The guitarist who turned grief into “Tears in Heaven”

For the first years of his life, Eric Clapton believed that the woman he called his sister was his mother, and that his grandmother and her second husband were his parents. Born in Ripley, Surrey, in 1945 to a teenage mother and a soldier who went back to Canada before his birth, he grew up inside that misunderstanding. It is a strange starting point for a man who would later be ranked second on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest guitarists.

His rise came band by band. After local groups he joined the Yardbirds, then John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and he then formed Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, where he stretched out in long blues improvisations. Cream ended in November 1968, followed by Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, Ric Grech and Baker, which lasted one album and one tour. Then came his first solo record in 1970 and Derek and the Dominos, whose single album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, gave him one of his signature songs.

The solo years brought a 1974 cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”, the country-flavoured Slowhand in 1977 and the pop rock of August in 1986. In 1991 his son Conor died, and Clapton’s grief became “Tears in Heaven”, which reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Other songs followed, among them “Change the World” and “My Father’s Eyes”, the latter earning a Grammy in 1998. The same year he founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a facility for people recovering from addiction, something he knew from experience.

The honours stack up: 18 Grammy Awards, a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, a CBE in 2004, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three separate times, as a solo artist and as a member of both the Yardbirds and Cream. With a hundred million solo records sold, Clapton has stayed busy, with the album Meanwhile arriving in 2024. “Lay Down Sally” and “Promises” show the relaxed side of a player known for his solos.