Eric Clapton

Early life

Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in Ripley, Surrey, England, to 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (1929–1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (1920–1985), a 25-year-old soldier from Montreal, Quebec. Fryer was drafted to war before Clapton's birth and then returned to Canada. Clapton grew up believing that his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, Patricia's stepfather, were his parents, and that his mother was actually his older sister. The similarity in surnames gave rise to the erroneous belief that Clapton's real surname is Clapp (Reginald Cecil Clapton was the name of Rose's first husband, Eric Clapton's maternal grandfather). Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier and moved to Germany, leaving Eric with...

Personal problems and early solo success

Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast with the struggles he coped with in his personal life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction. Still infatuated with Boyd and torn by his friendship with Harrison, he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey residence as the Dominos broke up. He nursed a heroin addiction, which resulted in a lengthy career hiatus interrupted only by performing at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh benefit shows in New York in August 1971; there, he passed out on stage, was revived, and managed to finish his performance. In January 1973, the Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's Rainbow Theatre, titled the...

Influences

Clapton cites Muddy Waters, Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Hubert Sumlin as guitar-playing influences. In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton refers to Muddy Waters as "the father figure I never really had". Until his death in 1983, Waters was a part of Clapton's life. "When I got to know Muddy, unfortunately, my drinking career was in full sway." In 2000, Clapton collaborated with B.B. King on their album Riding with the King. The music video for the title track shows Clapton as the chauffeur, with one of his idols in the back seat.

Legacy

Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. He ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.

Angel

"Angel" is a pop rock song written by the American recording artist J.J. Cale.

The British rock musician Eric Clapton covered the song and released his take on the track in 2013 on his studio album Old Sock for Polydor Records. The title was also released as a digital download single on March 4, 2013.

Background and release

Cale wrote the song in 1981 and kept the publishing rights for the title for Really Crazy Mamas Music, administered by Broadcast Music Incorporated. For his track-by-track commentary on the Old Sock release in 2013, Clapton explained: "When we did this other album that was just called Clapton, we had tracks in the can, which was another thing to do with why this came to be, this album because I had about three songs, maybe more, actually, that I thought were up to scratch to release and so... Part of that thing in killing time was to complement these tracks, and "Angel" was one of them, that we'd done a couple of years previously. We'd never really resolved it, so we kinda re-did it again. But we had J.J.'s voice on there and everything....

Reception

The track was chosen by the coffee company Starbucks as "Pick of the Week" starting on March 5, 2013. "Angel" was made available for Starbucks customers via the entertainment section of the Starbucks Digital Network while in the store or through the Starbucks app. Music critic Philip Majorins from PopMatters thinks, that "Angel" stands out for the "erratic evolution of styles represented" on Old Sock, noting the song seems to keep up the "consistent and reassuring sunny mood" of the album. Majorins calls the title a "joy of the collaborative interplay", which make the studio album a "satisfying but languid party". In Romania, the single was downloaded over two and a half thousand times while on chart for nine weeks and was presented with a...

Tears In Heaven

"Tears in Heaven" is a song by the English guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton and the American songwriter Will Jennings, released on the soundtrack for the film Rush (1991). It was written about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son Conor.

Writing

On 20 March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, whom he had with Lory Del Santo, died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of a New York City apartment belonging to a friend of Conor’s mother. After isolating himself for a period, Clapton began working again, writing music for the film Rush (1991). He dealt with his grief by writing "Tears in Heaven" with Will Jennings for the soundtrack. Clapton said he admired Jennings' work with Steve Winwood.

Release

Shortly after the soundtrack was released, Clapton recorded the song in front of an audience at Bray Studios, Berkshire, England as part of a set for MTV Unplugged, released as Unplugged. The album topped numerous charts, including the US, Japan and Australia, reached number two in the UK, and was nominated for nine Grammy Awards the year it was released.

Legacy

Clapton made numerous public service announcements to raise awareness for childproofing windows and staircases. In 2004 Clapton stopped performing "Tears in Heaven" as well as the song "My Father's Eyes", stating: "I didn't feel the loss anymore, which is so much a part of performing those songs. I really have to connect with the feelings that were there when I wrote them. They're kind of gone and I really don't want them to come back, particularly. My life is different now. They probably just need a rest and maybe I'll introduce them for a much more detached point of view." Eventually, however, both songs would make it back into Clapton's regular setlists, with the latter being performed as recently as 2013, and the former in 2022.

Layla

"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Its contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Gordon.

The piano part has also been controversially credited to Rita Coolidge, Gordon's girlfriend at the time.

Background

In 1966, Beatles guitarist George Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a model he met two years before during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. During the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison became close friends. Clapton contributed uncredited (although openly acknowledged) guitar work on Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the Beatles' self-titled double album (also known as the White Album), and Harrison co-wrote and played guitar on Cream's "Badge" from Goodbye. Between his tenures in Cream and Blind Faith, Clapton fell in love with Boyd.

Writing and recording

After the break-up of Cream, Clapton appeared with several groups, including Blind Faith and the husband-and-wife duo Delaney & Bonnie. In the spring of 1970, he was told that some members of Delaney & Bonnie's back-up band, including bassist Carl Radle, drummer Jim Gordon and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, were leaving the group. Seizing the opportunity, Clapton formed a new group with Whitlock, Radle and Gordon. Naming themselves Derek and the Dominos, the band "made our bones", according to Clapton, while backing Harrison on his first post-Beatles solo album, All Things Must Pass.

Recording

In 1992, Clapton was invited to play for the MTV Unplugged series. On 16 January 1992, he recorded an acoustic album, accompanied by a concert film, at the Bray Studios in Bray, Berkshire. Although the production team and Clapton's staff liked the recordings, Clapton did not want to release either the album or the concert film. Finally, Clapton agreed to release the album in a limited edition. When Unplugged sold out, Clapton gave Warner Bros. and Reprise Records the permission to delete the limited album production. For the album, Clapton decided to record both new material like "Lonely Stranger" and old songs he grew up with such as "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" or enjoyed listening to or had written as an adult, like "San...

Reception

AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that "Layla" seemed to be the Unplugged album's hit; he describes it as a "slow crawl through Derek & the Dominos' version, turning that anguished howl of pain into a cozy shuffle and the whole album proceeds at a similar amiable gait, taking its time and enjoying detours into old blues standards." Journalist Steve Hochman called the acoustic version a "low-key but seductive recasting". Music broadcaster VH1 thinks the Unplugged version revealed Clapton's guitar skills in the acoustic setting, which was particularly obvious on the reworking of "Layla" that "stressed Clapton's tender side without forfeitting intensity". Entertainment Weekly journalists picked the tune as the mega hit off the...

Cocaine

"Cocaine" is a song written and recorded in 1976 by singer-songwriter JJ Cale. The song was popularized by Eric Clapton after his version was released on the 1977 album Slowhand.

J. J.