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Eric Patrick Clapp was born in Ripley, ENGLAND, on March 30, 1945, he
began playing guitar at age 15 and subsequently moved to London where
started his music career playing with a band called The Roosters; his
popularity grew throughout the '60s as he joined The Yardbirds in 1963,
subsequently John Mayall asked him to join his Bluesbreakers in spring
1965, a year later he formed Cream and when the band broke up, in November
1968, Clapton joined the short-lived group Blind Faith.
Eric Clapton released his solo debut album in the summer of 1970, the
record peaked at #13 in the U.S. Pop chart and included the top 20 hit
"After Midnight", written by J.J. Cale.
Before the year's end he put together the band, Derek And The Dominos,
which consisted of several sidemen, the group released the double album
entitled "Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs", which contained
the single "Layla", a tribute to George Harrison's wife Patti
Boyd, who had a famous love affair with Clapton; the single became a top
10 hit in America.
At some point the guitarist became a heroin addict and retired from music
for nearly two years; Pete Townshend, The Who
frontman, helped him relaunch his carrer with 1973's "Eric Clapton's
Rainbow Concert", the live-compilation made the top 20 in the United
States.
The next year saw the release of the new studio-album, "461 Ocean
Boulevard", which hit #1 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart spawning the
#1 smash "I Shot The Sheriff", a Bob
Marley cover plus the top 30 hit "Willie And The Hand Jive";
the album also cracked the top 3 in Britain.
Both the follow-ups, 1975's "There's One In Every Crowd" and
1976's "No Reason To Cry" were less successful, reaching #21
and #15 slots, respectively, on the American charts; from that albums
time period, "Hello Old Friend" was the lone top 40 single.
In November of 1977, Eric Clapton, issued the explosive "Slowhand"
which soared to #2 on The U.S. Pop Albums; it included the classic rock
staple "Cocaine", plus two more U.S. Top 40 hits: the #3 "Lay
Down Sally" and "Wonderful Tonight" which helped send the
album to platinum status.
A year later, he released a further U.S. top 10 album, "Backless";
the lead single, "Promises" peaked at #9 and was followed by
two American top 40 hits: "Watch Out For Lucy" and "Tulsa
Time".
In spring 1979 Clapton married Patti Boyd who had recently divorced George
Harrison; despite the guitarist became an alcoholic, he continued performing
live and in April of 1980 he delivered the live-set, "Just One Night",
it peaked at #2 on the American Top 200 LPs & Tapes chart.
"Another Ticket", which arrived in February 1981, debuted at
#7 in U.S. Pop Albums chart, highlighted by the Mainstream Rock #1 single
"I Can't Stand It" which also peaked at #10 on the Pop Sales
chart; the album spawned another Mainstream Rock top 20 hit, "Rita
Mae". It was during a tour to support the album, that Clapton collapsed
onstage in Wisconsin, nearly dead from alcohol-related ulceration and
before the year was out he split from Polydor.
Clapton had signed a new contract with Warner Brothers, releasing "Money
And Cigarettes" in early 1983, the record reached the #13 and #16
slots respectively in the U.K. and U.S. Albums charts backed by the American
top 20 hit single "I've Got A Rock N' Roll Heart".
Two years later he returned with "Behind The Sun", an album
which reached the British top 10 chart and climbed into the top 40 of
The Billboard 200 list finally hitting the platinum mark; the main track,
"Forever Man", snagged a respectable #26 on The Billboard Hot
100 and rose to the top spot of the Active Rock Singles chart; "She's
Waiting" and "See What Love Can Do" also cracked Mainstream
Rock Tracks chart peaking at #11 and #20 respectively.
On the personal side, in 1985 Clapton separated from his wife, Patti Boyd
and the next year, Italian model Lori Del Santo, gave birth to his only
child, Conor.
Meanwhile the guitarist retitled his 1986's release to "August",
to celebrate the birth of his son; the record hit the top 3 in U.K. and
reached the #37 on The Billboard Top 200 list spawning three Mainstream
Rock top 10 hits: the #1 "It's In The Way You Use It", "Miss
You" and the duet with Tina Turner, "Tearing Us Apart",
which rose to the #5 spot.
Two years later was released "Crossroads" a four-disc retrospective
box set which features 73 songs spanning the entire career of the veteran
guitarist; the compilation debuted at #34 in U.S. and by the time went
on to sell over 2 million copies.
In the fall of 1989 Clapton returned with a new studio-album, "Journeyman";
highlighted by four Active Rock top 10 singles including two #1s "Pretending"
and "Bad Love", the #4 "No Alibis" and "Before
You Accuse Me"; the album would exceed the multi-platinum barrier
in U.S. peaking at #16 on The Billboard Top 200 list; "Journeyman"
was also a big hit in the U.K. reaching the #2. At the 33rd Annual Grammy
Award the single "Bad Love" won for Best Rock Vocal Performance.
On March 20, 1991, Eric Clapton's son tragically died as a result of
a fall from the 53rd floor of a New York City condo; Clapton released
in October of that same year the live album, "24 Nights", which
documented his annual series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London;
the set included the single "Watch Yourself" which reached the
#21 on The Mainstream Rock chart.
While still mourning, he began work on the soundtrack to the movie "Rush",
a film about drug addiction, the record featured "Tears In Heaven",
a magnificent song written for his son, the single rose to #2 on The Billboard
Hot 100 becoming one of his most successful piece to date.
In the spring of 1992, Clapton, taped a concert for MTV's Unplugged series,
this performance was issued on CD in August and became an instant #1 on
The Billboard Top 200 chart selling over 10 million copies in the States,
his biggest-selling record ever; it generated a string of singles which
included "Layla", #12 on The Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on The
Mainstream Rock chart, "Help Me Up", #6 on Billboard's Active
Rock list and "Running On Faith", #15 in the same chart. "Unplugged"
also peaked at #2 on the Official British Albums chart.
Eric Clapton was a big winner at the Grammys in early 1993, his CD "Unplugged"
was awarded for Best Rock Vocal Performance and Album Of The Year, "Tears
In Heaven" won for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Song Of The Year and
Record Of The Year, "Layla" won for Best Rock Song.
Later that year, he contributed the song, "Stone Free", to the
collection "Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix"; released
as a single, it climbed into the top 5 of The Mainstream Rock chart
In September 1994, the guitarist returned with the studio-effort, "From
The Cradle", an album of Blues standards which peaked at #1 on both
sides of the Atlantic, winning a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album
and spawning another Mainstream Rock top 5 hit: "I'm Tore Down".
Two years later he recorded "Change The World", a song featured
on the soundtrack to the John Travolta's movie "Phenomenon",
the track hit #5 on The Billboard Hot 100 and earned Clapton yet another
Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
"Pilgrim", which was issued in March 1998, hit #6 and #4 respectively
in the U.K. and U.S. Pop Albums charts; its main single, "My Father's
Eyes", debuted at #2 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and
was awarded a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance; a second single
off the album, "She's Gone", cracked the top 20 of the American
Active Rock list.
He returned to his roots for the 2000 release, "Riding With The King",
in collaboration with B.B. King; the album was a major success in the
U.S. where it shot to #1 on the Top Blues Albums chart and peaked at #3
on The Billboard 200 list selling over 2 million copies; the title-track
entered the top 30 of The Mainstream Rock chart. At the 43rd Annual Grammy
ceremony, Clapton picked up his 13th Grammy, when "Riding With The
King" was named Best Traditional Blues Album.
"Reptile", followed in March 2001, it continued the string of
consistently successful albums, reaching the top 10 in British and North-American
charts; the lead single, "Superman Inside", reached the #21
on The Active Rock chart and the title-track, won a Grammy Award for Best
Pop Instrumental Performance.
Three years later, the guitarist released "Me And Mr. Johnson",
a 14-track collection assembled to celebrate the Mississippi-born bluesman,
which made the top 10 Albums charts on both sides of the Atlantic.
Eric Clapton released his latest album, "Back Home", on August
30th 2005, Clapton solely wrote only the title-track, while he and his
longtime collaborator Simon Climie co-authored five of the songs on the
record including first single "Revolution".
Eric Clapton biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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