Biography+Karoline

Eric Patrick Clapton**, (born 30 March 1945) is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times. Often viewed by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #53 on their list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
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Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, the son of 17-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 25-year-old soldier from Montreal,Quebec. Fryer shipped off to war prior to Clapton's birth and then returned to Canada. Clapton grew up with his grandmother, Rose, and her second husband Jack, believing they were his parents and that his mother was his older sister. Their surname was Clapp, which has given rise to the widespread but erroneous belief that Clapton's real surname is Clapp (Reginald Cecil Clapton is the name of Rose's first husband, Eric Clapton's maternal grandfather. 5 Years later, his mother married another Canadian soldier, moved to Canada and left young Eric with his grandparents in distant Surrey.

By 1958, Rock and Roll had exploded onto the world. For his 13th birthday, Eric asked for a guitar. Finding the inexpensive German-made Hoyer difficult to play - it had steel strings - he put it aside. In 1961, when he was 16, Eric began studying at the Kingston College of Art on a one-year probation. He was expelled at the end of that time for lack of progress as he had not submitted enough work. The reason? Guitar playing and listening to the blues dominated his waking hours.

After leaving school in 1961, Clapton began busking around Kingston, Richmon and the West end of London. When he was 17 years old Clapton joined his first band, an early British R&B group, called "The Roosters". He stayed with this band from January through August 1963. In October of that year, Clapton did a brief seven gig stint with Casey Jones & The Engineers.

=Tears In Heaven= "Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment of his mother's friend, on March 20, 1991. Clapton, who arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident, was visibly distraught for months afterwards. This song is one of Clapton's most successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the U.S. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on the American Adult contemporarychart in 1992. Will Jennings, who worked with Clapton on the song, was reluctant at first to help him with such a personal song. The song was initially featured on the soundtrack to the film //Rush//, and it won three Grammy Awards for Song of The Year, Record of the Year and Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1993. It was also included on Clapton's Grammy award-winning album, //Unplugged//. It is #353 on Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs. media type="youtube" key="AscPOozwYA8" height="295" width="406" align="center"

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