Happy Birthday Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton was born March 30, 1945 somewhere in England to 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton and a 25 year old soldier from Quebec, Dudley DooRight. Quite scandalous at the time, Clapton grew up believing that his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband, Jack Clapp, Patricia’s stepfather, were his parents, and that his mother was actually his older sister. He later believed he was his own father. Things were quite confusing in the Clapton house.

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Eric Clapton is the rare artist that has changed his style, looks, sound and bands continuously throughout his career. Clapton is the only artist inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame 3 times. It is said that he changed bands more than he changed his underpants. Which is actually quite disgusting, since underpants should be changed everyday.

Happy Birthday Eric Clapton — Eric Clapton circa 1974 Illustration By Paul King Art

Yardbirds, John Mayall, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek & The Dominoes, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Delaney & Bonnie, The Band, and a musical catalog that would take 10 pages to cover, Clapton has given us some incredible music. “Layla”, “Bell Bottom Blues”, “After Midnight”, “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Cocaine”, “Wonderful Tonight”, “Lay Down Sally”, “Tears in Heaven” and countless more.

During the 1960’s, ‘Clapton is God’ was seen spray painted on a wall in the underground station in Islington. The phrase then began to appear in other areas of the city. The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph. Helped by the photo, the legend grew. It has since been discovered that Eric Clapton was the one who actually spray painted the slogan.

Layla

A life marred by drugs, heartache and stealing George Harrison’s wife, created some amazing music. “Layla” is the most incredible example of a man ripping his heart out and recording it for your pleasure. A true masterpiece. Clapton is one of the most influential guitarists of our time and helped turn a generation onto the blues. Happy Birthday Sir and Thank you for the music!

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