece "The Story of Layla and Majnun," a copy of which a friend had given him; Clapton found a strong similarity between the situation of Layla and Majnun and the one between him and Pattie. After Clapton got married to Pattie in 1979 (she divorced Harrison in 1977), he wrote another famous song, "Wonderful Tonight." (Clapton and Pattie eventually divorced in 1988.

BLIND FAITH, AND DELANEY AND BONNIE AND FRIENDS

A desultory spell in a second supergroup, the overhyped and shortlived Blind Faith (1969), which was composed of Baker (with whom Clapton had been with during his tenure in Cream), Steve Winwood of Traffic and Rick Grech of Family, resulted in one patchy LP and one arena-circuit tour. The supergroup debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on June 7, 1969, and began a sold-out American tour in July before its one and only album had been released. The LP was recorded in such haste that side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15 minute jam entitled "Do What You Like." Nevertheless, Blind Faith did include two classics: Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's "Presence of the Lord." Its jacket featured a prepubescent nude girl and was deemed controversial in the U.S. and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Winwood went on to a highly successful solo career but by now Clapton was tired of the spotlight, and the hype that had surrounded Cream and Blind Faith, and wanted to make music that more closely resembles that of The Band whom he had become infatuated with.

Clapton decided to step into the background for a time, and he toured as a sideman with the American group Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. He moved to New York in late 1969 and worked with the band through early 1970. He became close friends with Delaney Bramlett, who encouraged him in his singing and writing which would show determined growth in his next effort.

Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills whose solo albums Clapton played on, he then released his first solo album in 1970 fittingly named Eric Clapton, which included the Bramlett composition "Bottle Of Red Wine," and one of Clapton's best songs from this period, "Let It Rain". It also yielded an unexpected U.S. #18 hit, the J.J. Cale song "After Midnight."

DEREK & THE DOMINOS

Taking over Delaney & Bonnie's rhythm section ? Bobby Whitlock (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums) ? Clapton formed a new band which was similarly intended to counteract the 'star' cult that had grown up around him and show Clapton as an equal member of a fully-fledged group. This was made evident in the choice of name Derek and the Dominos; which derived from an announcer's mispronunciation of the group's provisional name -- Eric & The Dynamos -- at their first concert appearance.

Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with legendary Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, the band recorded a brilliant double-album which is now widely regarded as Clapton's masterpiece ? Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Most of the material, including the title track (which soon became an FM radio staple) was inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Patti Harrison. The two-part "Layla" was recorded in separate sessions; the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon composed and played the elegiac piano part.

The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd -- who was also producing the Allmans -- invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami . The two guitarists ? who previously knew each other only by reputation ? met backstage after the show, and then both bands repaired to the studio to jam (an impromptu session which, happily, was captured on tape). Clapton and Allman 'fell in love' with each other's playing and became instant friends, so Allman was immediately invited to become the fifth member of The Dominos. (These studio jams were eventually released as part of the 3-CD 20th-anniversary edition of the Layla album.)

When Allman and Clapton met, The Dominos had already recorded three tracks ("I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues" and "Keep On Growing"); Allman debuted on the fourth cut, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out", and contributed some of his most sublime slide-guitar playing to the remainder of the LP. The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a winning combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. It showcased some of Clapton's strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing, with Whitlock also contributing several superb numbers, and his powerful, soul-influenced voice.

But tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a blistering version of Little Wing as a tribute to him which was added to the album. One year later, on the eve of the group's first American tour, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews on release.

The shattered group undertook a US tour. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs including alcohol, it resulted in the surprisingly strong live double album In Concert. But Derek and the Dominos disintegrated messily in London just as they commenced recording for their second LP. Although Radle worked with Clapton for several more years, the split between Clapton and Whitlock was apparently a bitter one, and they never worked together again. Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic ? some years later, during a psychotic episode, he murdered his mother with a hammer and was confined to a mental institution, where he remains today.

FULL THROTTLE SOLO CAREER

Despite his success, Clapton's personal life was in a mess by 1972. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense romantic longing for Pattie Boyd-Harrison, he withdrew from recording and touring and became addicted to heroin, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh (where he passed out on stage,was revived, and continued the show). In 1973 (see 1973 in music), the "Rainbow Concert" was organized by The Who's Pete Townshend to help Clapton kick the drug.

Clapton returned the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight To The Blind") is notable for the fact that he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots ? the result of him unthinkingly shaving off his beard between takes!

Relatively clean again, Clapton put together a strong new touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (later better known as Marcella Detroit of 1980s pop duo Shakespear's Sister). They toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, 'E.C. Was Here.

Clapton released 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with the emphasis on songs rather than musicianship. His cover-version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was a major hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. He also championed the work of singer-songwriter-guitarist J.J.Cale.

The 1975 album There's One In Every Crowd continued this trend. Its original intended title The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One In Every Crowd) was altered, as it was felt the ironic intention would be missed. He continued to release albums sporadically and toured regularly, but much of his output from this period was deliberately low-key and failed to find the wide acceptance of his earlier work.

BAD LUCK

In 1976, Clapton was the centre of controversy, and accusations of racism, when he spoke out against increasing immigration, during a concert in Birmingham. Clapton said that England had "become overcrowded", and implored the crowd to vote for Enoch Powell to stop Britain becoming "a black colony". These comments (along with equally ill-advised comments by David Bowie) led to the creation of the Rock Against Racism movement in the UK.

Despite the damage to his career and reputation the remarks caused, Clapton has always steadfastly refused to distance himself from the remarks and denied there was any contradiction between his political views and his career based on an essentially black musical form. At about this time, his name appeared on albums distributed in Japan as Eric Crapton, though this is probably a case of Engrish rather than innuendo.

The late 1970s saw Clapton struggle to come to terms with the changes in popular music, and a relapse into alcoholism that eventually saw him hospitalised and then spending a period of convalescence in Antigua, where he would later support the creation of a drugs and alcohol rehabilitation centre, The Crossroads Centre.

His albums continued in the 1980s, with only 1989's Journeyman achieving much critical acclaim, featuring a strong return to his blues roots. Clapton did, however, win much acclaim and a BAFTA Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the score for the critically-acclaimed 1985 BBC television sci-fi drama serial Edge of Darkness.

In 1985 Clapton met Yvonne Khan Kelly, with whom he started a relationship. They had a daughter, Ruth, in the same year. Clapton divorced Pattie Boyd in 1988.

The early 1990s saw tragedy enter Clapton's life again on two occasions. On August 27, 1990 guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and two members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Clapton was originally supposed to be a passenger on the helicopter but gave his seat to Vaughan. Then, on March 20, 1991, at 11 a.m., Clapton's four-and-a-half-year-old son Conor (whose mother was Italian model Lori Del Santo) died when he fell from a 53rd-story window in a New York City apartment. He landed on the roof of an adjacent four-story building. A fraction of Clapton's grief was heard on the song "Tears in Heaven" (on the soundtrack to the 1991 movie Rush), co-written with Will Jennings, which, like the MTV Unplugged album that followed it, won a Grammy award.

SLOWHAND RE-EMERGING

Like Unplugged, his 1994 album From The Cradle, featured a number of versions of old blues standards, and highlighted his economical acoustic guitar style. In 1997 he recorded Retail Therapy, an album of electronic music under the pseudonym TDF, and he finished the twentieth century with critically-acclaimed collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. B. King. Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne Kirkpatrick/ Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" won a Grammy award for song of the year in 1997.

In 1999 Clapton, then 54, met 25 year old graphic artist Melia McEnery in Los Angeles while working on an album with B.B. King. They married in 2002 at St Mary Magdalen church in Clapton's birthplace, Ripley, and they have three daughters, Julia Rose (2001), Ella May (2003), and Sophie (2005).

ERIC'S AXES

Clapton's choices of electric guitars have been as notable as the man himself, and alongside Hank Marvin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Clapton has exerted a crucial influence in popularising particular models of electric guitar.

Early in his career, he used a late 1950s Gibson Les Paul, and he was partially responsible for Gibson's reintroduction of the original Les Paul body style.

During his stint in Cream, Clapton continued to use Gibson guitars, including the Les Paul (which was later stolen) and a Gibson ES-335 but his most famous guitar in this period was a 1961 Gibson SG. The guitar was noted both for its distinctive singing tone -- which Clapton once described as the "woman tone" -- and for its remarkable appearance. In early 1967, just before their first US promotional tour, Clapton's SG, Bruce's Fender VI and Baker's drum head were repainted in eye-popping psychedelic designs created by the visual art collective known as "The Fool".

Clapton either played the SG or a Les Paul on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (Guitar World magazine, March 1999, page 117 says it was a Les Paul, as do most other references.) He later loaned the SG to singer Jackie Lomax, who subsequently sold it to musician Todd Rundgren for US$500 in 1972. Rundgren restored the guitar and nicknamed "Sunny", after "Sunshine Of Your Love", on which it featured. He played the guitar extensively on record and in concert in the mid-1970s, eventually retiring it in 1977. He retained it until 2000, when he sold it at an auction for US$150,000.

After the dissolution of Derek and the Dominos, during Clapton's heroin addiction nursing from 1971 to 1973, Clapton began to sell his collection of guitars to pay for his heroin. After seeing Clapton selling his most treasured possessions, Pete Townshend assisted him until 1974, when he finally quit the habit.

Later, (and probably due to Hendrix's influence) Clapton began using Fender Stratocasters. Most famous of all Clapton's guitars was "Blackie", a concoction of favorite parts from several other 'Strats' and which he used until the late 1980s when it literally wore out.

During 1988 Clapton was honored by guitar manufacturer Fender by the introduction of his signature Eric Clapton Stratocaster along with fellow Strat player Yngwie J. Malmsteen's signature series. These were the first two artist models in the famous Stratocaster range and since then the artist series range has grown including models from some of Clapton's contemporaries like Jeff Beck and some of his influences, Buddy Guy. The late Stevie Ray Vaughan also has an artist series model. Clapton has also been honoured with a signature-model acoustic guitar made by the famous American firm of C.F. Martin & Co..

In 1999 Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise money for his Crossroads Centre he founded in Antigua in 1997. The Crossroads Centre is a treatment base for addictive disorders like drugs and alcohol. The total revenue raised by the auction at Christie's was US$7,438,624.

1970 Eric Clapton

1970 Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (as Derek and the Dominoes)

1972 The History of Eric Clapton (compilation)

1972 Eric Clapton at His Best (compilation)

1973 Clapton (compilation)

1973 Live at the Fillmore (as Derek and the Dominoes) (Live 1970)

1973 Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert (Live 1972)

1974 461 Ocean Boulevard

1975 There's One in Every Crowd

1975 E.C. Was Here (Live 1975)

1976 No Reason to Cry

1977 Slowhand

1978 Backless

1980 Just One Night (Live 1979, Double Disc Set)

1981 Another Ticket

1982 Time Pieces: Best Of Eric Clapton (1970-1978)

1983 Money and Cigarettes

1984 Too Much Monkey Business

1984 Backtrackin'

1985 Behind the Sun

1986 August

1987 The Cream of Eric Clapton

1988 Crossroads (Box Set)

1989 Homeboy

1989 Journeyman

1990 The Layla Sessions (as Derek and the Dominoes)

1991 24 Nights (Live 1990)

1992 Rush

1992 Unplugged (Live 1992)

1994 From the Cradle

1995 The Cream of Clapton

1996 Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies

1998 Pilgrim

1999 The Blues (Double Disc Set)

1999 Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton

2000 Riding With the King (with B.B. King)

2001 Reptile

2002 One More Car, One More Rider (Live 2001)

2004 Me and Mr. Johnson (an album of Robert Johnson covers)

2004 Sessions for Robert J. (official CD/DVD of tour auditions)

2005 Back Home