by Anthony Chianese, staff reporter
Eric Patrick Clapton was born March 30th, 1945 in Ripley, England. He’s a rock and blues guitarist best known for playing in the bands, Cream and the Yardbirds. He gained most of his recognition as a solo artist when he debuted in 1970.
Throughout the 70’s, Clapton consumed large amounts of Heroin, Cocaine, and Alcohol. He spent close to $16,000 on heroin a week. In 1997, he covered J.J Cale’s song, “Cocaine”, while he was still using drugs, including cocaine. It features the lyrics, “She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie, cocaine.” After kicking his cocaine addiction, he changed the lyrics to say “dirty cocaine” instead of just “cocaine.”
Clapton is best known for his outstanding guitar playing. He is ranked the second greatest guitarist according to Rolling Stone Magazine. The song “Layla” is about Pattie Boyd, George Harrison’s wife at the time and how he loved her. It was one of his commercially successful songs.
Clapton brought blues/rock to a larger audience. After collaborating with B.B. King in 2000, he won a Grammy for best blues album. When B.B. King died in May, Clapton said “He was a beacon for all of us who loved this kind of music, and I thank him from the bottom of my heart.” Clapton said King was one of his greatest influences, along with Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and Jimi Hendrix.
In 1974, Clapton’s cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” brought reggae into rock music and revolutionized the genre. It is the most successful cover of the song, reaching number one on Billboard Top 100. It is Clapton’s only number one hit, “Tears in Heaven” came close reaching number two.
In 1992, on his album “Unplugged” he featured the song “Layla” but it was heavily reworked into an acoustic version. He won a Grammy for Best Rock Song for Layla in 1993, along with Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and Album of the Year.
“I like Clapton’s music, it’s like reading a story but listening. His music is not just words put together, it’s a melody with a meaning,” junior Rocco Pascalli said.
Clapton is the only artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three separate times. First as a member if the Yardbirds in 1992, second in 1993 as a member of Cream, and finally as a solo artist in 2000. He played for Live Aid in 1985 to raise money for the Ethiopian famine; and he auctioned off his guitar collection in 1999 and 2004 which raised $12 million for his Crossroads Centre. Overall Clapton has had many accomplishments in his decades of being an artist.
