Eric Clapton Biography

Eric Clapton is a successful singer and guitarist of British origin. This biography of Eric Clapton provides detail information about his profile, childhood, life & timeline.

Quick Facts

Birthday: March 30, 1945

Nationality: British

Famous: British Men Aries Musicians

Age: 73 Years, 73 Year Old Males

Sun Sign: Aries

Also Known As: Eric Patrick Clapton

Height: 1.82 m

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Melia McEnery, Pattie Boyd (m. 1979–1988)

father: Edward Walter Fryer

mother: Patricia Molly Clapton

children: Ella May, Julie Rose, Ruth Kelly, Sophie Belle

Diseases & Disabilities: Depression

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Eric Clapton is a British singer, song writer besides being a guitarist. He is well known for the scores like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ and ‘Before You Accuse Me’. In his early life, he has performed with The Roosters. His close connection with The Yardbirds resulted in a successful score ‘For Your Love’. During his performance with The Yardbirds , he was nicknamed ‘Slowhand’. He established himself as a skilled guitarist during his performance with the Bluesbreakers. His second nickname ‘God’ was given during his performance with this band. His association with the band Cream helped him to prove his expertise as a multitalented person who can sing, create song and play guitar. The combined effort of Eric and this band includes hit scores like Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘White Room’ and ‘Crossroads’. He is the founder of the band Blind Faith. The score ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ is the perfect example of his special guitar sound, popularly known as the ‘woman tone’. As the winner of seventeen Grammy Awards, this renowned personality has suffered for his drug addiction and alcoholism. After his recovery, he has set up the Crossroads Centre in West Indies. It works for the rehabilitation of substance abusers.

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Eric Clapton

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Childhood & Early Life

Born in Surrey, England, Eric Patrick Clapton was the son of Patricia Molly Clapton, a 16-year-old unmarried girl and Edward Walter Fryer, a Canadian soldier who served during the World War II.
After his birth, when his father returned to his wife in Canada, Eric was raised by Patricia’s parents. Though they never adopted him legally, yet they acted as his legal guardian till 1963.
He received his early education from Hollyfield School in Surbiton. Later, he attended the Kingston College of Art. Unfortunately, the school authority dismissed him for his negligence towards art. From this time, he developed an interest towards blues.
Quotes: Me, Music
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Career

In the early period of 1963, he joined The Roosters, a band. But in August 1963, when the band broke up, he started performing as part of Casey Jones & The Engineers.
His association with The Yardbirds started in October 1963. In the next year, he performed for this band at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Later, he recorded his single ‘Good Morning Little Schoolgirl’ with this band.
The band received huge success after the release of ‘For Your Love’, a single. Though he played guitar during the performance of this song, he was against using commercial sound in this score.
After leaving The Yardbirds in 1965, he joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. His performance with this band brought him recognition as a guitarist. At that time, he visited Greece for a short period with The Glands, a band.
After his return, he recorded ‘Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton’, an album with the Bluesbreakers. In 1966, he also performed as part of the Powerhouse, a British blues studio super group.
After leaving the Bluesbreakers in July 1966, he joined Ginger Baker’s newly formed band Cream. This band provided him the opportunity to prove his potentiality as a singer, songwriter and guitarist.
From 1968 to 1969, he played a vital role in the recording of the band’s successful scores like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘White Room’ and ‘Crossroads’. Along with George Harrison, he co-wrote ‘Badge’, a studio single for the Cream’s last album ‘Goodbye’.
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Later, he formed Blind Faith, a British blues rock band that released an album of the same name in 1969. After the break-up of this band, he went on a musical tour with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.
In the same year, he performed at a fundraiser programme for UNISEF in London. Inspired by Delaney Bramlett, he started singing and composing songs. In association with Bramlett, he recorded songs for the album, ‘Music From Free Creek’.
In 1970, he recorded his first solo album ‘Eric Clapton’ that got wide acknowledgement. In this year, he formed Derek and the Dominos. With this band, he released ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs’.
In 1974, his album ‘461 Ocean Boulevard’ appeared. It contains popular singles like ‘I Shot the Sheriff’. The success of this album started his flourishing solo career.
In the next year, he released ‘There’s One in Every Crowd’, his new album. After releasing several of his albums, he performed for a solo album titled, ‘The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking’.
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Major Works

He released his album ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs’ in November 1970. Due to the album’s huge popularity, it achieved 16th position on Billboard’s Pop Album chart.
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Awards & Achievements

Along with Michael Kamen, his remarkable composition of score for the 1985 BBC television thriller serial ‘Edge of Darkness’ earned him a British Academy Television Award.
His album ‘Journeyman’ appeared in 1989. The album presents mind blowing blues songs like ‘Before You Accuse Me’. He received 1990 Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Grammy Award for the album’s score ‘Bad Love’.
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Personal Life & Legacy

He married Patty Boyd in 1979. During their married life, he developed a romantic relationship with Yvonne Kelly with whom he had a daughter, Ruth. He did not disclose about the birth of Ruth till 1991.
Eric and Boyd divorced in 1988, due to his alcoholism and his relationship with Italian model Lory Del Santo. With Santo, he had a son, Conor. He was later involved in a number of relationships.
In 2001, his daughter Julie Rose was born. Julie’s mother is Melia McEnery whom he married at a church in Surrey, in 2002. They have two more daughters, Ella Mae and Sophie.

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Trivia

This music maestro went through a difficult phase in his life due to his heroin addiction and the reason of his drug usage was nothing but commercial failure of his album ‘Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs’.

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Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

2008

Outstanding Special Class - Not-Exclusively-Made-for-Television Variety, Music, Comedy Event Programs

Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival, Chicago (2007)

BAFTA Awards

1986

Best Original Television Music

Edge of Darkness (1985)

Grammy Awards