Eric Clapton

The blues purist who carried Chicago tone into rock's mainstream

Eric Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, growing up believing his mother was his older sister. His Canadian soldier father never knew he existed. As a teenager he became obsessed with American blues records, especially Robert Johnson, and practised relentlessly. He joined the Yardbirds in 1963, earning the nickname Slowhand, but left in 1965 when the band chased pop success with For Your Love, a move he felt betrayed the blues he wanted to play.

He next joined John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and the 1966 album nicknamed the Beano album, cut with a Les Paul through a cranked Marshall combo, defined a thick, singing tone that countless British players copied. Around this time admirers painted Clapton is God on London walls. Later in 1966 he formed Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, rock's first celebrated power trio. Albums such as Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire mixed psychedelic pop with extended live improvisation before the band split in 1968.

After the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith in 1969, Clapton retreated from guitar-hero status, first touring with Delaney and Bonnie and then forming Derek and the Dominos. Their 1970 double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, boosted by slide guitarist Duane Allman, contained some of his most anguished playing. A long struggle with heroin followed, but he returned with 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974, whose cover of I Shot the Sheriff topped the US chart, and settled into a relaxed, song-focused solo career.

Through the 1980s he battled alcoholism before getting sober, and in 1991 he suffered the loss of his young son Conor, which inspired Tears in Heaven. His 1992 Unplugged performance became a huge seller and brought a haul of Grammy awards. He founded the Crossroads Centre in Antigua to treat addiction and launched the Crossroads Guitar Festival to fund it. He is the only artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times and continues to record and tour selectively.

The 10 greatest Eric Clapton solos

1. 1
   Layla

   Derek and the Dominos · solo by Eric Clapton & Duane Allman · 1970
2. 2
   Crossroads

   Cream · solo by Eric Clapton · 1968
3. 3
   Have You Ever Loved a Woman

   Derek and the Dominos · solo by Eric Clapton · 1970
4. 4
   White Room

   Cream · solo by Eric Clapton · 1968
5. 5
   Hideaway

   John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers · solo by Eric Clapton · 1966
6. 6
   Sunshine of Your Love

   Cream · solo by Eric Clapton · 1967
7. 7
   While My Guitar Gently Weeps

   The Beatles · solo by Eric Clapton · 1968
8. 8
   Badge

   Cream · solo by Eric Clapton · 1969
9. 9
   Old Love

   Eric Clapton · solo by Eric Clapton · 1989
10. 10
    All Your Love

    John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers · solo by Eric Clapton · 1966

The sound

Clapton's playing rests on the vocabulary of Freddie King, B.B. King and Otis Rush, delivered with economy and a singer's sense of phrasing. His signature is a wide, controlled finger vibrato and precise string bends that land exactly in pitch. In the Cream years he pioneered the so-called woman tone, rolling back the tone control on a humbucker-equipped Gibson for a thick, vocal sound. Later, on Stratocasters, he favoured a cleaner, more compressed voice, choosing fewer notes and letting melody and space carry the emotion.

• Gibson Les Paul Standard ('Beano') (guitar) Used on the 1966 Bluesbreakers album; it was stolen soon afterwards and never recovered.
• Gibson SG 'The Fool' (guitar) Psychedelically painted by the Dutch art collective the Fool and used heavily with Cream.
• Gibson ES-335 (guitar) Played at Cream's farewell concerts in 1968.
• Fender Stratocaster 'Brownie' (guitar) His main guitar on the Layla sessions with Derek and the Dominos.
• Fender Stratocaster 'Blackie' (guitar) Assembled from parts of three vintage Strats and his main stage guitar through the 1970s and 1980s; auctioned for his Crossroads charity in 2004.
• Marshall combo (Bluesbreaker) (amp) Driven hard on the Beano album, it created the thick overdriven tone that made his name.
• Vox wah-wah pedal (effect) Central to Cream tracks such as Tales of Brave Ulysses and White Room.

Covers

• Crossroads, originally by Robert Johnson (as Cross Road Blues) He turned a solo Delta blues into a high-velocity power-trio showcase.
• I Shot the Sheriff, originally by Bob Marley and the Wailers His laid-back version topped the US chart and helped bring Marley to a wider audience.
• Cocaine, originally by J.J. Cale A heavier, more insistent reading of Cale's minimalist groove.
• After Midnight, originally by J.J. Cale An upbeat early solo single that gave Cale's song its first big exposure.
• Little Wing, originally by The Jimi Hendrix Experience Recorded shortly before Hendrix's death, it reimagines the ballad as a surging twin-guitar anthem.
• Key to the Highway, originally by Charlie Segar / Big Bill Broonzy A loose studio jam that captured his chemistry with Duane Allman.
• Knockin' on Heaven's Door, originally by Bob Dylan A reggae-tinged version recorded in the wake of his 461 Ocean Boulevard success.

Timeline

• 1945 Born in Ripley, Surrey, on 30 March
• 1963 Joins the Yardbirds
• 1965 Quits the Yardbirds and joins John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
• 1966 Beano album released; forms Cream with Bruce and Baker
• 1968 Cream bows out with farewell shows at the Royal Albert Hall
• 1970 Records Layla with Derek and the Dominos
• 1974 Comeback with 461 Ocean Boulevard and a US number one
• 1992 Unplugged becomes a worldwide hit
• 1999 Stages the first Crossroads Guitar Festival
• 2004 Appointed CBE for services to music

Facts

1. He grew up believing his grandmother was his mother and his mother was his sister.
2. The nickname Slowhand came from audiences slow-clapping while he replaced broken strings on stage.
3. The phrase Clapton is God was spray-painted on walls in London during his Bluesbreakers era.
4. He played the lead guitar on the Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps without an album credit.
5. The Beano album got its nickname because he is reading a Beano comic on the cover photo.
6. His guitar Blackie was assembled from the best parts of three 1950s Stratocasters.
7. He is the only musician inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times.
8. He founded the Crossroads Centre in Antigua to help people recover from addiction.
9. His father was a Canadian soldier and musician who never learned he had a son.
10. He was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition that affects his hands.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Eric Clapton