eric_clapton : Eric Clapton Biography

It was extraordinarily difficult for an unmarried 16-year-old to raise a child on her own in the mid-1940s. Pat's parents, Rose and Jack Clapp, stepped in as surrogate parents and raised Eric as their own. Thus, he grew up believing his mother was his sister. His grandparents never legally adopted him, but remained his legal guardians until 1963. Eric’s last name comes from Rose's first husband and Pat's father, Reginald Cecil Clapton (d. 1933).

Eric’s mother, Pat, eventually married and moved to Canada and Germany as her husband, Frank McDonald, continued his military career. They had two girls and a boy. Eric’s half-brother, Brian, was killed in a road accident in 1974 at the age of 26. His half-sisters are Cheryl (b. May 1953) and Heather (b. September 1958).

Eric was raised in a musical household. His grandmother played piano and his uncle both enjoyed listening to the sounds of the big bands. Pat later told Eric’s official biographer, Ray Coleman, that his father was a gifted musician, playing piano in several dance bands in the Surrey area.

Quiet and polite, he was characterized as an above-average student with an aptitude for art. But, from his earliest years in school, he realized something was not quite right when he wrote his name as "Eric Clapton" and his parents' names as "Mr. and Mrs. Clapp". At the age of nine, he learned the truth about his parentage when Pat returned to England with his six-year-old half brother for a visit. This singular event affected him deeply. He became moody and distant and stopped applying himself at school. Emotionally scarred by this event, Eric failed the all-important 11 Plus Exams. He was sent to St. Bede's Secondary Modern School and two years later, entered the art branch of Holyfield Road School.

Typical of his introspective nature, Eric looked beneath the surface and explored the roots of rock in American Blues. The blues also meshed perfectly with his self-perception as an outsider and of being "different" from other people. Sometime in 1962, he asked for his grandparents' help in purchasing a £100 electric double cutaway Kay (a Gibson ES-335 clone) after hearing the electric blues of Freddie King, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and others.

In early 1963, Eric joined his first band, The Roosters. Following the band's demise, he spent one month in the pop-oriented Casey Jones and The Engineers. Before turning to music as a full-time career, he supported himself as a laborer at building sites, working alongside his grandfather, a master bricklayer and plasterer.

In October 1963, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith recruited him to become a member of The Yardbirds because Clapton was the most talked about guitar player on the R&B pub circuit. During his 18-month tenure with The Yardbirds, he earned his nickname “Slowhand” and recorded his first albums: Five Live Yardbirds and Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds. The band also recorded the single, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl". But, Eric had not abandoned his serious research into the American Blues. When The Yardbirds began moving towards a more commercial sound with "For Your Love", he quit. His path in music , and can we live without music? was the blues.

In April 1965, John Mayall invited Eric to join his band, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. With this group, Clapton established his reputation as a guitarist and earned his second nickname: “God”. It came from an admirer’s graffiti on the wall of London’s Islington Tube Station that boldly proclaimed “Clapton is God.” Eric’s time with the band was turbulent and he left for a while to tour Greece with friends. Upon his return from Greece, Eric rejoined the Bluesbreakers. It was during this time that the now classic Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton was recorded. While with the Bluesbreakers, Eric also recorded a one-off four-track session with a band dubbed “The Powerhouse”. This studio band included John Paul Jones, Steve Winwood and Jack Bruce.

Following Cream's break-up, Clapton founded Blind Faith – rock's first "supergroup" – with Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech. Disbanding after one album and a disastrous American tour, he tried to hide from his growing fame by touring as a sideman with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. While with this outfit, Eric was encouraged to sing by Delaney Bramlett. He also began composing more. A live album from the Delaney & Bonnie tour was released in 1970. Clapton's self-titled debut was released that same year. In the summer of 1970, Eric formed Derek and the Dominos with members from Delaney & Bonnie's band. The Dominos would go on to record the seminal rock album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. A concept album, its theme revolved around Clapton's unrequited love for George Harrison's wife, Pattie. The band would drift apart following an American tour and a failed attempt at recording a second album.

Hit hard by the break up of The Dominos, the commercial failure of the Layla album and his unrequited love, Eric sunk into three years of heroin addiction. Although he rarely emerged from his Surrey Estate, he filled box upon box with tapes of songs. He kicked his drug addiction and re-launched his career in January 1973 with two concerts at London's Rainbow Theater organized by his friend, Pete Townshend (The Who). The concerts represented a turning point in his career. In 1974, he reappeared with a new style and sound with 461 Ocean Boulevard. Eric had become an assured vocalist and composer in addition to a giutar hero.

In 1994, Eric returned to his blues roots with the release of From The Cradle. The album was Clapton's tribute to his musical heroes and contained cover versions of blues classics. 1997 brought an excursion into electronica with the release of TDF / Retail Therapy with Eric posing as X-Sample. In 1998, he released the soul-influenced Pilgrim, his first album of all new material in nine years. In 2000, he continued his love affair with the blues when he recorded an album with American blues legend, B.B. King. Riding With The King was released in June and within three weeks of release, was certified gold. Shortly thereafter, Clapton was back in the studio recording his next solo project. Reptile was released in March 2001. In late 2002, he began to record a new studio album. Work continued through the summer of 2003 and enough material was recorded for two albums. In addition to new solo material, Eric recorded covers of Robert Johnson songs during these sessions. The Johnson songs were assembled and in March 2004, Eric’s tribute album, Me and Mr. Johnson was released. The new solo material is expected to be released in 2005.

In 2005, Eric revisted the past. He, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker re-formed Cream for four very special reunion shows at London's Royal Albert Hall. The concerts took place at the venue where their farewell shows took place 37 years earlier, in November 1968. In October 2005, the men performed three further concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden.

In his more than 40 year career, Eric Clapton has received many awards. He is 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). He has also won or shared in seventeen Grammy Awards.

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945 in England. Clapton's musical career has developed from band member to solo artist and has allowed Clapton to be considered one of the premiere rock and blues guitarists in history. Clapton was raised by his grandmother who he thought was his mother until age 9 when he learned that his "sister" was actually is mom and he was an illegitimate child. By the time Clapton was 15, he was fascinated with the blues and playing guitar (a gift for his 13th birthday) and by age 17, he had dropped out of Kingston College of Art to focus on a career in music in London.

Click here for an excellent Eric Clapton timeline of his career.

During that time he has sold millions of albums and known worldwide fame - but also experienced the pain of drug and alcohol addiction and the tragic death of his son.

Born in Ripley, Surrey, on 30 March, 1945, Eric Patrick Clapton began learning the guitar as a result of his love for blues and US R&B in the shape of artists such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.

He became a serious scholar of the blues, learning about its history, listening to legendary exponents such as Robert Johnson and discovering the work songs of the US deep south.

"It did something to me emotionally," he later said of his affinity with practitioners of the blues sound.

"The blues are what I've turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life."

After brief spells with various British blues bands in the early 1960s, Clapton rose to public acclaim in 1964 as a member of The Yardbirds, playing lead guitar at London's Marquee club on the band's first album, Five Live Yardbirds.

While The Yardbirds would go on to recruit fellow guitar heroes Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, Clapton had joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and would soon emerge at the heart of one of the late 1960s' most important rock bands, Cream.

Co-founded with bass player Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, Cream combined the era's psychedelic influence with hard-rocking remakes of blues standards such as Crossroads and Born Under A Bad Sign.

Before the decade was over, Clapton and drummer Baker joined multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood and bassist Ric Grech in the so-called supergroup Blind Faith, recording a number one album that was hailed by critics.

After a spell in Delaney and Bonnie & Friends, Clapton began to test his vocal skills, recording a 1970 solo album and the widely-admired track Layla on an album recorded under the name of Derek and the Dominos.

Throughout the 1970s he enjoyed continued success with a string of solo albums featuring hits such as I Shot the Sheriff and Lay Down Sally.

At the height of his fame Clapton was devastated by the death of his four-year-old son Conor, who fell from the 53rd-storey window of a New York City apartment in 1991. Clapton later recorded the song Tears in Heaven in tribute.

He has acknowledged a drug habit that began at art school at the age of 15. By 1969, he was drinking two bottles of vodka a day, and five years later his heroin addiction was costing him £1,500 a week.

He has been sober since 1982 and now raises millions of dollars for his drink and drugs rehabilitation centre in the Caribbean.

A winner of eight Grammys and the only triple inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Clapton, now 58, married American Melia McEnery, 27, the mother of his daughters Ella and Julie, in Surrey a year ago.

For nine years he was married to Patti Boyd, previously the wife of former Beatle George Harrison and the subject of Layla.

Sit upright in your comfortable chair with your back erect and as far back as you can go in the chair. Straddle the guitar over your right thigh - note that if you are lefty you will have to reverse all the directions given here! Also note that for classical guitar you will eventually be playing with the guitar on your LEFT thigh - just keep it on your right thigh for now for these basic lessons. Bring the guitar as close to your body as you can, and balance it on your thigh so it doesn't wobble (too much) - and the neck forms a straight line parallel with the ground. If you need to raise your right leg to keep the guitar balanced, use the footstool. Put your left hand under the neck of your guitar with all your fingers open and pointing skywards, rest the neck between your thumb and forefinger. Your thumb should be along the back of the neck, slide your hand up and down a few times and get to know how cool it feels to be holding your guitar. Your right hand should go over the body of the guitar, and your fingers should be near the soundhole (or neck pickup, if you have an electric guitar).

For your first strum (drum roll!), leave your left hand fingers in the air (don't fret any strings yet) while balancing the guitar neck in the V of your thumb and forefinger, and rotate your right hand wrist so the pick (or your thumb) strikes all six guitar strings from the top to the bottom (the TOP most string nearest your face is the SIXTH string, and the string closes to the ground is the FIRST string). Do it slowly at first, listen to all the strings ring out. That was your first strum - although it may not sound like much. As you strum by rotating your wrist, you will realize that it is quite a stretch to strike all six strings just with your wrist action. Now try it by moving your arm ONLY from your elbow along with the rotation of your wrist - must easier, isn't it. So keep in mind, your wrist action is what you need to strike the strings (not by moving your whole arm) - and your arm moves at the elbow to position your wrist over the string that you wish to strike. Strum the top most 6th string (thickest string, nearest your face) downward once, recover the pick back to position above the string (without hitting the string on the way back up). Now nudge your arm (from the elbow) down a fraction of an inch so your pick is in position over the next string (5th string) and pick it. Recover the pick back up without touching the string on the way back, and nudge your arm from the elbow into position over the fourth string - and keep going till you reach the bottom most (first string). Repeat the process backwards, coming back up to the sixth string. When hitting the string, you only need a little pressure - don't get carried away and try to slam the strings to get more volume. The important thing is to pick only the string you are aiming for, and only hit it on the DOWN STROKE (not on the recovery when you bring the pick back up). Try this exercise for a few minutes every day to get your hand and wrist used to the motion.

Once you have some control over your right hand for strumming, lets start with the left hand for fretting the strings. By pressing the string down at a fret you effectively shorten the length of that string, increasing the pitch of the sound it makes. This allows you to make infinitely more sounds than just the six strings picked in open (without any frets being pressed) position. Reposition your left hand so your thumb is flat along the back of the neck approximately in the middle - it should be as though you are placing a fingerprint on the back of the neck. Curl your remaining four fingers and lightly touch the sixth string (closest to your face). Now depending on the length of your fingers and the width/thickness of the neck, you have to get a comfortable feel where you are able to keep your fingers arched - so they do NOT brush against the first string (closest to the ground). Adjust your thumb accordingly, this is your indvidual "zone".

Now you are ready to fret your first string. Note that when we say "fret the string" it does not mean press ON the fret, you want to press AHEAD (towards the tuners) of the target fret as close to the fret as your finger fatness allows. Ideally only the finger tip should touch the string pushing it flat against the fretboard at that point, the closer you can get to the fret (without actually climbing the fret) the better the sound your guitar will make. Again depending on the length and thickness of your fingers, and the width and thickness of your guitar neck, you have to find your own "zone". Start by holding all four finger above the first four frets on the sixth string (closest to your face). Pick the sixth string, then lower only your index finger on the first fret (remember, ON means just ahead of) and pick the string again. Note the sound of the note changed, you just fretted your first string. Lower your middle finger on the second fret (again, ON means just ahead of) and pick again keeping your index finger down where it landed. Repeat with your ring and your pinkie fingers, picking once each time. Now reverse the process, lifting the pinky finger and picking the string, then lifting the ring finger and picking the string, and so on till all four fingers are back up in the air. Switch to the next string (the FIFTH string) and repeat, and keep going all way down to the first string. Then do the same thing in reverse, coming back up to the sixth string. When you fret a string, use your ears - each note should ring out clear as you pick it. If it is muffled your finger is not pushing down correctly or hard enough - if the note cuts out abruptly your finger did not move up (or down) smoothly. You will hear the sound change (technically, by half a step) for each fret that you play.

Always ensure your guitar is in tune before practicing - guitars frequently go out of tune as the strings stretch out, and as the weather changes (humidity affects the wood, swelling or shrinking the neck). You should have a guitar stand, and keep your guitar on it (weather and humidity permitting) so it is easy to just grab it and start playing whenever you have a free moment. After each practice session, you should wipe your guitar down with a dry soft cloth to remove the oils and sweat your hands and fingers deposit on the strings and body. If you have an electric guitar, remember to turn OFF the amp to avoid damaging both the guitar and the amp. It is a good practice to also unplug the cable from your electric guitar when not in use, this saves your equipment in case you forget to turn the amp off - and poses less of a risk that someone may trip over it (which could destroy your guitar, and possibly their teeth).

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