Eric Clapton A Living Legend

By: Andrew Conway

When you think about music, what do you think of first? Which aspects of music are important, which are essential, and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

Eric Clapton was born March 30th, 1945 in Ripley England, U.K.

He was the illegitimate son of Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Fryer, a Canadian soldier stationed in England. Patricia left Eric in the custody of his grandparents, Rose and Jack Clapp. Patricia moved to Germany where she eventually married another Canadian soldier named Frank McDonald.

Eric was raised believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister. At the tender age of nine the truth was reveled to him by his grandmother.

His formal education consisted of being expelled from the Kingston College of art at the ripe old age of seventeen for playing guitar in class. He then took a job as a manual laborer and spent most of his free time playing the electric guitar.

Clapton eventually joined a number of British blues bands, including the Roosters and Casey Jones, and rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds

Eric withdrew from the spotlight in the early seventies, Trying to overcome an addition he took the advice of PeterTownsend and underwent an effective electro- acupuncture treat-ment. He was fully rehabilitated and then landed a role in the rock opera-Tommy

Unfortunately the 1980's brought Eric sliding deeper and deeper into a serious drinking problem even thou this period of his lifebrought some of his most successful albums--Another Ticket (1981), Money and Cigarettes (1983), Behind the Sun (1985), August (1986), Journeyman[1989]

In the following decade he again suffered another personal tragedy when guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton road crew members Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne--all close friends of Clapton's--were killed in a helicopter crash. A few months after this tragedy, fate was going to deal him another blow when his own son,Conner,fell forty-nine stories from Del Santo's Manhattan high-rise apartment to his death.Clapton channeled his shattering grief into writing the 1992 Grammy-winning tribute to his son, "Tears in Heaven."

Another album, "From The Cradle", came out in 1994 and marked his return to the raw blue standards. In 1997 he was honored with the Record of the year and best male pop vocal performance grammys for "Change the world".

And in the next coming years,success just seemed to follow him no matter where he went.The only triple inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He is often described as an authentic musical genius,but at what a personal price?

There's no doubt that the topic of music can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about music, you may find what you're looking for in the next article.

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