Eric Clapton

English blues and rock guitarist of the Yardbirds, Cream and a long solo career, nicknamed Slowhand.

via Wikipedia: Eric Clapton · see source

Eric Clapton is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter rooted in the blues and rock. He is counted among the most successful and influential guitar players in rock music, placing second on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth on Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". He passed through the Yardbirds and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers before co-founding Cream, then Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos, and went on to decades of solo work. His honours include 18 Grammy Awards, a CBE awarded in 2004, and three separate inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a record no one else holds.

Quick Facts

Birth name

Eric Patrick Clapton

Born

30 March 1945

Birthplace

Ripley, Surrey, England

Occupation

Musician
singer
songwriter

Years active

1962–present

Spouse

Pattie Boyd (1979–1989); Melia McEnery (2002)

Children

Facts from the source article.

Lore & Background

Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in Ripley, Surrey, and was raised by his grandmother Rose and her husband Jack Clapp, believing for years that his mother was his older sister. A Hoyer acoustic guitar arrived for his thirteenth birthday, and after a slow start he practised obsessively along with blues records, taping himself on a Grundig recorder. After being expelled from the Kingston College of Art, he busked, played pubs with Dave Brock, and in 1963 joined the Roosters. He joined the Yardbirds in October 1963, where Giorgio Gomelsky gave him the name "Slowhand" after the slow handclaps crowds offered while he changed broken strings. He quit in March 1965 as the band leaned toward pop with "For Your Love", then made his reputation in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Reader's Guide

Clapton's work falls into clear phases. Cream, his power trio with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, made four successful albums before splitting in November 1968. Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos each left a single album, the latter including "Layla". Solo highlights include his 1974 version of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff", Slowhand (1977), August from 1986, and "Tears in Heaven", written after his son Conor died in 1991, which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. He has sold 100 million records as a solo artist, has played the Royal Albert Hall over 200 times, and in 1998 founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua for people recovering from addiction.

Did You Know?

His "Slowhand" nickname came from Giorgio Gomelsky, a pun on audiences' slow handclapping.
Blues Breakers – John Mayall – With Eric Clapton is nicknamed The Beano Album because he is reading The Beano on the cover.
When he left the Yardbirds, Jimmy Page declined to replace him and suggested Jeff Beck instead.
His latest studio album, Meanwhile, came out in 2024.