Biography+-+*Kristin*

**__Biography __**

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in his grandparents’ home in England. He was the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 24-year-old Canadian soldier. It was difficult for an unmarried 16-year-old to raise a child on her own in the mid-1940s. Patricia’s parents, Rose and Jack Clapp, stepped in as surrogate parents and raised Eric as their own. He grew up believing his mother was his sister. Eric was raised in a musical household. His grandmother played piano and his uncle and mother both enjoyed listening to the sounds of the big bands.

From his earliest years in school, he realized something was not quite right when he wrote his name as “Eric Clapton” and his parents’ names as “Mr. and Mrs. Clapp”. At the age of nine, he learned the truth about his parentage. This singular event affected him deeply and was a defining moment in his life.

Eric got his first guitar for his 13th birthday. In early 1963, 17 year-old Eric joined his first band, The Roosters. In October 1963, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith recruited him to become a member of The Yardbirds because Clapton was the most talked about guitar player on the R&B pub circuit. During his 18-month tenure with The Yardbirds, he earned his nickname, Slowhand, and recorded his first albums: Five Live Yardbirds and Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds.

Eric can be heard on albums by Aretha Franklin, Steven Stills, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon and Yoko Ono), Ringo Starr, Sting, and Roger Waters.

In October 2007, Eric’s autobiography,Clapton, was published. It is available in twelve languages and topped the best-seller lists around the world.



Eric is married. He and his wife, Melia, have three daughters - Julie Rose (b. June 2001), Ella Mae (b. January 2003) and Sophie (b. February 2005). The couple married on 1 January 2002. Eric’s eldest child is his daughter, Ruth (b. January 1985). His son, Conor (b. August 1986), died on 20 March 1991 when he fell from a window in his mother’s New York City apartment. Conor’s mother is Lori del Santo, a film actress / television personality. Eric married his first wife, Pattie Boyd Harrison on 27 March 1979. They had no children and divorced in 1989.

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