Eric Clapton
Clapton joined his first band at 17 and stayed with this band - the early British R&B outfit
The Roosters - from January through to August 1963. Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones and the Engineers, in September 1963.
The Yardbirds & John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
 |
An example of the famous "Clapton is God" graffiti craze |
Clapton joined
The Yardbirds, a
blues-influenced
rock and roll band in 1963 and stayed with them until March 1965. Synthesising influences from Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as
Buddy Guy,
Freddie King and
B.B. 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 covers of
Chess/
Checker/
Vee-Jay blues numbers and began to attract a large cult following when they took over the
Rolling Stones' residency at the
Crawdaddy Club in
Richmond. They toured England with American bluesman
Sonny Boy Williamson; a joint LP, recorded in December 1963, was issued belatedly under both their names in 1965. In March 1965, just as Clapton left the band, the Yardbirds had their first major hit, on which Clapton played guitar: "
For Your Love."
Still obstinately dedicated to blues music, Clapton took strong exception to the Yardbirds' new pop-oriented 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. Clapton recommended fellow guitarist
Jimmy Page as his replacement, but Page was at that time unwilling to relinquish his lucrative career as a freelance studio musician, so Page in turn recommended Clapton's successor,
Jeff Beck (although Page would also eventually join the band).
Having quit the Yardbirds in March, Clapton joined
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in April 1965. His passionate playing in nightclubs established Clapton's name worldwide as blues guitarist. With his 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar and Marshall amplifier, Clapton's playing by then had inspired a 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
Manfred Mann and the
Graham Bond Organisation) and
Ginger Baker (another member of the GBO). During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer and songwriter, as well as guitarist, though Bruce, one of rock's most powerful singers, took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material 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 their live shows, while their studio work was more sophisticated than 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 of the 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". Hendrix's early club performances were avidly attended by top UK stars including Clapton,
Pete Townshend,
The Rolling Stones and
The Beatles. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although Clapton continued to be recognized in music polls as the premier guitarist.
Cream's repertoire varied from
pop soul ("
I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("
Spoonful") and featured Clapton's searing 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, selling 15 million records and playing to standing-room only crowds throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one of the first bands to emphasize musical virtuosity, skill and flash. Their U.S. hit singles include "
Sunshine Of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "
White Room" (#6, 1968) and "
Crossroads" (#28, 1969) - a live cover version of
Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues".
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 short-lived. The legendary in-fighting 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 fallen deeply 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 that he even asked to join them, but was turned down.
The valedictory
Goodbye album featured live performances recorded live at The Forum, Los Angeles, October 19, 1968, and it was released shortly after Cream disbanded in 1968, and also featured the studio single "
Badge", co-written by Clapton and
George Harrison, whom he had met and become friends with after
the Beatles had shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the
London Palladium. (The chorus of
"Badge" served as the basis for Harrison's later Beatles composition, "
Here Comes the Sun", which Harrison reportedly composed in Clapton's back garden.) The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison also resulted in Clapton's playing on Harrison's "
While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles'
White Album - according to some, a tactic intended to make the other Beatles take Harrison's song more seriously, but whatever the truth, by all accounts the presence of an outsider, especially of Clapton's calibre, had the effect of bringing harmony to the irritable band (in January 1969, during the making of what would become the
Let It Be album, Harrison walked out after an argument and in his absence - fearing Harrison had gone for good and concerned that the album could not be completed -
John Lennon proposed that Harrison be replaced by Clapton.) In the same year of release as the
White Album, Harrison released his solo debut
Wonderwall Music which became the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar, who would go largely uncredited due to contractual restraints. The pair would often play live together as each other's guests, right up until Harrison's death in 2001 and the following
tribute concert in his name, for which Clapton was one of the main performers and organizers.
Since their 1968 breakup, Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 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 (the scene of their 1968 farewell shows) and 3 more at New York's Madison Square Garden that October. Recordings from the London shows were
released on CD and DVD in September 2005
Blind Faith & Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
A desultory spell in a second supergroup, the shortlived
Blind Faith (1969), which was composed of Cream drummer Baker,
Steve Winwood of
Traffic and
Ric Grech of
Family, resulted in one 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
Blind Faith (album) 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". The album's jacket image of a topless prepubescent girl was deemed controversial in the U.S. and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after only a year together, and while Winwood went on to a highly successful solo career, by now Clapton was tired of both the spotlight and the hype that had surrounded Cream and Blind Faith, and wanted to make music that more closely resembled that of
The Band.
Clapton decided to step into the background for a time, touring 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 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 cover "After Midnight".
Clapton's "between-bands" period from 1969 to 1970 also saw him appear on a large number of other artists' records, ranging from George Harrison's
All Things Must Pass (for contractual reasons, Clapton's contributions went uncredited for decades) to
The Plastic Ono Band's
Sometime in New York City and
Dr John's
Sun Moon and Herbs.
Derek and 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, derived from an announcer's mispronunciation of the group's provisional name - "Eric & The Dynamos" - at their first concert appearance.
Clapton's close friendship with
George Harrison had brought him into contact with Harrison's wife
Pattie Boyd-Harrison, with whom he fell deeply in love. When she turned him down, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, most notably the hit single "
Layla", inspired by the
Persian classical poet
Nizami Ganjavi's
"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 Boyd-Harrison.
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. The two parts of "Layla" were 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 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 retired 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, and 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.
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; he later commented that the album's initial poor reception had angered and disillusioned him, as he had (perhaps naively) expected it to be assessed on its merits rather than his involvement.
The shattered group undertook a US tour. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and 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 would be Clapton's main bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1979 due to alcohol and narcotics), the split between Clapton and Whitlock was apparently a bitter one, and it took until 2003 before they worked together again (Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the
Later with Jools Holland show, playing and singing "
Bell Bottom Blues", available on a "Later with Jools" DVD). 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 14 years to life imprisonment. Gordon was moved to a mental institution after several years, where he remains today.
Full Throttle Solo Career
Despite his success, Clapton's personal life was in a chaotic mess by late 1971. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense romantic longing for Pattie Boyd-Harrison, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England residence where he nursed his
heroin addiction, 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 August of 1971. In January of
1973,
The Who's
Pete Townshend organized a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre aptly titled the "
Rainbow Concert" to help Clapton kick his addiction. Clapton would return 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 deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes.
Now partnered with Boyd-Harrison (they would not actually marry until 1979) and free of heroin (although starting to drink heavily), 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). With this band Clapton recorded
461 Ocean Boulevard (
1974), an album with the emphasis on songs rather than musicianship; the 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. The band toured the world and subsequently released the
1975 live LP,
E.C. Was Here.
The
1975 album
There's One In Every Crowd continued the trend of
461. 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. (Clapton's own original cover artwork, a (self-)portrait of a miserable-looking character with a pint glass, was also replaced by a photograph of Clapton's dog Jeep, apparently with its muzzle on a coffin.)
Clapton 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; highlights of the era include
No Reason to Cry, whose collaborators included
Bob Dylan and
Robbie Robertson, and
Slowhand, which featured "
Wonderful Tonight", another song inspired by Pattie Boyd-Harrison, and a second J.J. Cale cover, "
Cocaine", which has since become a rock staple.
Controversy
In 1976, Clapton was the centre of controversy and accusations of
racism, when he spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in
Birmingham. He commented that England had
"...become overcrowded...that England sells itself as the "land of milk and honey" only to turn around and stick its invited immigrants into low paying labour jobs, living in substandard conditions..." Clapton also voiced his support of controversial political candidate
Enoch Powell, making references to
"a black colony." As a result, it would be a full decade before Clapton was welcome to play in Birmingham again. These comments (along with equally controversial remarks and actions by other artists, such as
David Bowie and
Siouxsie Sioux) led to the creation of the
Rock Against Racism movement in the UK.
Despite his controversial stance, Clapton has not made any notable effort to distance himself from the remarks and has denied there was any contradiction between his political views and his career based on an essentially black musical form. In a 1985 interview with
Q magazine he defended his position, saying it wasn't racist but instead borne of concern that
"...ghettoes would spring up all over England, which they have done." However, in a later interview, although not fully retracting the remarks, he attributed them to his inebriation at the time, a product of his much-publicised
alcoholism.
In the late 1980s Clapton added four black musicians to his band, bassist
Nathan East, keyboardist
Greg Phillinganes, drummer
Steve Ferrone and backing singer
Katie Kissoon. Whilst Clapton had previously played and recorded with many black musicians (including
Buddy Guy,
BB King and
Robert Cray), and had appeared alongside performers of varying ethnicities at collaborative events (such as
The Concert for Bangla Desh), this was the first time Clapton had been in a band in which the official members were not all Caucasian.Clapton has also dated
supermodel Naomi Campbell (who is of Afro-Jamaican heritage)
and has a home in
Antigua, which is populated almost exclusively by people of African descent.
Comeback
|
Eric Clapton's Antigua Residence, as seen from Shirley Heights |
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.
In 1984, he performed on
Pink Floyd member,
Roger Waters solo album,
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking and went on tour with Waters following the release of the album. Since then Waters and Clapton have had a close relationship, and in 2005 they performed together for the Tsunami Relief Fund and on May 20, 2006 performed with Waters at the Highclere Castle playing two set pieces of "
Wish You Were Here" and "
Comfortably Numb".
As Clapton came back from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two produced with
Phil Collins, 1985's
Behind the Sun, which produced the hits "Forever Man" and "She's Waiting", and 1986's
August.
August, a polished release suffused with Collins's trademark drum/horn sound, became Clapton's biggest seller in the UK to date and matched his highest chart position, number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's In The Way That You Use It", was also featured in the
Tom Cruise-
Paul Newman movie
The Color of Money The horn-peppered "Run" echoed Collins' "Sussudio" and rest of the producer's Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with
Tina Turner) and the bitter "Miss You" echoed Clapton at his angry best.
The period kicked off Clapton's extensive two-year period of touring with Collins and their
August collaborates, bassist Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. Despite his own earlier battles with the bottle, Clapton also remade "After Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the
Michelob beer brand produced by
Anheuser-Busch, which had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and
Steve Winwood.
Clapton won more plaudits and a
British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with
Michael Kamen on the score for the critically-acclaimed 1985
BBC television thriller serial
Edge of Darkness.
In
1989, Clapton's commercial and artistic resurgence finally came full circle with
Journeyman, which featured songs in a wide range of styles from blues to jazz, soul and pop and collaborators including George Harrison, Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, David Sanborn and
Robert Cray.
Tragedy again
In 1985 Clapton, while still married to Pattie Boyd-Harrison, had started a relationship with
Yvonne Khan Kelly; they had a daughter, Ruth, in the same year. Clapton did not publicly acknowledge his daughter's existence for several years (she eventually made a spoken-word appearance on his 1998 album
Pilgrim and in 2001 was pictured in the
Reptile album artwork). Clapton and Boyd-Harrison
divorced in 1989 following his affair with
Italian model Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to his son Conor in August 1986 (the month of his birth prompting the title of the album released that year).
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. Then, on
March 20 1991 at 11:00AM, Conor, who was four and a half, died when he fell from a 53rd-story window while jumping on his bed in his parents'
New York City apartment, landing 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.
Clapton's
MTV Unplugged album included a former member of the
Allman Brothers Band: keyboardist
Chuck Leavell.
Slowhand Re-Emerging
While
Unplugged featured Clapton playing
acoustic guitar, his
1994 album
From The Cradle contains new versions of old blues standards highlighted by fine guitar playing.
Clapton 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" (featured in the soundtrack of the movie
Phenomenon) won a
Grammy award for song of the year in 1997, the same year he recorded
Retail Therapy, an album of
electronic music with
Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF.
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 as of 2005 have three daughters, Julia Rose (2001), Ella May (2003), and Sophie (2005).
In November 2002 Clapton masterminded
The Concert for George, a tribute to George Harrison, who had died a year earlier of
cancer, at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring
Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr,
Jeff Lynne,
Tom Petty, and
Ravi Shankar, amongst others.
The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, to be written by
Christopher Simon Sykes and to be published in 2007, were reportedly sold at the 2005
Frankfurt Book Fair for
USD $4 million.
Clapton initiated the revival of
Cream, playing at London's Royal Albert Hall in May and New York's Madison Square Garden in October 2005.
In 2006 it was announced that
Derek Trucks and
Doyle Bramhall II would join Clapton's band for his 2006 and 2007 tour. Trucks is the third member of
the Allman Brothers Band to support Clapton.
On May 20th, 2006 he performed with a set band consisting of ex-Queen drummer Roger Taylor and ex- Pink Floyd frontman
Roger Waters, at the
Highclere Castle.
Although Clapton's grandparents had eventually told him the truth about his parentage â€" that he was the illegitimate son of a Canadian serviceman â€" the precise identity of his father remained a mystery for many years. Clapton knew that his father's name was Edward Fryer, but few other details were known. This was a source of disquiet and speculation for Clapton, as witnessed by his 1998 song
My father's eyes in which he writes ''"How did I get here? When will all my hopes arrive?...When I look in my father's eyes".
A
Toronto journalist called Michael Woloschuk set about solving the mystery. He researched Canadian Armed Forces service records and tracked-down members of Edward Fryer's family, finally piecing together the story that Clapton's father was Edward Walter Fryer, born
21 March 1920, in
Montreal and died
15 May 1985 in
North York, Ontario. Fryer was a musician (piano and saxophone) and a lifelong drifter, who was married several times, had several children and apparently never knew that he was the father of Eric Clapton.
[Daily Telegraph, 27 March 1998]Clapton's choice 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 and widespread influence in popularising particular models of the
electric guitar.
Early on in his career, Clapton used both Gibson and Fender guitars, but became exclusively a Gibson player in mid-1965, when he purchased a used 1960
Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, and was largely responsible for Gibson's reintroduction of the original Les Paul body style after it was replaced by the
Gibson SG.
During his stint in Cream, Clapton continued to play Gibson guitars, including Les Paul models, a
Gibson Firebird and a
Gibson ES-335, but his most famous guitar in this period was a 1964
Gibson SG. The guitar was noted for its remarkable, psychedelic 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 played a Les Paul on the Beatles' studio recording of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." He later lent his SG to singer
Jackie Lomax, who subsequently sold it to musician
Todd Rundgren for US$500 in 1972. Rundgren restored the guitar and nicknamed it "Sunny," after "Sunshine Of Your Love." Rundgren 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.
During Clapton's heroin addiction from 1969 to 1974, he began to sell off his collection of guitars to pay for his drug habit. Seeing Clapton selling his most treasured possessions was one of the reasons
Pete Townshend was prompted to assist him get over his addiction.
Another moment involving Clapton's guitars and Pete Townshend resulted in
Hard Rock Cafe's unique and gigantic collection of memorabilia. In 1971, Clapton, a regular at the original Hard Rock Cafe in
Hyde Park,
London, gave a signed guitar to the cafe to designate his favorite bar stool. Pete Townshend, in turn, donated one of his own guitars, with a note attached: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete." From there, the collection of memorabilia grew, resulting in Hard Rock Cafe's atmosphere.
Later (due to fellow Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood's influence), Clapton began using
Fender Stratocasters. First was "
Brownie" used during the recording of
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs which in 1971 became the backup the most famous of all Clapton's guitars was "
Blackie" (a concoction of Clapton's favorite parts from several other Strats) which he used until the late 1980s when it wore out.
In 1988 Clapton, along with fellow Strat player
Yngwie Malmsteen, was honored by Fender with the introduction of his signature
Eric Clapton Stratocaster. These were the first two artist models in the Stratocaster range and since then the artist series has grown to include models inspired by both Clapton's contemporaries such as
Jeff Beck and those who have influenced him such as
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.
*
Album Discography*
Singles Discography2006 tour band
*
Eric Clapton -
guitar,
vocals*
Doyle Bramhall II - guitar,
backing vocals*
Derek Trucks - guitar
*
Chris Stainton -
keyboards*
Tim Carmon - keyboards
*
Willie Weeks -
bass*
Steve Jordan -
drums*
The Kick Horns (
Simon Clarke,
Roddy Lorimer, and
Tim Sanders) -
brass*
Michelle John - backing vocals
*
Sharon White - backing vocals
Previous band members
*
Albert Lee - guitar
*
Jack Johnson - guitar
*
Mark Knopfler - guitar
*
Andy Fairweather Low - guitar, backing vocals
*
Phil Palmer - guitar
*
George Terry - guitar, backing vocals
*
Chuck Leavell - keyboards
*
Greg Phillinganes - keyboards, Hammond organ, backing vocals
*
Billy Preston -
Hammond B3 Organ*
David Sancious - keyboards, guitar,
harmonica, backing vocals
*
Chris Stainton -
piano, keyboards
*
Nathan East - bass guitar
*
Pino Palladino - bass guitar
*
Carl Radle - bass guitar
*
Paulinho Da Costa -
percussion*
Phil Collins - drums, vocals
*
Ray Cooper - percussion
*
Steve Ferrone - drums
*
Steve Gadd - drums
*
Ricky Lawson - drums
*
Andy Newmark - drums
*
Jamie Oldaker - drums
*
Jim Price - trumpet, trombone, keyboards
*
Bobby Keys - sax
*
Yvonne Elliman - backing vocals
*
Katie Kissoon - backing vocals
*
Marcy Levy - backing vocals
*
Tessa Niles - backing vocals
* Clapton employs a man to take care of his guitars. They are kept in a controlled environment and at the moment he has about 750 guitars. Back when he was at his prime he had some 2,000 guitars.
* Clapton was ranked 4th in
Rolling Stone's controversial list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
* According to the aforementioned list, Clapton is the second greatest living guitarist (behind
B.B. King).
* Early in his career, Clapton used a 1960 model
Gibson Les Paul, and was partially responsible for Gibson's reintroduction of the original Les Paul body style after it was replaced by the
Gibson SG.
* Although many sources give his surname at birth as Clapp, this is incorrect. Though his grandmother's second husband's name was Clapp, his mother's name was Clapton; his grandparents never legally adopted him.
* Eric Clapton is credited on
Dire Straits'
Brothers in Arms album, as he loaned
Mark Knopfler one of his guitars for the album.
* Clapton played lead guitar on
The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking,
Roger Waters' debut solo album after leaving
Pink Floyd.
* Clapton was banned from driving in
France and had his British
driving license confiscated after being clocked driving at 216
km/h (134mph) in a
Porsche 911 Turbo on a French
motorway in October 2004.
* Clapton claims to have slept with over 1,000 women. He supposedly once ordered a fellow musician to let him sleep with his girlfriend.
* Minor Planet 4305 is named
4305 Clapton to honor him. It is an
asteroid between
Mars and
Jupiter.
* The soundtrack of
Goodfellas contains two of his songs: "
Layla" (by
Derek and the Dominos) and "
Sunshine of Your Love" (by
Cream). Both of these songs have immediately recognizable guitar
riffs (even to those who have never heard the songs in their entirety), although the portion of "Layla" used is the piano coda, and not the
riff for which the song is best known
.
* Clapton performed at
The Band's farewell show, which is chronicled in
The Last Waltz, a film by
Martin Scorsese. While performing the beginning of "Further On Up the Road," his guitar strap came undone. To cover for him while he fixed it,
Robbie Robertson improvised a guitar solo.
* Clapton played two farewell concerts on
November 26:
Cream in 1968, and
The Last Waltz in 1976.
Ironically,
The Band's music is partly what inspired him to leave Cream in the first place.
* Clapton and
Cream bandmates
Ginger Baker and
Jack Bruce have all played with each other in other groups. Clapton and
Baker played together in the short-lived
supergroup Blind Faith,
Baker and
Bruce played together with the
Graham Bond Organisation and
Blues Incorporated, and
Bruce and Clapton played together near the end of Clapton's tenure with
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
* Prior to the
Cream reunion at the
Royal Albert Hall, the band had never played "
Badge" live, since the song was included on
Goodbye, the band's last original album before their break-up. However, Clapton, as a solo artist, has played the song live, as indicated on
The Cream of Eric Clapton.
* Before the formation of
Cream in 1966, Clapton was all but unknown in the
United States. He left
The Yardbirds before "For Your Love" hit the
American Top 10.
* Once while playing a
Cream concert, he and
Ginger Baker suddenly stopped playing;
Jack Bruce, apparently due to the volume of his amplification, did not notice.
[Those Were the Days liner notes, page 28.]* Even though all three were band members of
The Yardbirds, Clapton,
Jimmy Page, and
Jeff Beck never played in the band all at the same time. The three guitarists did however all play on stage at the same time at the ARMS charity concerts in 1983 in honour of
Ronnie Lane. Clapton and Page had previously played together with
The Immediate All-Stars in 1965.
* According to an interview with
Ginger Baker on the
Cream reunion
DVD, the reunion was Clapton's idea.
* When "Layla" from
Unplugged hit #12 on the U.S. charts, Clapton became one of only two artists (the other being
Neil Sedaka) to have made the Billboard Hot 100 with two versions of the same song.
* Upon his return to
England after recording
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, he was supporting a £1,000-per-week
heroin addiction.
* Clapton holds the #10 ranked guitar solo for the song "Crossroads" in
Guitar World magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. While this is his highest ranked solo, he also boasts four others.
* Clapton is the only person inducted into The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
Cleveland, Ohio three times (
The Yardbirds,
Cream, and solo).
*Clapton wrote the score to the film
Rush. That film featured
Gregg Allman, whose brother,
Duane, was a guest musician who helped Clapton record
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
* His name has appeared on some albums distributed in Japan as
Eric Crapton,
, though this is most likely a case of bad
Engrish rather than sabotage.
*Clapton was good friends with fellow 1960's guitarist
Jimi Hendrix. Both musicians went to the same concert the night Hendrix died; Clapton had bought a left-handed
Stratocaster to give to his friend after the performance, but he never got the chance.
* Ray Coleman,
Clapton! The Authorised Biography (Warner Books, 1985; originally published as "Survivor")
* D. Widgery,
Beating Time (Chatto & Windus, 1986)
* Fred Weiler,
Eric Clapton (Smithmark, 1992)
*
Eric Clapton: Crossroads liner notes
* Marc Roberty,
Eric Clapton - The Complete Recording Sessions 1963-1992* Marc Roberty,
Eric Clapton: The New Visual Documentary (Omnibus Press, 1994)
* Marc Roberty,
Clapton - The Complete Chronicle (Mitchell Beazley, 1993)
* Michael Schumacher,
Crossroads - The Life and Music of Eric Clapton (Warner Books, 1998)
* Robin Bextor,
Eric Clapton - Now & Then (Carlton Books, 2006)
*
The Yardbirds*
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers*
Cream*
Blind Faith*
Delaney & Bonnie and Friends*
The Plastic Ono Band*
Derek and the Dominos*
Eric Clapton's official site*
Official site of Clapton's "Crossroads" Rehab centre, Antigua*
Eric Clapton FAQ*
Eric Clapton Portal by Where's Eric! - The Eric Clapton Fan Club magazine*
ClaptonWeb.com - The french Portal*
Clapton marries in secret, BBC, 3 January, 2002*
*
VIDEO: "I DON'T KNOW WHY", Delaney and Bonnie and Friends with Eric Clapton on lead vocals & George Harrison on rhythm guitar
