Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton – Biography

Born on the 30th of March 1945 in Ripley, Surrey, England, Eric Clapton was the son of a young 16 year old mother Patricia Molly Clapton and 25 years old Edward Walter Fryer. Just before the birth of Eric Clapton, his father Fryer was listed to war where-after returned to Canada leaving Clapton with his mother and his grandmother, Rose. Clapton’s mother eventually re-married and moved to Germany leaving him with his grandparents in Surrey.

Eric Clapton started playing the guitar at the age of thirteen when he recieved his first acoustic guitar for his birthday. However, it was only two years later that that he stated to take a serious interest. By the age of sixteen his guitar skills were already getting noticed and in 1962, he started performing as a duo with fellow blues enthusiast David Brock in pubs around Surrey.

In 1963, Eric Clapton joined his first band, “The Roosters”. This was the beginning of his career as a true musician. Later he joined a rock and roll band called The Yardbirds where he scored a few major hits. There was no looking back from then on.

Performing with a few different bands he created a solid reputation for himself as the best blues guitarist on the club circuit. In the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” Eric Clapton was ranked second and in Gibson’s Top 50 Guitarists of All Time, he was fourth. He is the only artist who has the honor of being inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times. Once as a soloist and twice seperately as members of the The Yardbirds and Cream.

Throughout his career, Eric Clapton won seventeen Grammy Awards. In 1998, Clapton, recovering from alcohol and drug addiction, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.

In 2004, Clapton was awarded a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music.

References:
Wikipedia
Eric Clapton Official Site
Eric Clapton – The Unofficial Site

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Tagged as: 70s Male Artists, Eric Clapton

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