Life path
Eric Clapton is one of the most famous and authoritative guitarists of our time, a performer whose work has become a school and a kind of standard for several generations of rock musicians. The guitarist himself always considered himself a blues musician. The patriarch of rock music, Clapton remains a significant creative force today. Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945 in the English town of Ripley. At the age of 14, he became seriously interested in the blues and began teaching himself to play the guitar. The first group where Clapton began to play as a professional guitarist was
«The Roosters»,
and then he went to «Casey Jones And The Engineers».
Both were popular among local teenagers. It was then that the guitarist earned himself the nickname “Slow Hand” for his manner of slowly and smoothly sliding his fingers along the strings, lengthening the tone. In 1963, Clapton was invited to join the Yardbirds, where he created a sensation with his blues-tinged rock. Here the guitarist first showed his talent to the general public.
In subsequent years, Eric worked in groups
«Bluesbreakers»,
«Cream»
and «Blind Faith», where his talent revealed itself even brighter, not only as a guitarist, but also as an improviser and generator of many ideas. Having released several albums with these bands and toured a lot, Clapton achieved worldwide recognition.
The next stage in his musical career was the work on his first solo record. Eric Clapton’s debut album was released in 1970.
Inspired by success, Clapton assembles a backing group, Derek & the Dominos, and records a very interesting album, Layla, for which the musician wrote several songs.
The beginning of the 1970s was one of the most difficult periods in Eric’s life. Problems in his personal life and musical squabbles led the musician to become addicted to drugs, which took him out of work for several years. It was only in 1973 that he returned to music. After a successful course of treatment, Clapton was completely rehabilitated, and in July 1974 he released his second solo album, 461 Ocean Boulevard, which topped the charts of the time in both the US and Britain.
In the 1970s and 80s, Eric worked actively, releasing several successful discs that proved Clapton’s growth as a musician. He ceases to be “just a guitarist” and becomes an author and singer, playing the guitar at the same time. Almost all of his albums received positive reviews from critics and sold in large quantities. The musician maintained his high status with frequent tours, performances at concerts, appearances on television and the release of videos. Clapton’s career continued to rise into the 1990s. During this period, he recorded good albums, constantly toured and wrote music for films. His album “Unplugged” gained especially great popularity, which turned out to be one of his most outstanding commercial achievements and one of the most successful albums in the entire history of the musician.
In the new millennium, the musician continues to create actively and successfully. During his long career, Clapton experimented with different styles, but the blues always remained his basis. A Grammy Award winner and Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Eric is the only musician to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times. He is also known as an active public figure – in 1997 he founded a charitable foundation to help treat alcohol and drug addiction. The patriarch of rock music, Eric Clapton, remains a significant creative force today as he continues his musical career.
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