Rock guitarist and singer, born in Ripley, Surrey, SE England, UK. In the 1960s he was in British rhythm-and-blues bands The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, then supergroups Cream and Blind Faith. He has since played and recorded with most of the great names of rock music. Layla, recorded in 1970 with Duane Allman and others under the name of Derek and the Dominoes, is considered a rock classic by many, as are I Shot the Sheriff, Lay Down Sally, and Wonderful Tonight. His album Eric Clapton: Unplugged reached number 3 in the UK charts in 1992, and he was voted Variety Club Best Recording Artist the same year. His first album of original material for several years, Back Home, appeared in 2005 and followed a historic Cream reunion in London's Royal Albert Hall. One of his guitars became the most expensive to sell at auction, fetching £527 000 in 2004.
| Eric Clapton | |
|---|---|
|
Eric Clapton in Wetzikon, Zürich, Switzerland on June 19, 1977 |
|
| Born |
March 30, 1945 Ripley, Surrey, England |
| Alias(es) |
Slowhand (nickname) x-sample |
| Genre(s) |
Blues Rock Psychedelic Rock Blues Rock |
| Affiliation(s) |
The Yardbirds John Mayall & Friends Derek and the Dominos |
| Notable guitars | "Brownie", "Blackie", Fender Stratocaster, Gibson ES-335, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, Gibson Firebird, Gibson Explorer |
| Years active | 1963 - Present |
| Official site | Official website |
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born March 30, 1945), nicknamed "Slowhand", is a Grammy Award winning English guitarist, singer and composer, who is one of the most respected and influential musicians of the rock era, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Although Clapton's musical style has varied throughout his career, it 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 &
Clapton is currently on his 2006-2007 world tour with good friend and longtime tourmate, Robert Cray as his supporting act. Personal Life
Clapton's Early Days
Eric Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England as the illegitimate son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 24-year-old Canadian soldier.
Clapton grew up with his grandmother and her second husband, believing they were his parents and that his mother was his older sister.
Clapton grew up a self-confessed "nasty kid". Influenced by the blues from an early age, at 13 Clapton received an acoustic guitar for his birthday, but he found learning the instrument so difficult he nearly gave up. 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. John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll band in 1963 and stayed with them until March 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 & His passionate playing in nightclubs — and on the immensely influential album, Blues Breakers — established Clapton's name worldwide as a 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. 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.
In early 1967, Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was shaken by the arrival of Jimi Hendrix. 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.
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. 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.
Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, 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. 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. Blind Faith dissolved after only a year together, and while Winwood returned to Traffic, 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.
Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players (including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills, on whose solo albums Clapton played), 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".
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. 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. Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison had brought him into contact with Harrison's wife Patti 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;
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. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd — who was also producing the Allmans — invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. 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"); 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. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews on release; 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. Although Radle would be Clapton's main bass player until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of 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).
Solo career
Despite his success, Clapton's personal life was in a chaotic mess by late 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.
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; (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;
Influences
Clapton has performed songs by myriad arists, most notably Robert Johnson and J.J.
Recently, Clapton collaborated with singer/songwriter John Mayer on his 2006 album release Continuum. Mayer cites Clapton in his liner notes "Eric Clapton - I copy off of him and he lets me." Clapton and Mayer wrote several songs together which have yet to be released. Clapton's influence inspired Mayer to write "I Don't Trust Myself with Loving You" a song which sounds as if Clapton had written it himself.
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.
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. According to an article in The Independent (London) on March 22, 2004 entitled "Why they're rocking against racism again":
Some see the current climate as similar to the situation prevailing when Rock Against Racism began in late 1976 [...] A somewhat inebriated Eric Clapton, then considered very much part of the old guard, at a concert in Birmingham, told the audience that the politician Enoch Powell — infamous for his "rivers of blood" speech opposing mass immigration — was right and that Britain was "overcrowded".
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
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 1981, Clapton was invited by producer Martin Lewis to appear at the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Clapton accepted the invitation and teamed up with Jeff Beck to perform a series of duets - reportedly their first-ever billed stage collaboration. 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.
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.
Clapton also worked on the music for some of the "Lethal Weapon" films.
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, Chaka Khan, Mick Jones, David Sanborn and Robert Cray.
Tragedy again
In 1985 Clapton, while still married to Patti Boyd-Harrison, had started a relationship with Yvonne Khan Kelly; 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. 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
While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From The Cradle contains new versions of old blues standards highlighted by fine electric guitar playing.
Clapton finished the twentieth century with critically-acclaimed collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. 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. The following year, Clapton released the album "Pilgrim", the first record featuring brand new material for almost a decade.
In 1998 Clapton had a relationship with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow.
In 1999 Clapton, then 54, met 25-year-old graphic artist Melia McEnery in Los Angeles while working on an album with B.B.
In 2004, Clapton released two records packed full of covers by legendary Bluesman, Robert Johnson. Before his Tour of Japan in 2003, Clapton had stated that his new album would have a definite "rocky," feel but the two Robert Johnson records undoubtedly contradicted this.
Back Home, Clapton's first album of new original material in nearly five years, was released on Reprise Records on August 30th. Featuring twelve songs, five of which were penned by Clapton with creative collaborator Simon Climie, "Back Home" also includes "Love Comes To Everyone" by George Harrison, the Spinners' "Love Don't Love Nobody," a rendition of Stevie Wonder and Syreeta Wright's "I'm Going Left," and compositions by Vince Gill, Doyle Bramhall II and others. It was through the writing and recording process, Clapton explained, that the theme of "Back Home" emerged.
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, the second being keyboardist Chuck Leavell who appeared on the MTV Unplugged album. Support act band leader, Robert Cray regularly join Eric on stage for "Old Love" which he co-wrote with Eric for the 1989 album "Journeyman" and on the encore on "Crossroads" The setlist for the 2006-2007 World Tour has been constructed from compositions spanning his entire solo career from After Midnight from the 1970 ""Eric Clapton" " LP to "Back Home" from the album of the same name.
In a true collaboration, Cale and Clapton jointly produced and recorded the album, each playing and singing on the tracks. Cale wrote 11 of the songs, Clapton wrote "Three Little Girls," John Mayer wrote "Hard To Thrill" and the duo cover the blues classic "Sporting Life Blues." The album is dedicated to Preston and Clapton's late friend Brian Roylance.
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.
It was announced via the BBC website in October 2006 that Clapton would add JJ Cale's "Cocaine" to his live set, having previously refused to play it.
The search for his father
Although Clapton's grandparents had eventually told him the truth about his parentage—that he was the illegitimate son of a Canadian serviceman—the precise identity of his father remained a mystery for many years.
Clapton's Guitars
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. 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."
During Clapton's heroin addiction from 1969 to 1974, he began to sell off his collection of guitars to pay for his drug habit.
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.
Later (due to fellow Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood's influence, and Clapton's love of Buddy Guy's sound), 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 to the most famous of all Clapton's guitars, "Blackie" (a concoction of Clapton's favorite parts from several other Strats), which he used until 1985 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. Clapton has also been honoured with a signature-model acoustic guitar made by the famous American firm of C.F.
In 1999 Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise money for his Crossroads Centre he founded in Antigua in 1997.
Discographies
Album Discography Singles DiscographyBand
2006 tour band
European Tour
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 vocalsUS / Canada - Eastern Region, Japan, Australia and New Zealand
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 Michelle John - backing vocals Sharon White - backing vocalsSupport act for European and US / Canada : The Robert Cray Band
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