Slowhand waves goodbye

IT has been said that in order to play the blues, you have to live the blues and Eric Clapton has done precisely that. From failed marriages, drug and alcohol addiction, death and tragedy, he has risen like a phoenix from the ashes and continues to inspire fans with his iconic riffs and indomitable spirit in the face of adversity.
 
The global superstar came from humble beginnings. Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in his grandparents’ home in Ripley, Surrey, England.

According to Where’s Eric! Magazine, a publication dedicated to covering the life and career of Eric Clapton, his mother, Patricia Molly Clapton, was only 16-years-old when she gave birth to Eric after having a relationship with Edward Walter Fryer, a 24-year-old Canadian soldier stationed in England during the Second World War.

Before Eric was born, Fryer returned to his wife in Canada. During that time, it was unthinkable for an unmarried teenager to raise a child on her own so 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.

While his musical prowess undoubtedly came from years of practice, it was also a stunning mixture of nature and nurture. His grandmother played piano and his uncle and mother both enjoyed listening to the sounds of the big bands. Pat later told Eric’s official biographer, Ray Coleman, that his father was also a gifted musician, playing piano in several dance bands.

At the age of nine, he learned the truth about his parentage when Pat returned to England from Germany with his six-year-old half-brother for a visit. This event was a defining moment in his life.

Eric’s journey to become a guitar hero got off to a shaky start. For his 13th birthday, Eric was given a cheap German-made Hoyer steel string guitar that he found difficult to play so it was left to gather dust for a while.

However, in 1962, he asked for his grandparents’ help buying a £100 electric double cutaway Kay guitar after being inspired by the electric blues of Freddie King, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and others.

In early 1963, 17-year-old Eric joined his first band, The Roosters. Before turning to music as a full-time career, he supported himself as a labourer 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 Eric had earned a reputation as the most talked about guitarist on the pub circuit. The group is notable for having started the careers of two of rock’s other acclaimed guitarists, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

During his 18-months with The Yardbirds, he earned his nickname, Slowhand, because whenever he broke a guitar string during a concert, he would stay on stage and replace it.

The audiences would wait out the delay by doing a slow handclap.

Clapton also told his biographer that: “My nickname of ‘Slowhand’ came from the Yardbirds’ manager Giorgio Gomelsky. He kept saying I was a fast player, so he put together the slow handclap phrase into Slowhand as a play on words.”

In April 1965, Eric joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers which he left the following year to team up with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker to form Cream. Extensive touring in the US and three albums brought the band worldwide success.

Following Cream’s break-up, Clapton founded Blind Faith - rock’s first supergroup. Disbanding after one album, Eric tried to hide from his growing fame by touring as a sideman with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends.

Here Eric was encouraged to sing and 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 Jim Gordon, Carl Radle and Bobby Whitlock from Delaney & Bonnie’s band. The Dominos would go on to record the seminal rock album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. The album revolved around Clapton’s unrequited love for late Beatle George Harrison’s wife, Patti Boyd.

Following The Dominos break up, the commercial failure of the Layla album, which ironically later went on to become a massive hit, and his troubled heart, Eric sunk into three years of addiction.

Fortunately for himself and fans, he kicked his drug addiction and re-launched his career in January 1973 with two concerts at London’s Rainbow Theatre and by 1974, he reappeared with a new style and sound with 461 Ocean Boulevard.

In the late 1980s, he began composing film scores. His career went from strength-to-strength in 1992 with the release of Unplugged and the Grammy-winning single, Tears In Heaven, written for his young son Connor who tragically died after falling from a balcony.

In 1998, he released the soul-influenced Pilgrim, his first album of all new material in nine years. In 2000, he recorded a critically-acclaimed album with American blues legend, B.B. King, entitled Riding With The King.

With his own sobriety in check, in February 1998, Eric announced the opening of Crossroads Centre, a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol abuse on the island of Antigua. One of its principles was to provide subsidised care for some of the poorest people of the Caribbean who could not afford such care on their own.

In order to raise funds for the project, which Eric believed in so passionately, he auctioned 100 of his guitars, including ‘Brownie’ (the guitar on which he recorded Layla), at Christie’s Auction House / New York. The 1999 auction netted almost $5 million for the foundation.

On June 30, 1999, Clapton hosted a concert to benefit the centre at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Proceeds from its airing on America’s VH1 and DVD and video sales also helped.

Five years later, Eric planned the second and final major fundraising effort for the centre. On June 4, 5 and 6, he hosted the First Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, Texas. The three-day event presented the cream of the world’s guitarists in a benefit event.

Shortly after the release of Riding With The King, Eric 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.

In addition to new solo material, Eric recorded covers of Robert Johnson songs for a tribute album, Me and Mr Johnson. The solo material recorded during these sessions was released in 2005 on Back Home.

Eric’s next recording project was to be produced by one of the architects of the ‘Tulsa Sound’, JJ Cale. Eric had long admired Cale’s work, having recorded cover versions of After Midnight, Cocaine, and Travelin’ Light. After working in the studio a short time, it turned into a collaborative effort. The Road To Escondido was released in 2006.

His next album was simply titled Clapton. It was released on September 27, 2010. The album is made up of a mix of new material and cover songs.

His most recent offering Old Sock featured two new compositions and covers of some of his favourite songs from childhood to the current day. It also features several guests including Steve Winwood, JJ Cale and Paul McCartney.

In his more than 40-year career, Eric Clapton has won or shared in 18 Grammy Awards and continues to hit the right notes with fans across the globe.

Now all eyes will be focused on Eric’s forthcoming performance in Bahrain, which may be part of his final tour.