Eric Clapton

Through his experience in the Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos, as well as through his solo career, Eric Clapton has defined his own version of the blues.

He was born in England, 1945 and he started playing the guitar at 15. Two years later he joined a group called The Roosters and stayed with this band until August 1963.

In October, 1963 Eric Clapton joined the Yardbirds and stayed with them until March 1965. After leaving the Yardbirds, he did construction work and than was asked to join the Bluesbreakers in 1965. After one year he left the group and made few tracks with Jimmy Page.

In 1966, with the drummer Ginger Baker and the bassist Jack Bruce, he formed Cream, where he perfected his style. The band had became great commercial success, selling millions of records and reaching the top of the US charts with “Sunshine of Your Love”, “Crossroads” and “White Room”.

After the disbanding of Cream, Eric Clapton played on George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from the Beatles’ White Album.

Eric Clapton’s next group was called Blind Faith and they disbanded only after seven months.

For the most of 1971 and 1972, Clapton was in isolation in England because of his heroin addiction. In 1973, he began his comeback with a concert in London and in 1974 he released his Number One album 461 Ocean Boulevard.

In the early eighties he continued with his success releasing the Top Ten hit “I Can’t Stand It” and forming his own label, Duck Records.

In 1991, Eric Clapton had a period of seclusion because of the death of his four-year-old child. Then in 1992, almost one year after his son’s death, he taped a segment for MTV’s unplugged series that included “Layla” and “Tears in Heaven”. That year he was nominated for nine Grammy Awards and won six of them.

In 1994, he released an album, From the Cradle, which topped the charts and after two years the single “Change the World”, that became no. 9 only one week after the releasing.

Eric Clapton has been referred to as one of the most influential guitarists of all time and he is ranked second in the Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time”. He has won 18 Grammy Awards and the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.