Eric Clapton
Concert Tickets
About Eric Clapton:
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 1945) is an English
guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a
member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the
most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked fourth in
Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and
fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.
In the mid sixties, Clapton left the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall &
the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname
"Slowhand", and graffiti in London declared "Clapton is God." Immediately after
leaving Mayall, Clapton formed with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce,
the power trio, Cream, in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations
and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the seventies, Clapton's
output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob
Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped gain reggae a mass
market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and
the Dominos, and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient
of seventeen Grammy Awards, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to
music. In 1998 Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, founded the
Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering
In October 1963, Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll
band, and stayed with them until March 1965. Synthesising influences from
Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as Buddy Guy, Freddie King and
B. B. King, Clapton forged a distinctive style and rapidly became one of the
most talked-about guitarists in the British music scene. The band initially
played Chess/Checker/Vee-Jay blues numbers and began to attract a large cult
following when they took over the Rolling Stones' residency at the Crawdaddy
Club in Richmond. They toured England with American bluesman Sonny Boy
Williamson II; a joint LP album, recorded in December 1963, was issued belatedly
under both their names, in 1965. In March 1965, just as Clapton left the band,
the Yardbirds had their first major hit, "For Your Love", on which Clapton
played guitar.
It was during this time period that Clapton's Yardbirds rhythm guitarist Chris
Dreja recalled that whenever Clapton broke a guitar string during a concert, he
would stay on stage and replace it. The English audiences would wait out the
delay by doing what is called a "slow handclap". Clapton told his official
biographer, Ray Coleman, that, "My nickname of 'Slowhand' came from Giorgio
Gomelsky. He coined it as a good pun. He kept saying I was a fast player, so he
put together the slow handclap phrase into Slowhand as a play on words".
Still musically devoted to the blues, Clapton was opposed to the Yardbirds' move
toward a pop-oriented sound, in part, because "For Your Love" had been written
by pop songwriter-for-hire Graham Gouldman, who had also written hit songs for
teen pop outfit Herman's Hermits as well as the radio-friendly music of The
Hollies. Clapton recommended fellow guitarist Jimmy Page as his replacement, but
Page was at that time unwilling to relinquish his lucrative career as a
freelance studio musician, so Page in turn recommended Clapton's successor, Jeff
Beck. While Beck and Page played together in the Yardbirds, the trio of Beck,
Page, and Clapton were never in the group together. However, the trio did appear
on the 12-date benefit tour for Action for Research into Multiple Sclerosis, as
well as on the album Guitar Boogie.
Clapton joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, in April 1965, only to quit a
few months later. In the summer of 1965, he left for Greece with a band called
The Glands which included his old friend Ben Palmer on piano. In November 1965,
he rejoined John Mayall. It was during his second Bluesbreakers stint that his
passionate playing established Clapton's name as the best blues guitarist on the
club circuit. Although Clapton gained world fame for his playing on the
influential album, Blues Breakers, this album was not released until Clapton had
left the Bluesbreakers for good. Having swapped his Fender Telecaster and Vox
AC30 amplifier for a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar and Marshall
amplifier, Clapton's sound and playing inspired a well-publicised graffito that
deified him with the famous slogan, "Clapton is God". The phrase was
spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington Underground station in the
autumn of 1967. The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph, in which a
dog is urinating on the wall. Clapton is well reported to have been embarrassed
by the slogan, saying in The South Bank Show profile of him made in 1987, "I
never accepted that I was the greatest guitar player in the world. I always
wanted to be the greatest guitar player in the world, but that's an ideal, and I
accept it as an ideal". The phrase began to appear in other areas of Islington
throughout the mid-60s.
Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in July 1966 (to be replaced by Peter Green) and
formed Cream, one of the earliest supergroups, with Jack Bruce on bass (also of
Manfred Mann, the Bluesbreakers and the Graham Bond Organisation) and Ginger
Baker on drums (another member of the GBO). Before the formation of Cream,
Clapton was not well known in the United States; he left the Yardbirds before
"For Your Love" hit the American Top Ten, and had yet to perform there. During
his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer, songwriter and
guitarist, though Bruce took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of
the material with lyricist Pete Brown. Cream's first gig was an unofficial
performance at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester on 29 July 1966 before their full
debut two nights later at the National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor. Cream
established its enduring legend with the high-volume blues jamming and extended
solos of their live shows.
In early 1967, Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was rivalled by the
emergence of Jimi Hendrix, an acid rock-infused guitarist who used wailing
feedback and effects pedals to create new sounds for the instrument. Hendrix
attended a performance of the newly formed Cream at the Central London
Polytechnic on 1 October 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a shattering
double-timed version of "Killing Floor". In return, top UK stars including
Clapton, Pete Townshend, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles
avidly attended Hendrix's early club performances. Hendrix's arrival had an
immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career, although
Clapton continued to be recognised in UK music polls as the premier guitarist.
Clapton first visited the United States while touring with Cream. In March 1967,
Cream performed a nine show stand at the RKO Theater in New York. They recorded
Disraeli Gears in New York from 11–15 May 1967. Cream's repertoire varied from
hard-rock ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful").
Disraeli Gears featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals
and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic
jazz-influenced drumming. Together, Cream's talents secured themselves as an
influential power trio.
In 28 months, Cream had become a commercial success, selling millions of records
and playing throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's
role in rock and were one of the first blues-rock bands to emphasise musical
virtuosity and lengthy jazz-style improvisation sessions. Their U.S. hit singles
include "Sunshine of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and
"Crossroads" (#28, 1969) – a live version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road
Blues". Though Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and
the adulation of Clapton as a guitar hero reached new heights, the supergroup
was destined to be short-lived. Drug and alcohol use escalated tension between
the three members and the conflicts between Bruce and Baker eventually led to
Cream's demise. A strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the
group's second headlining U.S. tour was another significant factor in the trio's
demise, and it affected Clapton profoundly as well.
Cream's farewell album, Goodbye, featured live performances recorded at The
Forum, Los Angeles, 19 October 1968, and was released shortly after Cream
disbanded in 1968; it also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by
Clapton and George Harrison. Clapton had met Harrison and become friends with
him after the Beatles shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London
Palladium. The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison resulted in
Clapton's playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles'
White Album. In the same year of release as the White Album, Harrison released
his solo debut Wonderwall Music, becoming the first of many Harrison solo
records to feature Clapton on guitar. Though friends, Clapton would go largely
uncredited for his contributions to Harrison's albums due to contractual
restraints. The pair would often play live together as each other's guest. A
year after Harrison's death in 2001, Clapton helped organise the tribute
concert, for which he was musical director.
Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; however, a full reunion took place in May 2005,
with Clapton, Bruce, and Baker playing four sold-out concerts at London's Royal
Albert Hall, and three more at New York's Madison Square Garden that October.
Recordings from the London shows, Royal Albert Hall London May 2-3-5-6, 2005,
were released on CD, LP, and DVD in September/December 2005.
Clapton's next group Blind Faith (1969), composed of Cream drummer Ginger Baker,
Steve Winwood of Traffic and Ric Grech of Family, resulted in one LP and one
arena-circuit tour. The super group debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde
Park on 7 June 1969. They performed several dates in Scandinavia and began a
sold-out American tour in July before their only album was released. The LP
Blind Faith consisted of just six songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled
"Do What You Like". The album's jacket image of a topless pubescent girl was
deemed controversial in the United States and was replaced by a photograph of
the band. Blind Faith dissolved after less than seven months.
Clapton subsequently toured as a sideman for an act that had opened for Blind
Faith, Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. He also played two dates that fall as a
member of The Plastic Ono Band, including a recorded performance at the Toronto
Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969 released as the album Live Peace in
Toronto 1969. On 15 December 1969, Clapton performed with John Lennon, George
Harrison and others as the Plastic Ono Band at a fundraiser for UNICEF in
London.
Delaney Bramlett encouraged Clapton in his singing and writing. During the
summer of 1969, Clapton and Bramlett contributed to the Music From Free Creek "supersession"
project. Clapton, appearing as "King Cool" for contractual reasons, played with
Dr. John on three songs, joined by Bramlett on one track.
Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players
(including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills), Clapton recorded his first solo
album during two brief tour hiatuses, fittingly named Eric Clapton. Delaney
Bramlett co-wrote six of the songs with Clapton, and Bonnie Bramlett co-wrote
"Let It Rain". The album also yielded the unexpected U.S. #18 hit, J. J. Cale's
"After Midnight". Clapton went with Delaney and Bonnie from the stage to the
studio with the Dominos to record George Harrison's All Things Must Pass in
spring 1970. During this busy period, Clapton also recorded with other artists
including Dr. John, Leon Russell, Plastic Ono Band, Billy Preston and Ringo
Starr.
With the intention to counteract the "star" cult faction that had begun to form
around him, Clapton assembled a new band composed of Delaney & Bonnie's former
rhythm section; Bobby Whitlock as keyboardist and vocalist, Carl Radle as the
bassist and drummer Jim Gordon, with Clapton playing guitar. It was his
intention to show that he need not form a starring role, and functioned well as
a member of an ensemble. Naming the band, "Eric Clapton and Friends" at first,
the name "Derek and the Dominos" was a fluke. It occurred when the band's
provisional name of "Del and the Dynamos" was misread as Derek and the Dominos.
Clapton's biography also states that Ashton told Clapton to call the band "Del
and the Dominos", since "Del" was his nickname for Eric Clapton. Del and Eric
were combined and the final name became "Derek and the Dominos".
Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison had brought him into contact
with Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd, with whom he became deeply infatuated. When
she spurned his advances, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the
material for the Dominos' album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. This album
contained the monster-hit single, love song "Layla", inspired by the classical
poet of Persian literature, Nezami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun, a
copy of which his friend Ian Dallas had given him. The book moved Clapton
profoundly as it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a
beautiful, unavailable woman and who went crazy because he could not marry her.
Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd,
who had worked with Clapton on Cream's Disraeli Gears, the band recorded a
double-album. The two parts of "Layla" were recorded in separate sessions: the
opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down
several months later, drummer Jim Gordon composed and played the piano part. The
Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to
the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band.
A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd—who was also producing the Allmans—invited
Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists met
first on-stage, then played all night in the studio and became friends. Duane
first added his slide guitar to "Tell the Truth" and "Nobody Knows You When
You're Down and Out". In four days, the five-piece Dominos recorded "Key to the
Highway", "Have You Ever Loved a Woman"; a blues standard popularised by Freddie
King (amongst other blues players), and "Why Does Love Got to be So Sad". When
September came around, Duane briefly left the sessions for gigs with his own
band, and the four-piece Dominos recorded "I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues",
and "Keep on Growing". Duane returned to record "I am Yours", "Anyday", and
"It's Too Late". On the 9th, they recorded Hendrix's "Little Wing" and the title
track. The following day, the final track, "It's Too Late" was recorded.
The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured the combination of twin lead
guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's slide guitar as a key ingredient of
their sound.
Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions,
Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days
previously the band had cut a cover of "Little Wing" as a tribute to Hendrix. On
17 September 1970, one day before Hendrix's death, Clapton had purchased a
left-handed Fender Stratocaster that he had planned to give to Hendrix as a
birthday gift. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm
reviews upon release. The shaken group undertook a U.S. tour without Allman, who
had returned to The Allman Brothers Band. Despite Clapton's later admission that
the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it
resulted in the live double album In Concert. The band had recorded several
tracks for a second album in London during the spring of 1971 (five of which
were released on the Eric Clapton box-set Crossroads), but the results were
mediocre.
A second record was in the works when a clashing of egos took place and Clapton
walked, thus disbanding the group. Allman was later killed in a motorcycle
accident on 29 October 1971. Although Radle would remain Clapton's bass player
until the summer of 1979 (Radle died in May 1980 from the effects of alcohol and
narcotics), it would be 2003 before Clapton and Whitlock appeared together again
(Clapton guested on Whitlock's appearance on the Later with Jools Holland show).
Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon,
who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic and years later murdered his mother during
a psychotic episode. Gordon was confined to 16-years-to-life imprisonment, later
being moved to a mental institution, where he remains today.
Clapton's career successes in the 1970s were in stark contrast to his personal
life, which was troubled by romantic longings and drug and alcohol addiction. In
addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense attraction to Pattie Boyd,
he withdrew from recording and touring to isolation in his Surrey, England
residence. There he nursed his heroin addiction, resulting in a career hiatus
interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971 (where he passed
out on stage, was revived, and continued his performance). In January 1973, The
Who's Pete Townshend organised a comeback concert for Clapton at London's
Rainbow Theatre aptly titled the "Rainbow Concert" to help Clapton kick his
addiction. Clapton would return the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken
Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film
(performing "Eyesight to the Blind") is notable as he is clearly wearing a fake
beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after
the initial takes in an attempt to force the director to remove his earlier
scene from the movie and leave the set.
In 1974, now partnered with Pattie (they would not actually marry until 1979)
and no longer using heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put
together a more low-key touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George
Terry, keyboardist Dick Sims, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman
and Marcy Levy (also known as Marcella Detroit). With this band Clapton recorded
461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with an emphasis on more compact songs and
fewer guitar solos; the cover version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was Clapton's
first #1 hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to
a wider audience. The 1975 album There's One in Every Crowd continued this
trend. The album's original title The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's
One In Every Crowd) was changed before pressing, as it was felt its ironic
intention would be misunderstood. The band toured the world and subsequently
released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here. Clapton continued to release albums
and toured regularly. Highlights of the period include No Reason to Cry, (a
collaboration with Bob Dylan and The Band) and Slowhand, which featured
"Wonderful Tonight", another song inspired by Boyd, and a second J.J. Cale
cover, "Cocaine". In 1976 he performed alongside a string of notable guests, to
pay tribute to the final farewell performance of The Band, filmed in a Martin
Scorsese documentary called the Last Waltz.
In 1981, Clapton was invited by producer Martin Lewis to appear at the Amnesty
International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Clapton accepted the
invitation and teamed up with Jeff Beck to perform a series of duets—reportedly
their first-ever billed stage collaboration. Three of the performances were
released on the album of the show and one of the songs was featured in the film
of the show. The performances heralded a return to form and prominence for
Clapton in the new decade. Many factors had influenced Clapton's comeback,
including his "deepening commitment to Christianity", to which he had converted
prior to his heroin addiction.
After an embarrassing fishing incident, Clapton finally called his manager and
admitted he was an alcoholic. In January 1982, Roger and Clapton flew to
Minneapolis-St. Paul; Clapton would be checked in at Hazelden Treatment Center,
located in Center City, Minnesota. On the flight over, Clapton indulged himself
in a great amount of drinks, for fear he may never be able to drink again.
Clapton is quoted as saying from his autobiography, "In the lowest moments of my
life, the only reason I didn't commit suicide was that I knew I wouldn't be able
to drink anymore if I was dead. It was the only thing I thought was worth living
for, and the idea that people were about to try and remove me from alcohol was
so terrible that I drank and drank and drank, and they had to practically carry
me into the clinic."
After being discharged, it was recommended by doctors of Hazelden that Clapton
not partake in any activities that would act as triggers for his alcoholism or
stress, until he was fully situated back at Hurtwood. A few months after his
discharge, Clapton began working on his next album against the Hazelden doctors'
orders. Working with Tom Dowd, Clapton produced what he thought as his "most
forced" album to date, Money and Cigarettes.
In 1984, he performed on Pink Floyd member Roger Waters' solo album, The Pros
and Cons of Hitch Hiking and went on tour with Waters following the release of
the album. Since then Waters and Clapton have had a close relationship. In 2005
they performed together for the Tsunami Relief Fund. In 2006 they performed at
the Highclere Castle, in aid of the Countryside Alliance, playing two set pieces
of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". Clapton, now a seasoned charity
performer, played at the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985. When offered a slot
close to peak viewing hours, he was apparently flattered. As Clapton recovered
from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two
produced with Phil Collins, 1985's Behind the Sun, which produced the hits
"Forever Man" and "She's Waiting", and 1986's August.
August was suffused with Collins's trademark drum and horn sound and became
Clapton's biggest seller in the UK to date, matching his highest chart position,
number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's In The Way That You Use It",
was also featured in the Tom Cruise-Paul Newman movie The Color of Money. The
horn-peppered "Run" echoed Collins' "Sussudio" and rest of the producer's
Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with Tina Turner) and the bitter
"Miss You" echoed Clapton's angry sound. This rebound kicked off Clapton's
two-year period of touring with Collins and their August collaborates, bassist
Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. While on tour for
August, two concert videos were recorded of the four-man band, Eric Clapton Live
from Montreux and Eric Clapton and Friends. Clapton later remade "After
Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the Michelob beer brand, which
had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and Steve Winwood. Clapton won a
British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the
score for the 1985 BBC television thriller serial Edge of Darkness. In 1989,
Clapton released Journeyman, an album which covered a wide range of styles
including blues, jazz, soul and pop. Collaborators included George Harrison,
Phil Collins, Daryl Hall, Chaka Khan, Mick Jones, David Sanborn and Robert Cray.
In 1984, while still married to Pattie Boyd, Clapton began a year-long
relationship with Yvonne Kelly. The two had a daughter, Ruth, who was born in
January 1985, but her existence was kept a secret by her parents. She was not
publicly revealed as his child until 1991. Boyd criticised Clapton because he
had not revealed the child's existence.
Hurricane Hugo hit Montserrat in 1989 and this resulted in the closure of Sir
George Martin and John Burgess's recording studio AIR Montserrat, where Kelly
was Managing Director. Kelly and Ruth moved back to England, and stories about
Eric's secret daughter began as a result of newspaper articles published at the
time. Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1988 following his affair with Italian model
Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to their son Conor on 21 August 1986. Boyd
herself was never able to conceive children, despite attempts at in vitro
fertilisation. Their divorce was granted on grounds of "infidelity and
unreasonable behaviour."
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 through March 1991. 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, Eric's four year old son, Conor, died on impact after a fall from the
53rd-story window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment, landing on
the roof of an adjacent four-story building. Clapton's grief was expressed in
the song "Tears in Heaven", which was co-written by Will Jennings. At the 35th
Grammy Awards, Clapton received a total of six Grammy Awards for the single
"Tears in Heaven", and his Unplugged album. The album reached number one on the
Billboard 200, and has since been certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling over
10 million copies in the United States.
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, before ending with a few performances from Dylan
himself. Despite the presence of 10 other guitarists on stage, including George
Harrison, Neil Young, Roger McGuinn, Steve Cropper, Tom Petty, and Dylan,
Clapton played the lead on a nearly 7-minute version of Dylan's "Knockin' on
Heaven's Door" as part of the finale.
While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From
the Cradle contained new versions of old blues standards highlighted by his
electric guitar playing. Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne
Kirkpatrick/Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" (featured in the
soundtrack of the movie Phenomenon) won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in
1997, the same year he recorded Retail Therapy (an album of electronic music
with Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF). The following year, Clapton released
the album Pilgrim, the first record featuring brand new material for almost a
decade. Clapton finished the twentieth century with collaborations with Carlos
Santana and B. B. King.
In 1996 Clapton had a relationship with singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow. They
remain friends, and Clapton appeared as a guest on Sheryl Crow's Central Park
Concert. The duo performed a Cream hit single "White Room". Later, Clapton and
Crow performed an alternate version of "Tulsa Time" with other guitar legends at
the Crossroads Guitar Festival in June 2007.
In 1999 Clapton, then 54, met 23-year-old store clerk Melia McEnery (from
Columbus, Ohio) in Los Angeles while working on an album with B. B. King. They
married on 1 January 2002 at St Mary Magdalen church in Clapton's birthplace,
Ripley, and as of 2005 have three daughters, Julie Rose (13 June 2001), Ella May
(14 January 2003), and Sophie Belle (1 February 2005). He wrote the song "Three
Little Girls", featured on his 2006 album The Road to Escondido, about the
contentment he has found in his family life at home with them.
Following the release of the 2001 record Reptile, Eric performed "Layla" and
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Party at the Palace in 2002. On 29
November of that year the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall,
a tribute to George Harrison who had died a year earlier of cancer. Clapton was
a performer, and also the musical director. The concert featured Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ravi Shankar, Gary
Brooker, Billy Preston, Joe Brown and Dhani Harrison. In 2004, Clapton released
two albums packed full of covers by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, Me and
Mr. Johnson and Sessions for Robert J. The same year Rolling Stone ranked
Clapton #53 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
On 22 January 2005, Clapton performed in the Tsunami Relief Concert held at the
Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, in aid of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean
earthquake. In May 2005, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker reunited as
Cream for a series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Concert
recordings were released on CD and DVD. Later, Cream performed in New York at
Madison Square Garden. Back Home, Clapton's first album of new original material
in nearly five years, was released on Reprise Records on 30 August. In 2006 he
invited Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II to join his band for his 2006–2007
world tour. Trucks is the third member of The Allman Brothers Band to tour
supportng Clapton, the second being pianist/keyboardist Chuck Leavell who
appeared on the MTV Unplugged album and the 24 Nights performances at the Royal
Albert Hall theatre of London in 1990 and 1991, as well as Clapton's 1992 U.S.
tour.
On 20 May 2006, Clapton performed with Queen drummer Roger Taylor and former
Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters at the Highclere Castle, in support of the
Countryside Alliance. On 13 August 2006, Clapton made a guest appearance at the
Bob Dylan concert in Columbus, Ohio, playing guitar on three songs in Jimmie
Vaughan's opening act. A collaboration with guitarist J. J. Cale, titled The
Road to Escondido, was released on 7 November 2006, featuring Derek Trucks and
Billy Preston. The 14-track CD was produced and recorded by the duo in August
2005 in California. The chemistry between Trucks and Clapton convinced him to
invite The Derek Trucks Band to open for Clapton's set on his 2007 Crossroads
Guitar Festival, with Trucks remaining on set afterward, performing with
Clapton's band throughout his performances, and embarking on a world tour with
him.
The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, written by Christopher Simon Sykes and
published in 2007, were sold at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair for USD $4 million.
On 26 February 2008, it was reported that North Korean officials had invited
Clapton to play a concert in the communist state. According to reports,
Clapton's management received the invitation and passed it on to the singer, who
has agreed in principle and suggested it take place sometime in 2009. Kristen
Foster, a spokesperson, said, "Eric Clapton receives numerous offers to play in
countries around the world," and "[t]here is no agreement whatsoever for him to
play in North Korea."
In 2007, Clapton learned more about his father, a Canadian soldier who left the
UK after the war. Although Clapton's grandparents eventually told him the truth
about his parentage, he only knew that his father's name was Edward Fryer. This
was a source of disquiet for Clapton, as witnessed by his 1998 song "My Father's
Eyes". A Montreal journalist named Michael Woloschuk researched Canadian Armed
Forces service records and tracked down members of Fryer's family, finally
piecing together the story. He learned that Clapton's father was Edward Walter
Fryer, born 21 March 1920, in Montreal and died 15 May 1985 in Newmarket,
Ontario. Fryer was a musician (piano and saxophone) and a lifelong drifter, who
was married several times, had several children and apparently never knew that
he was the father of Eric Clapton. Clapton thanked Woloschuk in an encounter at
Macdonald Cartier Airport, in Ottawa, Canada.
In February 2008, Clapton performed with his long-time friend Steve Winwood at
Madison Square Garden and guested on his recorded single "Dirty City" on
Winwood's album Nine Lives. The two former Blind Faith bandmates met again for a
series of 14 concerts throughout the United States in June 2009.
Clapton's 2008 Summer Tour began on 3 May at the Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa Bay,
Florida, and then moved to Canada, Ireland, England, Norway, Iceland, Denmark,
Poland, Germany and Monaco. On 28 June 2008, he headlined Saturday night for
Hard Rock Calling 2008 in London's Hyde Park (previously Hyde Park Calling) with
support from Sheryl Crow & John Mayer. In September 2008, Clapton performed at a
private charity fundraiser for The Countryside Alliance at Floridita in Soho,
London, that included such guests as the London Mayor Boris Johnson.
In March 2009, The Allman Brothers Band (amongst many notable guests),
celebrated their 40th year, dedicating their string of concerts to the late
Duane Allman on their annual run at the Beacon Theatre. Eric Clapton was one of
the performers, with drummer Butch Trucks remarking that the performance wasn't
the typical Allman Brothers experience, given the number and musical styles of
the guests who were invited to perform. Songs like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"
were punctuated with others including "The Weight", with Levon Helm; Johnny
Winter sitting in on Hendrix's "Red House" and "Layla". Two months later, on 4
May 2009 Clapton appeared as a featured guest at the Royal Albert Hall playing
"Further on Up the Road" with Joe Bonamassa.
Clapton was scheduled to be one of the performers at the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame's 25th anniversary concert in Madison Square Garden on 30 October 2009, but
cancelled due to gallstone surgery. Van Morrison (who also cancelled) said in an
interview that he and Clapton were to do a "couple of songs" but that they would
do something else together at "some other stage of the game".
Clapton performed a 2-night show with Jeff Beck at London's O2 Arena 13–14
February 2010. The two former Yardbirds extended their 2010 tour with stops at
Madison Square Garden, Air Canada Centre and the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Clapton performed a series of concerts in 11 cities throughout the United States
from 25 February to 13 March 2010. His third European tour with Steve Winwood
began on 18 May and ended 13 June. He then began a short North American tour
lasting from 26 June to 3 July, starting with his third Crossroads Guitar
Festival on 26 June in Bridgeview, Illinois. Clapton released a new studio
album, Clapton, on 27 September 2010 in the United Kingdom and 28 September 2010
in the United States. On 17 November 2010, Clapton performed as guest on the
Prince's Trust rock gala held at the Royal Albert Hall, supported by the house
band for the evening which included Jools Holland, Midge Ure and Mark King.
At
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Official Eric Clapton website
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Ticket Solutions
Ticket Solutions are the Midwest's oldest and most reputable ticket broker. For
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TicketNetwork
TicketNetwork is the leading-edge technology provider in the
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Ticketsnow
Unbeatable selection, exceptional service, and the utmost
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This is a distinction we don't take lightly.
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Razorgator
RazorGator has been the recognized leader in providing clients
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RazorGator provides the most trusted, most comprehensive global event experience
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RazorGator.com also provides a 100%
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TicketCity
Since 1990, TicketCity has enabled clients to experience a variety of events
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Tickco
For over a decade, TickCo has been in the business of
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Our promise to our
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Vivid Seats
Vivid Seats was
created out of a genuine love for attending live events. We all feel the
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why we named our company Vivid Seats...
"Vivid" comes from the Latin word "vivere" which means "to live."
Ace Ticket
Ace Ticket is a Boston based ticket broker
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Ace Ticket is one of the top ticket providers in the country. We specialize in
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In 2006 Ace Ticket was selected by the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB)
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the Best Ticket Broker. Ace Ticket was the 1st recipient of this award. At the
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