Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton, one of the greatest guitarist of all time was born in Ripley, Surrey, England.  He never met his father, who never knew he was the father to Eric Clapton.  He also goes by the nickname Slowhand.  It originally was Fasthand because when he broke a string on stage he would replace it himself fairly quickly. While he was replacing the string the audience would do a Slowhand clap crediting him the nickname Slowhand.  He received his first guitar when he was 13, and began to play the blues and practice constantly.  In 1969 he joined the Yardbirds, and stuck with them for two years.  Two other legendary guitarist were also Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.  Though this band consisted of these three guitarist they never were in the band at the same time.  From there Clapton moved onto his second group, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.  It was with this group when a fan spray painted the phrase, Clapton Is God.  He left the band in 1966 to form his third group and most likely his most famous, Cream. It was with Cream that he began to expand on songwriting and developing as a singer.  The band recorded some great records but were short lived.  Members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker could not get along.  During this time Clapton auditioned for The Band, but was not accepted.  Eventually Cream would break up after only recording a few albums.  His next group would be even more short lived than Cream, and that group was Blind Faith.  They only recorded one album and had one tour.  In between his time with Cream and Blind Faith, Clapton sat in with The Beatles and played the solo for While My Guitar Gently Weeps.  After Blind Faith he sort of went behind the scenes with the group Delaney and Bonnie and Friends.  It was during this time that Delaney encouraged Clapton to write and record his first album, which he used her band members as his backup group for the album.  After his debut he formed Derek and the Dominos. Before recording their debut album, the Dominos played on his friend's and former Beatles member George Harrison's, All thing must pass.  The Dominos would record one album with Allman Brothers Band member Duane Allman on more than half the tracks.  During this time legendary guitarist and friend of Clapton's, Jimi Hendrix would die, and a year later Duane Allman would die as well, which closed the book on Derek and the Dominos. It was at this time Clapton's drug addiction became more serious, and his solo career would resume.  He was now with George Harrison's ex-wife, Pattie Boyd, who he had already written songs for, and would continue to write more for as his solo career was booming.  After a half a dozen or so solo albums he would lay low for awhile.  He had an affair and would divorce Pattie Boyd.  During his affair he had a kid in which he kept secret to Pattie. Tragedy would soon strike Clapton again in 1990 as his son Conor died at the age of four falling from a New York City apartment building.  From there he has done a lot of touring with several other musicians.  He has been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on three separate occasions (Yardbirds, Cream, Solo).  He has played in many benefit shows and was the music director for the tribute concert to his good friend George Harrison.

     Eric Clapton - 1970     Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert - 1973     461 Ocean Boulevard - 1974 

       There's one in every crowd - 1975     E.C. was here - 1975     No reason to cry - 1976

Slowhand - 1977     Backless - 1978     Just one night - 1980     Another ticket - 1981 

   Money and cigarettes - 1983     Behind the sun - 1985     August - 1986     Journeyman - 1989

MTV Unplugged - 1992     From the cradle - 1994     Pilgrim - 1998     Reptile - 2001

Concert for George - 2003     Me and Mr. Johnson - 2004     Back home - 2005 

Ideal compilation - SG  

Scott's Music Library