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 his grandparents in Surrey. Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar, made in Germany, for his thirteenth birthday, but the inexpensive steel-stringed instrument was difficult to play and he briefly lost interest. Two years later he picked it up again and started playing consistently. He was influenced by blues music from an early age, and practised long hours learning the chords of blues music by playing along to the records. He preserved his practice sessions using his portable Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder, listening to them over and over until he was satisfied. In 1961, after leaving Hollyfield School in Surbiton, he studied at the Kingston College of Art but was expelled at the end of the academic year because his focus had remained on music rather than art. His guitar playing was sufficiently advanced that, by the age of 16, he was getting noticed. Around this time, he began busking around Kingston, Richmond, and the West End. In 1962, he started performing as a duo with fellow blues enthusiast Dave Brock in pubs around Surrey. When he was 17, he joined his first band, an early British R&B group, the Roosters, whose other guitarist was Tom McGuinness. He stayed with them from January until August 1963. In October of that year, he performed a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones and the Engineers.

The fortune

In 2009, Surrey Life Magazine ranked Clapton as number 17 in their list of richest Surrey residents, estimating his fortune at £120 million in assets. This was a combination of income, property, a £9 million yacht, Va Bene (previously owned by Bernie Ecclestone), his back music catalogue, his touring income, and his holding company Marshbrook Ltd, which had earned him £110 million since 1989. In 2003, he purchased a 50% share of gentleman's outfitters Cordings Piccadilly. At the time, owner Noll Uloth was trying to save the shop from closure and contacted Clapton, his "best client"; within five minutes, Clapton replied with "I can't let this happen".

Career

In 1993, Clapton was appointed a director of Clouds House, a UK treatment centre for drug and alcohol dependence, and was a member of the board until 1997. He also served on the board of directors for The Chemical Dependency Centre from 1994 until 1999. The two charities subsequently merged to become Action on Addiction in 2007. In 1998, Clapton established the Crossroads Centre in Antigua to help others to overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol. He has remained active in its management oversight and fundraising to the present day. He organised the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 1999, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2019 and 2023 to raise funds for the centre. In 1999, Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection and raised more than US$5 million for continued support of the Crossroads Centre. A second guitar auction, which included the "Cream" of Clapton's collection, as well as guitars donated by famous friends, was held on 24 June 2004 at Christie's and raised US$7,438,624. His Lowden acoustic guitar sold for US$41,825. In 2011, Clapton sold over 150 items at a New York auction, with the proceeds going to the Crossroads Centre. Items sold included his guitar from the Cream reunion tour in 2005, speaker cabinets used in the early 1970s from his days with Derek and the Dominos, and guitars from Jeff Beck, J. J. Cale, and Joe Bonamassa. In March 2011, Clapton raised more than £1.3 million when he auctioned off 138 lots, consisting of 75 guitars and 55 amps from his personal collection, including a 1948 Gibson hollow body guitar; a Gianni Versace suit from his 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall; and a replica of his famous Fender Stratocaster known as "Blackie", which fetched more than $30,000. All proceeds went to Crossroads. Clapton has performed at The Secret Policeman's Ball, a benefit show co-founded by Monty Python member John Cleese on behalf of Amnesty International. He made his first appearance at the show, held in London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1981, and subsequently became an activist. Clapton has collaborated with The Prince's Trust, the leading UK youth charity, which provides training, personal development, business start up support, mentoring, and advice. He has performed at the charity's rock concert numerous times since the 1980s, most recently in 2010. In 2008, he donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of Southeast Asia after the devastation inflicted by the 2004 tsunami.

Personal life

The 1990s brought a series of 32 concerts to the Royal Albert Hall, such as the 24 Nights series of concerts that took place around January through February 1990, and February to March 1991. On 30 June 1990, Dire Straits, Clapton and Elton John made a guest appearance in the Nordoff-Robbins charity show held at Knebworth in England. On 27 August 1990, fellow blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and three members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Then, on 20 March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment at 117 East 57th Street. Clapton was staying at a nearby hotel at the time of his son's death, and was preparing to pick him up for lunch and a visit to the Central Park Zoo. He was informed of the incident through a hysterical phone call by Lory Del Santo, Conor's mother. Once comprehending what was happening, he described feeling like he "went off the edge of the world," and promptly arrived at the scene, feeling "like [he] had walked into someone else's life." The first person to offer condolences towards Clapton was friend and fellow guitarist Keith Richards, who himself had lost his young son Tara in 1976. Conor's funeral took place on 28 March at St Mary Magdalene's Church in Clapton's home village in Ripley, Surrey, with Conor buried in the church graveyard. After his son's death Clapton began attending AA meetings. In 1991, Clapton appeared on Richie Sambora's album, Stranger in This Town, in a song dedicated to him, called "Mr. Bluesman". He contributed guitar and vocals to "Runaway Train", a duet with Elton John on the latter's The One album the following year.

Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which was co-written by Will Jennings. At the 35th Annual Grammy Awards, Clapton received six Grammys for the single "Tears in Heaven" and his Unplugged album, for which Clapton performed live in front of a small audience on 16 January 1992 at Bray Film Studios in Windsor, Berkshire, England. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200, and is certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies in the US. It reached number two in the UK Albums Chart and is certified four times platinum in the UK. On 9 September 1992, Clapton performed "Tears in Heaven" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, and won the award for Best Male Video. In 1992, Clapton received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. In October 1992 Clapton was among the dozens of artists performing at Bob Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration. Recorded at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the live two-disk CD/DVD captured a show full of celebrities performing classic Dylan songs, with Clapton playing the lead on a nearly 7-minute version of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" as part of the finale. Wh